40% news in Ukrainian online media cite social media as the source – IMI study

Illustration by the IMI

The prominence of social media as a source of information for news outlets is constantly growing. According to a new study by the IMI, 40% of news in Ukrainian online media cite social media as a source, which is 13.4% more than in the previous monitoring study.

“The majority of such news (57%) cite posts on Telegram. Facebook accounts for 17.5% of the news citing social media as the source. The news most often come from the accounts of state bodies and officials. This indicates that Telegram is currently a key platform for communication between the authorities and the public,” the study says.

IMI experts also emphasize that the media’s dependence on social networks calls adherence to journalistic standards into question, as media teams are using information from social media without proper verification increasingly often. This increases the risk of spreading misinformation or incomplete facts.

News sources in Ukrainian media

On the other hand, state bodies and officials, who increasingly use Telegram to shape the news agenda directly, need to diversify their communication strategies to reduce risks and ensure the accessibility of information for different groups of citizens.

The monitoring sample included 10 popular online media outlets in Ukraine: Ukrainian Pravda, Korespondent, Channel 24, Censor, RBC-Ukraine, Obozrevatel, NV, TSN, Focus, and UNIAN. The IMI expert identified and processed the news items with links to social media out of 150 news on each website, posted consecutively from 9:00 a.m. on November 20, 2024.