IMI monitoring: Online media cover the Kursk incursion more than other hostilities

The Ukrainian army's incursion into the Kursk region of Russia changed the agenda of Ukraine's online media completely, overshadowing the difficult situation in the Donetsk area, as evidenced by the monitoring conducted by the Institute of Mass Information in late August, covering 10 national media outlets.

The data showed 61% of war-related news in the media to cover the fighting in the Kursk region, while 24% of the news covered the developments in Donetsk oblast.

The coverage of battlefield areas in online media. Diagram by the IMI

The Kharkiv area and Southern area accounted for 4.5% of the news each. The information about these areas was primarily coming from the press officers of the brigades defending them.

3% of news were about Crimea and another 3% about the situation on the Belarus border, where the dictator Lukashenka began to withdraw his troops.

As for other war-related news, reports on shelling strikes in Ukraine, which significantly increased in late August, prevailed (51%). 16% of the news were about shelling in Russia: mainly drone strikes on the Rostov oil depot, which Ukrainian media covered with references to Russian social media.

11% of the war news were about Ukraine's partner states providing military aid by supplying weapons and supporting the country financially.

"The study makes it obvious that the media gravitate towards positive news about the battlefield situation and switch focus to happier developments if there are any, perhaps even avoiding negative reports," says IMI analyst Olena Holub.

The study covered 10 national media outlets: TSN.ua, NV, Ukrainian Pravda, Censor.Net, UNIAN, RBC-Ukraine, Obozrevatel, Channel 24, Babel, and Suspilne.