“ANGRY TOWNSPEOPLE” ON THE TV SCREEN AND THEIR PERCEPTION BY TV-VIEWERS ON COUNTRYSIDEIlya Kiriya, professor,ikiria@hse.ru Anna Novikova, professor, anovikova@hse.ru media communication dept., National Research University Higher School of Economics (Moscow), www.hse.ru

Conference Protest and the MediaWestminster University

12-13 June, 2013

Methodology• Two steps methodology: supply (content and visual analysis of television news and

political programs during two campaigns) and demand (how protest showed by television news are perceived by most conservative audiences - rural population)

• Content analysis:• Sampling: prime time television news on three television channels (The first, Russia

1 and NTV)• Two waves of survey: 14 November - 25 December 2011 (3 weeks before and 3

weeks after Duma elections) and 4 February - 16 March 2012 (4 weeks before and 2 after president elections). Total about 171 hours of video, 3000 stories.

• Count unit - TV story• Methodology by Sergei Davydov (HSE) and Sarah Oates (Glasgow University)

• Reception study: • Project by Laboratory of media studies Center for fundamental research HSE• Mixed methodology: deep interviews with elements of ethnographic survey• 35 rural households (only local population) in rural settlement Ugory, Manturovsky

district, Kostroma region (600 km from Moscow, 200 km from nearest big city) equipped by satellite TV reception (multichannel environment).

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Place of electoral stories within agenda of channels

3

Political parties mentioned during and after Duma campaign

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Election results (%) 49,32 19,19 13,24 11,67 0,600,973,43

Mentions of political party leaders during Duma campaign

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From 317 quotes of Medvedev only 97 are referring directly to Duma elections.

Mentions of key persons during and after Duma campaign

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Non system opposition leaders

Mentions of candidates during and after presidential campaign

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From 359 mentions of Putin 180 are referring to president elections.

Election result (%)

63,60 17,18 7,98 6,22 3,85

Mentions of key persons during and after presidential campaign

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Non system opposition leaders

Depicting non-system opposition• Some kind of imitation campaign (purely decorative). Only the activity

of president and prime minister (not directly affected by elections) has been largely covered

• Protest movement amplified the presence of non-system opposition leaders within state controlled television news.

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Stories about rallies during and after Duma campaign

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11 2259

Protest rallies Support rallies

Number of stories Length of stories

7:15:47

1:18:37

0:54:52

Protest rallies Support rallies

Stories about rallies during and after presidential campaign

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44 51102 7:08:18

6:20:51

4:00:44

Protest rallies Support rallies Protest rallies Support rallies

Number of stories Length of stories

Tonality of stories concerning rallies

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n=3097 n=216 n=128

Three methods of visual separation of "others" (opposition in general)

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SpaceConstruction of

social profileChoosing

images and filming points

Choice of place for rallies and visualizing number of participants

Splitting the social distance between participants of rallies and ordinary TV viewer.

Visual differentiation of different rallies

Space

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Social profile

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Shooting images and points

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Television presenting protests

• At the first stage protests has been banned on the TV which could be identified from growing up of such stories after Duma campaign. It demonstrates also some isolation of opposition from general media landscape.

• Protests amplified the presence of some non-formal opposition leaders on the TV

• Than at the second stage TV adopted some methods allowing it to separate interests of opposition depicted by stories from general interests of viewers without banning stories about opposition.

• During second wave of survey we could find that length of stories about protests became more brief (instead separate reports such news has been more often illustrated by more compact genres like "voice off")

• TV in Russia presenting it at the manner that in countryside people will inevitably sympathize to acting power.

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General lack of trust in television news

• Respondents doesn’t trust to television news because it doesn’t reflecting their everyday life.

• Such television news are irritating me. They [television news makers] are braggarts (61 years, middle statute).

• Everything and everywhere is a lies (83 years, lower statute).• I watching television news rarely! I turn television on but their gossip… I’m bored

with it (55 years, middle statute).• They are showing only the negative. As they are doing it specially (39 years, upper

statute).• You don’t know to whom believe! What program to believe? (37 years, upper

statute).• I’m not trusting television news because within internet they are quite different. My

husband is watching sometime news [on internet] (37 years, uppers statute).• Within television news rural television viewers are much more interested by weather

forecast (like matter more connected to their everyday life):• We are watching just now to know, when the weather will change (25 years, middle

statute).• I’m watching the news because after each news program there is a weather

forecast. And we are looking to the sky because soon there will be haymaking time (61 years, middle statute).

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Depicting "alien" life

• Television news represents for them a tool of communication with authorities. • Rural audience is not interested by political or social problems which are

discussed in such programs. They are considered like being quite far from everyday needs of rural population.

• Television talk shows are perceived by respondent like annoying, very long and senseless. The necessity to analyse different points of views, to compare arguments, to do some conclusions by themselves is not attiring them:

• I don’t know to whom trust: ones are glorifying another are slandering (82 years, low statute).

• Why we need it – to try to understand something? The main is that personally we lived well, that no one presses us. Neither by taxed nor another things. And we will clear ourselves (39 years, middle statute).

• They (political leaders) should bring much more attention to countryside and not to be concentrated towards towns and cities… They are coming to Kostroma for instance, the governor is close to them, they came, discussed something, took the plane and leaved. But in reality they saw nothing, they never communicated with people, they are ignoring how we are living.

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Rallies and protests perception

• All of them are annoyed by “townspeople” expressing their “civic position” and they perceive them like “aliens”. From another hand such countryside people doesn’t associate themselves with “power supporters” which are also depicted by them like “aliens”.

• Rural population is self-positioning quite far from any power and any state and sometimes are ignoring the state as an institution that’s why they are depolitized.

• They are saying “state”, “state” but in reality we have no state, anything is private. What is state living with? With taxes. So, they have no another discourse than about taxes, taxes. In old times everything was in hands of the state but actually you couldn’t ask anything to this state… Previously there vas state monopoly for vodka, cigarettes, oil, gas and was possible to ask the state for anything and for agriculture… And now who will be responsible for anything? I see no perspectives, anything is sold abroad. We are not interested in politics.

• Such depolitisation of population is provoking quite low level of understanding and of memorizing rallies. Some respondents couldn’t remember anything about it.

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Conclusion

• The visual and discursive separation of protesters from actual power and from needs of ordinary population made by federal television has no sense in countryside

• Rural population doesn't trust to the right degree either "protesters" (because self expression values are quite far from them and they doesn't find sense to such activities) or authorities which are quite far from them and according to them doesn't affect their everyday life

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THANK YOU!http://mediacom.hse.ru

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