One in every ten news reports about volunteers has signs of being commissioned: IMI survey

One in every ten news reports about volunteers in regional online media bears the hallmarks of being commissioned. Almost half of such news are promoted by charity foundations that have ties to political parties, oligarchs, or individual politicians.

This is evidenced by the research by the NGO "Institute of Mass Information", which was conducted in 9 regions of Ukraine in January of this year.*

Possibly commissioned news about private volunteer initiatives amounted to 22% of the total number of such reports, and such news about initiatives by local self-government bodies or military administrations accounted for 13% of the total amount of possibly commissioned news about volunteers.

Commissioned news about volunteer initiatives. % of the total number of volunteer-related news in the region. Charity foundations (48%); Private volunteer initiatives (22%); Civic groups (17%); Volunteer initiatives by OMAs/local authorities (13%); Volunteer initiatives by the government (0%).

Most articles related to volunteer activism and volunteers were recorded in the Dnipro online media (44% of the total number of news about volunteer initiatives in the news of the oblast). In Donetsk and Rivne, the number of possibly commissioned news about volunteering was 16, which amounted to 15% of the total number of news about volunteering. No possibly commissioned news about volunteers were recorded in Kharkiv, Kherson, Volyn and Cherkasy media.

Top regions by the amount of commissioned news about volunteers. Dnipro (44%); Donetsk (16%); Rivne (15%); Odesa, Khmelnytsky (7%); Kharkiv, Kherson, Cherkasy, Volyn (0%). 6092 news items posted in the regional online media on January 9–13, 2023, monitored in total; of those 241 were about volunteer initiatives.

On average, mentions of volunteer initiatives account for only one in every 25 news reports in regional online media. According to IMI's data, 32% of volunteering-related news were about local or regional volunteer initiatives, and 26% were about private volunteer initiatives. News about the work of international and national volunteer associations or organizations both amounted to 14% of the total number of news about volunteer initiatives in regional online media. Other volunteer initiatives accounted for 13% of news about volunteering.

Most popular topics. % of the total amount of news about volunteer initiatives. Local/regional volunteer initiatives (32%); Private volunteer initiatives (26%); National volunteer initiatives (14%); International volunteer initiatives (14%); Other volunteer initiatives (13%).

Online media in Cherkasy (6% of the total number of news in the oblast's online media), Kherson, Rivne, and Kropyvnytsky (5% of news reports each) have been posting the most news about volunteering and volunteers. The fewest news about volunteer initiatives was recorded in the media of Kharkiv, Donetsk, and Odesa oblasts (3% of the total amount of news in an oblast's online media each).

Who wrote about volunteers the most. Cherkasy (6%); Kropyvnytsky, Kherson, Rivne (5%); Dnipro (4%); Volyn (3,5%); Kharkiv, Donetsk, Odesa (3%). 6092 news items posted in the regional online media on January 9–13, 2023, monitored in total; of those 241 were about volunteer initiatives.

*The survey included 6,093 news items posted in 45 regional online media of 9 oblasts of Ukraine (Volyn, Dnipro, Donetsk (unoccupied part), Kropyvnytsky, Odesa, Rivne, Kharkiv, Kherson (unoccupied part), Cherkasy) from January 9 to 13, 2023, of which 241 were news about volunteer initiatives. The analysis included news items posted on online media. Analytics/articles/interviews, journalistic investigations, corporate/political jeansa presented in forms other than news, op-eds/blogs, announcements were not analyzed.

The monitoring was conducted by way of analyzing of the amount of news items about volunteer initiatives, in particular, local/regional volunteer initiatives, national volunteer initiatives, international volunteer initiatives, private volunteer initiatives, other volunteer initiatives. We also analyzed the amount of news about volunteer initiatives that had possibly been commissioned.

The monitoring included the following online media:

Volyn (IA Volynski Novyny, VolynPost, Volyn24, Rayon.in.ua, IA Konkurent), Dnipro (Dnepr Operativny (dnepr.express), Dnipro Panorama (dnpr.com.ua), Informator (dp.informator.ua), gorod.dp.ua, 056.ua), Donetsk (0629, Karachun, Mariupol City, Novyny Donbasu, Vostochny Variant), Kropyvnytsky (Hrechka, Bez Kupyur, Tochka Dostupu, CBN, Dozor), Odesa (Dumska, Odesa.Online, 048, Odeske Zhyttia, USI), Rivne (Rivne Vechirne, Radio Track, Rivne Media, Rivne 1, OGO), Kharkiv (VGorode.Kharkiv, 057.ua, Status Quo, Newsroom, Redpost), Kherson (Kherson Online, Tipichny Kherson, Vhoru, Suspilne Kherson, Kavun.city), Cherkasy (18000, Procherk, Provse, Zmi.ck.ua, Vycherpno).