Report on monitoring of federal television channels during the eighth week of the election campaign (3-9 August) for the election of deputies to the State Duma of the Russian Federation of the ninth convocation, scheduled for 20 September 2026
The Elections Atlas project has launched a programme of weekly monitoring of federal television channels during the State Duma election campaign. We will track how balanced the coverage of election participants is on state-controlled federal television channels.
Television remains one of the main sources of information for many Russians. At the same time, society has assigned a special role to the media — they are responsible for creating conditions for citizens to conduct a public political discussion. Both the Russian Constitution and many international covenants 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 are published weekly.
During the eighth week of the campaign (3-9 August), the main events were a lawsuit by the Rodina party demanding the cancellation of Yabloko’s registration, as well as an attack on Yabloko by the leaders of A Just Russia, the CPRF and the LDPR. The court hearing itself, which led to the cancellation of Yabloko’s federal list registration, will be covered in next week’s review.
Key findings for the eighth week of the campaign
The airtime of federal television channels last week was largely devoted to criticism of the Yabloko party ahead of the court hearing at which it was decided to cancel the registration of its federal list for the State Duma election. The leaders of the CPRF, the LDPR, A Just Russia and Rodina criticised their opponents on air. At the same time, Yabloko members themselves were not given direct speech, and their position was not reflected in any way.
The television channels also actively criticised parties that refused to sign an agreement with the Civic Chamber on organising election observation. The CPRF, A Just Russia, the Direct Democracy Party and Yabloko received negative comments as a result.
The amount of airtime allocated to United Russia increased significantly — by this measure the party surpassed all its competitors combined. Many of these stories were openly campaign-oriented, extolling the achievements of the party’s candidates. For example, in one story, a television channel announcer emphasised that during Sobyanin’s years in power Moscow had become “one of the most comfortable and dynamically developing cities in the world”.
The main news peg for federal television airtime in the eighth week of the election campaign was again its technical side, this time — the drawing of lots at the CEC that determined the order in which 11 political parties would appear on the ballot paper. The story about the drawing of lots was accompanied by reports of a meeting between the chair of the Central Election Commission of Russia, Ella Pamfilova, and Vladimir Putin. During this event, Pamfilova spoke about preparations for the election, the composition of party lists and the number of candidates — participants in the special military operation (SVO) — for each party separately.
Number and content of news stories
As in the previous week, the share of news stories devoted to the election varied across different television channels. Channel One, after a significant reduction in attention to this topic last week, has now increased the share of election-related broadcasts to 34%, the highest figure in all eight weeks of the election campaign. On Channel Five, the share of broadcasts containing election stories almost quadrupled, reaching 16%. OTR maintained the previous week’s figures, while NTV increased the share of such broadcasts by 2%. At the same time, Russia 1 and TV Centre more than halved the amount of airtime devoted to this topic.
The total duration of Channel One’s election-related stories also increased significantly, reaching a record 55 minutes for the week. As a result, the total amount of airtime that all television channels devoted to the election topic increased by more than one and a half times — from 61 to 107 minutes. This is the best figure for the entire campaign period.
Thanks to this increase in attention from television channels, election participants reached a fairly diverse audience. The “parliamentary five” parties were mentioned on all six television channels included in the monitoring. Rodina and Yabloko appeared on five television channels, the remaining parties — on four television channels, except for the Party of Pensioners (three television channels).
Distribution of airtime between parties
As in previous weeks, United Russia was the leader in the number of mentions in election-related stories, receiving 48 mentions in the past week, the highest figure for the entire campaign period. A feature of this week was the active mention of Yabloko and the Greens, who surpassed A Just Russia in this indicator and almost caught up with New People and the LDPR.
The number of mentions also increased significantly for other non-parliamentary parties, which had received minimal attention on television in previous weeks.
Along with the number of mentions, the total airtime allocated to the United Russia party increased significantly — 57 minutes for the week, more than in the previous two weeks combined and more than all other parties combined. The amount of airtime devoted to the Yabloko party also tripled. However, despite this, the party’s own representatives were not given the opportunity to speak on air — representatives of other parties spoke about them, and mostly negatively (see below).
United Russia also remains the only party whose stories are truly substantive in nature. The average duration of a story about the “party of power” this week almost reached two minutes, while the closest pursuer in this indicator was the CPRF with an average story duration of half a minute.
Tone of mentions
In the past week, a sharply negative tone in the coverage of political party activities was recorded for the first time. The main target of criticism was Yabloko, with representatives of several parties making negative statements about it.
The CPRF and A Just Russia were also mentioned in a negative light; like Yabloko, they refused to join the Civic Chamber’s agreement on cooperation in election observation (but there were also positive comments about the CPRF, thanks to which the party remained in the “green zone” of our tone rating). The Direct Democracy Party also faced a negative tone in stories.
News pegs of the week
United Russia
The main news pegs for United Russia in the eighth week were the participation of party representatives in the Territory of Meanings forum, the work activities of Sergei Sobyanin, events at the Public Support Headquarters, the formation of the party’s “people’s programme”, participation in the public observation agreement and receiving the first number on the ballot paper.
Considerable attention was paid to the drawing of lots at the CEC. United Russia received the first place on the ballot. Channel One showed the party’s candidate Alexander Karelin drawing the first number. Ella Pamfilova told Vladimir Putin about the drawing of lots procedure. At the end of the story about Pamfilova’s meeting with Putin, it was reported that 52 of United Russia’s 110 candidates are “SVO veterans” — the largest number among the parties.
Channel One covered Sergei Sobyanin’s participation in the Territory of Meanings forum. The announcer specifically emphasised that Sobyanin is in the top five of United Russia’s candidates for the State Duma.
Other United Russia representatives also took part in a discussion at the Territory of Meanings forum. The main topic was providing assistance to SVO participants and applying their experience in the civilian sphere. The head of the main staff of the Young Army (Yunarmiya), Vladislav Golovin, spoke about the experience of adapting to civilian life. It was specifically emphasised that he is a party candidate. Lvova-Belova also spoke at the forum, talking about child protection.
Sergei Sobyanin gave an interview to the TASS news agency. At the beginning of the story, it was reminded that he had been nominated by the party as a candidate for the State Duma. The announcer emphasised that during Sobyanin’s years in power Moscow had become “one of the most comfortable and dynamically developing cities in the world”. Sobyanin spoke about the development of Moscow, its impact on the Russian economy, cooperation with the Ministry of Defence and measures to protect the city from Ukrainian drones.
The “people’s programme” of United Russia was covered separately. On Russia 1, it was reported that it would be focused on developing technological sovereignty and the defence-industrial complex. Vladislav Golovin stated this during a meeting in Perm. It was also reported that the party supports the introduction of programmes to attract young people to such industries.
Another news peg was the shipment of a cargo of military equipment to the front. United Russia, the Our Truth foundation and the Centre for Unmanned Technologies participated in the project. The story featured direct speech from the head of the central executive committee of United Russia, Alexander Sidyakin.
CPRF
The main news pegs for the CPRF were Gennady Zyuganov’s trip to Oryol, education issues and the party’s participation in the drawing of lots to determine the order of parties on the ballot paper.
In connection with the drawing of lots, Channel One reported that the CPRF had received the first number twice in previous elections. CPRF Central Committee Secretary Alexander Yushchenko stated that eight is Zyuganov’s favourite number. As a result of the drawing of lots, the CPRF received the eighth number. Pamfilova also reported that nine candidates from the CPRF are SVO participants.
Channel One and Russia 1 covered in detail Gennady Zyuganov’s trip to Oryol to participate in festive events marking the 83rd anniversary of the city’s liberation from the Nazi German invaders. He visited the Turgenev estate, a memorial to soldiers, met with party members at the Lenin monument and gave a speech at the university, where a personal study was dedicated to him. In one of the stories, it was noted that Zyuganov gave the city residents a kind of party mandate ahead of the upcoming election.
On OTR, the CPRF was mentioned in the context of the agreement with the Civic Chamber: the party did not join the agreement on joint election observation.
LDPR
The main news pegs for the LDPR were Leonid Slutsky’s working trips to Altai Krai and Tyumen Oblast, party initiatives in the social and economic sphere, the party’s participation in the public observation agreement and the results of the drawing of lots.
On Channel One, Slutsky spoke about the need for unity and support for the country and the president, while Pamfilova reported that 11 candidates from the LDPR are SVO participants. The LDPR was also among the parties whose representatives signed an agreement on cooperation with the Civic Chamber on election observation.
On Russia 1, Slutsky’s working trip to Altai Krai was reported. He examined issues of developing social infrastructure, accessibility of healthcare and education, support for the agro-industrial complex, the condition of housing and the reasonableness of utility payments. Following the trip, the party launched the “What are we paying for?” initiative. Slutsky also proposed measures to support food producers. In Tyumen Oblast, he visited a plant producing high-tech equipment for the oil and gas industry and stated the need to give priority to domestic producers of metal products and machinery.
On Channel Five, Leonid Slutsky’s criticism of Yabloko was cited; in particular, he stated that the party, in his opinion, should be recognised as an undesirable organisation.
New People
The main news pegs for the New People party were participation in the public observation agreement, the party’s social initiatives, Alexei Nechaev’s participation in the drawing of lots and the party receiving the last, eleventh number on the ballot paper.
In connection with the drawing of lots, the party was mentioned in the general order of election participants on the ballot. Alexei Nechaev was shown separately drawing the number. Nechaev stated that any place is good because “it is not the place that makes the party, but the party that makes the place”. In another story, his words were cited: “We close the ballot — we open opportunities for people.” It was reported that representatives of New People signed an agreement on cooperation in election observation together with the Civic Chamber.
NTV reported on a round table held by New People, which was devoted to providing medicines to people suffering from diabetes. The television broadcast also reported on the participation of party representatives in a single day of helping animal shelters as part of the “Good People” project. Davankov spoke about the project’s volunteer activities. Another story mentioned an initiative to inform drivers about disputed locations of traffic cameras and to create a public map of such locations.
A Just Russia
The main news pegs for A Just Russia were proposals on social policy, the party’s participation in the drawing of lots and Sergei Mironov’s criticism of Yabloko.
On Channel One, in a story about the drawing of lots, a statement by Marina Kim was cited that the party considers initiatives, amendments and legislation through the lens of helping SVO veterans, SVO participants and their families. Pamfilova reported that 11 candidates from A Just Russia are SVO participants.
On Russia 1, it was reported that A Just Russia proposed raising the minimum wage to a level reflecting the real needs of citizens. The party’s initiatives were related to increasing wages, benefits and compensation for pensioners. Mironov stated that the party would fight for fair treatment of pensioners and working people.
On Channel Five, Sergei Mironov sharply criticised Yabloko. He stated that the Prosecutor General’s Office and other bodies should pay attention to this party and raise the question of the possibility of it using its election programme to spread its ideas. In the story, Mironov called Yabloko representatives foreign agents, saboteurs and traitors.
Rodina
The main news pegs for the Rodina party were participation in the drawing of lots and criticism of Yabloko.
On Channel One, after the drawing of lots, the party was mentioned in the new order of election participants on the ballot. In direct speech, the chair of Rodina, Alexei Zhuravlev, stated that to win the SVO it is necessary to “crush the Bandera movement”. Pamfilova emphasised that 12 candidates from Rodina are SVO participants.
On Channel Five, it was reported that the Rodina party had called for Yabloko to be removed from the election. The reasons cited included the use of banned social networks, violations in campaign financing and extremism. Alexei Zhuravlev also stated that Yabloko’s statements that there is no need to liberate “primordially Russian lands” violate the Constitution.
Yabloko
This week, the party received more attention on television than before. However, the increase in the number of mentions of the party occurred due to an increase in the number of critical statements directed at it. The main news pegs for Yabloko this week were the determination of the party’s serial number on the ballot paper and reports of criticism of the party by other political forces.