News portals most important source of information for Estonians
According to a survey commissioned by the Government Office and conducted by pollster Turu-uuringute AS, 53 percent of Estonians identified Estonian news portals (ERR.ee, Postimees.ee and Delfi.ee) in both Estonian and Russian as their primary source for news and information.
The second most popular source of news (48 percent) for Estonians are Estonian-language TV channels (ETV, ETV2, Kanal 2 and TV3). Social media ranks third with 37 percent, followed by radio at 31 percent.
Foreign media channels were named as an important news source by 14 percent of respondents, while 26 percent mentioned communication with friends and family.
Estonian Russian-language TV channels were identified by 12 percent of respondents, the same percentage that mentioned national daily and weekly newspapers. Local newspapers were mentioned by 10 percent of those surveyed.
Among all respondents, 3 percent cited Russian TV channels as an important source of information and an equal 3 percent named Russian news portals.
Political party information portals, such as Uued Uudised, were considered an important source by 2 percent of respondents.
When analyzed by nationality, Estonian respondents identified Estonian-language TV channels as their most important source of information (68 percent), followed by Estonian news portals (58 percent) and radio (39 percent). Social media ranked fourth at 30 percent.
In contrast, among respondents of other nationalities, social media was the top source (51 percent), followed by Estonian news portals (45 percent) and thirdly, Russian-language Estonian TV channels and programs (32 percent).
The survey also explored which social media platforms and channels were followed more closely. The most followed content (53 percent) consisted of official accounts of news outlets. News shared by friends and acquaintances was second (45 percent), and news suggested by platform algorithms ranked third (44 percent).
Bloggers and influencers were followed by 36 percent of respondents, while 20 percent followed social media groups. The least followed accounts were those of Estonian authorities, with only 10 percent.
The survey by Turu-uuringute AS was conducted in late September and included responses from 1,258 Estonian residents aged 15 and older.
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Editor: Marcus Turovski
