Most people in Lithuania do not miss Russian television programs, but 14 percent still watch them, according to a survey commissioned by the Radio and Television Commission of Lithuania (RTCL).
Four out of five respondents answered “no” to the question of whether they miss Russian channels in Lithuania. The percentage was particularly high, at over 90 percent, among young people aged under 29 years, it said in a press release.
Fourteen percent of those polled admitted to having watched TV channels broadcast from Russia recently. This answer was more common among older people, and ethnic Poles or Russians, the media watchdog noted.
Almost half of those who watch TV channels broadcast in Russia said they do so on TV, 34 percent via specialized websites, 27.7 percent via social media platforms, and 14.7 percent via satellite.
YouTube was named as the most frequently used medium to get news from Russian-language TV channels (64.3 percent), followed by Telegram channels with 26.8 percent, Nastoyashcheye Vremia (Current Time) with 19.9 percent, and Dozd TV with 10.5 percent.
More than half of all respondents said they do not watch news on foreign channels at all. Those who do so most often watch the BBC (23.8 percent), followed by Euronews (18.8 percent), CNN (17.7 percent), Deutsche Welle (6.1 percent), and others.
These channels are more likely to be watched by respondents aged under 39 years.
In the survey commissioned by the RTCL, Kantar polled 1,123 people in Lithuania in May.
Lithuania banned Russian and Belarusian TV channels and websites over warmongering and propaganda in the wake of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
In April, the parliament amended the Law on the Provision of Information to the Public, prohibiting the retransmission of programs produced by companies registered in Russia and Belarus for as long as they pose a threat to national security.
Source: BNS
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