Report on monitoring of federal television channels during the twelfth week (31 August – 6 September) of the election campaign for the election of deputies to the State Duma of the Russian Federation of the IX convocation, scheduled for 20 September 2026
The “Atlas of Elections” project has launched a weekly monitoring programme of federal television channels during the State Duma deputy election period. We will track how equitably the activities of election participants are covered on state-controlled federal television channels.
Television remains one of the main sources of information for many Russians. At the same time, society places a special role on the media — they are responsible for creating conditions for citizens to conduct public political discussion. Both the Constitution of Russia and many international pacts require the media to take ethical and balanced positions and to cover the election process in a fair, balanced and impartial manner. Media representatives must not engage in campaigning.
The results of the media monitoring will be published weekly.
Key findings for the twelfth week of the campaign
Two weeks before the start of voting, television channels did not increase the volume of airtime devoted to the elections. At the same time, almost ¾ of the party airtime went to United Russia — 62 minutes out of the 89 allocated by the channels to stories about parties. Moreover, to support the party of power, once again during the campaign it was necessary to use the figure of the president, covering his meeting with the top five of the party’s list. In addition, the stories were linked to working trips by party representatives, the implementation of the “People’s Programme”, social infrastructure, and support for participants in the special military operation and veterans.
The other parliamentary parties were allocated significantly less time; coverage of their work was considerably narrower and concentrated around individual topics and public speeches by party leaders. For the Communist Party (CPRF), the main topics were public speeches by Gennady Zyuganov, patriotic education, historical memory and the party’s economic proposals. New People received airtime mainly thanks to the development of programmes in the sphere of inclusion, family support and initiatives related to road traffic. The LDPR’s agenda was focused on housing and utilities problems, industrial policy, and support for students and families. For A Just Russia, the main topics were education, housing and utilities tariffs and social policy.
Of the non-parliamentary parties, for the second week in a row federal television mentioned only the Greens. TV Centre reported on an environmental initiative by party representatives related to river pollution in Chuvashia.
Number and content of news stories
On Russia 1, NTV and TV Centre, the share of news bulletins containing stories about the elections continued to decline. On Russia 1, the share of such bulletins over the week fell from 47% to 26%, i.e. by 21 percentage points compared to the previous week. On TV Centre, the figure fell from 16% to zero. Channel One, Channel Five and OTR, on the contrary, slightly increased their attention to the topic: by 2.5 p.p. on Channel One, by just under 2 p.p. on OTR and by 4 p.p. on Channel Five.
The total federal airtime allocated to stories about the elections remained at the level of the previous week — about 89 minutes.
The total duration of election stories on different channels changed in different directions. On Channel One, Russia 1 and NTV, less airtime was devoted to the election topic than a week earlier. Channel Five, OTR and TV Centre, on the contrary, slightly increased the volume of coverage. TV Centre increased its airtime most noticeably — by 8 minutes compared to the previous week, to 23 minutes over the week.
Distribution of airtime between parties
The mention of parties on federal television channels remains extremely low and continues to be uneven.
The distribution of airtime is also uneven. Of the 89 minutes allocated by the channels to covering the pre-election agenda, 62 minutes (i.e. almost ¾ of the total time) went to United Russia. The remaining time was also distributed between the parties in different volumes: the CPRF received 8.8 minutes, the LDPR — 7.5 minutes, New People — 5.5 minutes, A Just Russia — just over 4 minutes. All non-parliamentary parties combined accounted for less than a minute: the Green party received a short story dedicated to its environmental agenda. The other non-parliamentary parties were not mentioned on air.
The most substantive broadcasts remain those dedicated to United Russia. The party almost doubled its airtime over the week, even though the number of its mentions barely grew. Correspondingly, the average duration of stories about its activities also increased — reaching almost 2.7 minutes. All other parties mentioned on air received, on average, short stories of less than one minute.
United Russia also gained an advantage through a more diverse audience — it was featured by five of the six federal television channels included in the study. New People were somewhat behind on this indicator — stories about the party appeared on four channels. The CPRF, LDPR and A Just Russia were each featured on three channels. Parties were most widely represented on TV Centre: this week the channel dedicated stories to six parties participating in the election campaign, including the Greens, who had previously received minimal attention on television.
Tone of mentions
The tone of coverage of party activities remains positive-neutral. The largest share of positive mentions, as before, goes to United Russia — 89% of all stories about the party. Next comes New People: television channels reported on the party in a favourable light in 71% of stories. In stories about the CPRF and LDPR, a positive tone was recorded in roughly one third of all stories. The activities of the non-parliamentary Greens were covered only in a neutral light.
If we trace the tone throughout the entire election campaign, in the twelfth week two parties at once — United Russia and New People — approached record figures. For United Russia, this week marks the third-highest result in terms of positive coverage (if we exclude the very first week of the campaign), and for New People — the second-highest. However, the CPRF also came close to its peak values in the tone rating, but at a much more modest level, since this party is, in principle, covered much more restrainedly.
News pegs of the week
United Russia
The main and most widely covered news peg this week for United Russia was Vladimir Putin’s meeting with the top five of the party’s federal list: Sergei Lavrov, Sergei Sobyanin, Yevgeny Poddubny, Maria Lvova-Belova and Vladislav Golovin.
The meeting was covered in detail on Channel One (the story about the meeting aired three times), Russia 1, TV Centre, Channel Five and OTR. The focus was on the final stage of the election campaign and the party’s work after the elections, as well as issues of strengthening Russian statehood, social and economic development and support for participants in the special military operation. Among the party’s proposals were reducing the mortgage rate for large families when buying or building a house, additional benefits for purchasing more powerful cars, and solving problems with free medical care for special military operation veterans. TV Centre also reported on voters’ proposals, including the protracted reconstruction of the embankment in Arkhangelsk. On OTR, the main attention was paid to the proposals of the party list leaders, in particular initiatives to support large families and protect regions from drones. On Channel Five, the emphasis was placed on demographic issues.
Another important topic of the week was the implementation of the party’s “People’s Programme”. Russia 1 and TV Centre covered Vladimir Yakushev’s working trips: in Tyumen he assessed the results of the major renovation of an ambulance station and visited a new school, and in Surgut he inspected a new blood transfusion station. TV Centre also showed an on-site inspection of “People’s Programme” projects in the regions, in particular the reconstruction of the city park of culture and recreation in Bryanka, LPR, which began this year. Russia 1 aired a story about the opening of a sports complex built under the “People’s Programme”.
A series of stories was dedicated to the military-patriotic agenda. In a Channel One story, Yevgeny Poddubny visited military enterprises and gave a speech about victory. Russia 1 showed Poddubny’s speech to journalism students; in his speech, Poddubny spoke about information pressure from the adversary and the role of journalists in protecting society.
A TV Centre story reported that Vladimir Vasilyev spoke at the youth forum “Day of Solidarity in the Fight against Terrorism” and delivered an emotional speech about supporting the president’s policy, the special military operation and countering international evil.
Channel One aired a story about a meeting with Vladimir Putin on strengthening the memory of Russia’s military glory, at which United Russia’s proposal to award additional cities the title “City of Military Glory” was voiced.
The party’s sports agenda was presented on Russia 1 in a story about the final of the “Strength of Russia” marathon. The broadcast emphasised that this United Russia project is designed to make sport accessible to everyone.
CPRF
The main news pegs for the CPRF were the historical-patriotic agenda, education and work with youth, cooperation with China and the party’s economic programme.
Russia 1 and TV Centre aired stories about how Gennady Zyuganov visited Vasily Nesterenko’s art gallery with an exhibition about defenders of Russia, including participants in the special military operation. Zyuganov called for remembering the country’s history and honouring its heroes, linking this topic to the modern struggle against Nazism. Separately, TV Centre covered an action marking the “76th anniversary of the victory over militarist Japan” and the end of the Second World War, during which party representatives laid flowers at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier.
On Channel One, Zyuganov spoke about the accessibility of education and recalled his experience of studying in a village school. Russia 1 showed him conducting an open lesson for schoolchildren, talking about his teaching experience and emphasising the importance of youth participation in voting.
A separate news peg was the CPRF’s cooperation with China. TV Centre aired a story on the results of five years of work under a memorandum of cooperation with China. Zyuganov spoke about the need to study China’s experience in economic development, solving social problems and developing technology.
During a visit to a bakery enterprise in Moscow Oblast, Zyuganov also spoke about the party’s economic programme. Zyuganov presented the “Victory Programme”, whose main priority he named as preventing the growth of prices, debts and tariffs, and also spoke about a bill introduced by the CPRF on regulating prices for essential goods.
Additionally, Russia 1 covered Zyuganov’s trip to Podolsk, where he visited a monument to Lenin, a farmers’ market and an ice palace.
New People
The main news pegs for the New People party were initiatives in the sphere of supporting people with disabilities and families, public speeches by Vladislav Davankov, and the party’s proposals for reforming road traffic.
One of the main events of the week for the party was the presentation of the “Unified Code of Inclusion”. As noted in stories on TV Centre and Channel Five, the document is aimed at ensuring equal opportunities for people with disabilities in education, medicine, sport and the labour sphere. Among the party’s proposals are the automatic extension of disability status without repeated document collection, free sports activities for children with health limitations, the installation of ramps and a public audit of the urban environment.
The party paid special attention to supporting families. New People joined the “Solo+” project, helped a single mother with essential items for her child and advocated for the creation of regional headquarters to assist such women. In addition, the party proposed a number of support measures for large families, including free parking and automatic placement of children on waiting lists for kindergartens and schools immediately after birth.
Another notable news peg was Vladislav Davankov’s raid in Vladivostok to inspect traffic cameras as part of the “Honest Roads” programme. Together with auto lawyers and road experts, he checked cameras that residents had complained about and announced the preparation of appeals demanding that their operation be adjusted or individual cameras be removed. A story about this aired on TV Centre and Channel Five.
A separate story on Channel One was dedicated to Davankov’s proposals for improving traffic rules. The party leader discussed possible changes to traffic regulations and measures to improve road regulation.
In connection with the start of the school year, Russia 1 showed a story about how Davankov saw his children off to school and took part in the ceremonial school assembly.
LDPR
The main news pegs for the LDPR were housing and utilities problems, the “New Industrialisation” programme, initiatives in the sphere of supporting students and families, and public speeches by Leonid Slutsky in the regions.
The party held a forum “Housing and Utilities: Solving Problems”, dedicated to issues in the housing and communal services sphere, and invited citizens to send complaints to party offices to identify systemic violations. On TV Centre, Leonid Slutsky spoke about the high degree of wear and tear of communal infrastructure in certain regions, inflated tariffs and misuse of funds, and called for unscrupulous management companies to be checked.
In Tver, Slutsky met with homeowners and proposed banning the forced appointment of management companies at the federal level, simplifying the procedure for replacing them and establishing liability for refusing to transfer documents, keys and access to facilities to a new management company.
Another news peg this week was the “New Industrialisation” programme. In Samara Oblast, Leonid Slutsky visited an enterprise producing tanks and reservoirs and spoke about the decline in production capacity utilisation due to reduced consumer demand. As one measure, he proposed creating an industrial bank or a network of banks with lending to industrial enterprises at a rate not exceeding 5%.
On Channel One and Russia 1, Slutsky also put forward initiatives in the housing and utilities sphere, and spoke about the need to increase student scholarships and expand opportunities for students in the regions.
The party’s campaign to collect signatures in support of Russia’s families was covered separately. The party proposes abolishing the property qualification for child benefits, making subsidised mortgages more accessible, and increasing the social protection of families. It was reported that more than 560,000 signatures have already been collected.
A Just Russia
The main news pegs of the week for A Just Russia were the party’s proposals to limit the growth of housing and utilities tariffs, work with youth and the patriotic agenda.
On TV Centre, the party presented initiatives to curb the growth of housing and utilities tariffs. It was reported that more than a million signatures had been collected against the upcoming tariff increase in October. The party proposed cancelling the October increase, introducing a moratorium until the end of the year, allowing tariff indexation no more than once a year and limiting it to the level of inflation. The party also advocated for tariff increases to be agreed with the State Duma.
Sergei Kabyshev met with students. Channel One quoted his words about the Russian higher education system and the need for its development without orientation towards foreign models. TV Centre showed Kabyshev’s meeting with students of the Moscow State Law University as part of the “Open Tribune” project, where youth problems, the work of parliament and changes in education legislation initiated by the party were discussed. Russia 1 also reported on a meeting of party representatives with students on 1 September.
Another news peg was the presentation of the collection “For the Father’s Home and for One’s Country. Literature of Fighting Luhansk” at the Moscow International Book Fair. TV Centre reported that the publication was issued with the party’s assistance. At the presentation, Ruslan Tatarinov spoke about the authors of the collection and the unifying role of literature dedicated to the events of the special military operation.
In Krasnodar Krai, party representatives also took part in a commemorative event at the memorial to those who died during the Great Patriotic War and met with activists. During the meeting, issues of military pensions and state support for servicemen returning from the front were touched upon.
Greens
The only non-parliamentary party to receive a mention on federal television this week was the Green party.
TV Centre aired a story about the party’s fight against river pollution in Chuvashia. It concerned the Kubnya and Vyrasilka rivers — tributaries of the Volga, which are threatened by biological waste from a local dairy production facility and chemical pollution. According to party representatives, fish are dying in the rivers, but local authorities, despite residents’ complaints, are not taking the necessary measures to solve the problem.
Rodina, Party of Direct Democracy, Communists of Russia, Party of Pensioners
Rodina, the Party of Direct Democracy, Communists of Russia and the Party of Pensioners did not appear on television during the twelfth week.
Stories about the work of the CEC
This week, in stories about the work of the Central Election Commission (CEC), the main attention was paid to the organisation of early voting, remote electronic voting, the engagement of young voters and the use of new technologies.
One of the main news pegs was the start of early voting. Russia 1 reported on its conduct in remote regions and in the new territories, as well as abroad. Early voting began in 45 countries; a total of 319 polling stations are planned to open in 152 countries. In this context, a Russia 1 story said that Western countries might try to obstruct the voting of Russians abroad.
Separately, the accessibility of remote electronic voting was reported: Russia 1 reported that 2 million Russians have already decided to participate in online voting.
As in previous weeks, the organisation of voting in remote and hard-to-reach localities remains an important topic. NTV reported on tests of delivering ballots and returning protocols using drones in Kemerovo Oblast, Krasnoyarsk Krai, Karelia and Arkhangelsk Oblast. It was reported that unmanned boats are also planned to be used.
Another story this week is linked to work with youth: the CEC, together with Rosmolodyozh and the “Russia — Land of Opportunities” platform, launched the “Be with the Country” campaign. The project is aimed at 18-year-old voters participating in voting for the first time. As part of the campaign, voters will be able to leave a memory of their first vote on an online map and participate in other events, including the “Matter of Choice” game. Stories dedicated to the campaign aired on Russia 1 and NTV.
Methodology
Six federal television channels included in the first multiplex and enjoying the greatest popularity among viewers were selected for the media monitoring — Channel One, Russia 1, NTV, TV Centre, Channel Five, OTR.
On each of the six channels, news bulletins available in video archives were analysed. During the twelfth week of the election campaign, from 31 August to 6 September 2026, 216 news bulletins were studied (Channel One — 38 bulletins, Russia 1 — 34 bulletins, NTV — 36 bulletins, TV Centre — 29 bulletins, OTR — 55 bulletins, Channel Five — 24 bulletins).
We analysed each news bulletin for the presence of stories about political parties. If stories about parties were present, we were interested in the following indicators:
the number of mentions of the party;
the time allocated to the party;
the tone of the information (positive, neutral, negative);
the presence of direct speech by party representatives;
the presence in the story of voters’ opinions about the parties;
characteristics of the parties voiced by the anchor or voiceover.