Description
States rely on domestic mass media to cultivate sentiments of national belonging among citizens. If certain groups engage less with domestic media than with foreign or transnational alternatives, this can prompt concern about societal cohesion and unwanted foreign influence. Such concern is evident in Ukraine, where Russian influence via the media is regarded as a particularly significant security threat. This paper uses original, regionally representative survey data to explain variation in the level of attention that Ukrainian citizens pay to local, national and cross-border news media. It considers both supply-side factors (such as ease of access) and demand-side factors (including language preferences and political interest) in a comparative study that includes three diverse peripheral locations – Odesa, Sumy and Zakarpattia regions – as well as the political centre, Kyiv. The paper then studies how different news diets and levels of engagement with foreign sources affect support for democracy and norms of good citizenship, as well as belief in disinformation. The paper aims to prompt deeper reflection about the relationship between media use and national security, in a world where citizens increasingly inhabit ‘borderless’ digital media environments.
