Report on monitoring of federal television channels in the tenth week (17–23 August) of the election campaign for the election of deputies to the State Duma of the Russian Federation of the ninth convocation, scheduled for 20 September 2026
The “Atlas of Elections” project has launched a programme of weekly monitoring of federal television channels during the State Duma deputy election period. We will track how balanced the coverage of election participants’ activities is on state-controlled federal television channels.
Television remains one of the main sources of information for many Russians. At the same time, society assigns the media a special role — they are responsible for creating the conditions for citizens to conduct public political discussion. Both the Russian Constitution and many international covenants require the media to take ethical and measured positions and to cover the course of elections in a fair, balanced and impartial manner. Media representatives must not engage in campaigning.
The results of the media monitoring are published weekly.
Main findings for the tenth week of the campaign
Federal television channels ignored the main event of the tenth week of the election campaign — the final exclusion of the Yabloko party from the federal ballot. This occurred after, on 17 August, the Appeals Chamber of the Supreme Court upheld the decision to cancel the registration of the party’s federal list. On air, this news hook was replaced by very detailed coverage of the second stage of the United Russia congress: the speech by Vladimir Putin, who directly declared his support for United Russia; the approval of the party’s “People’s Programme” and its content; and speeches by party representatives. Social issues occupied a significant place, above all support for families, children and large families. Another notable theme, as in previous weeks, was support for participants in the special military operation and work with young people. In the reports, the party was characterised as the leading political force with experience in implementing state tasks.
The information campaign about the CPRF’s “Victory Programme” and the party’s activities overall received 10 times less coverage than the United Russia programme and the party of power’s campaign events. The same can be said of the LDPR’s activities. New People and A Just Russia received half as much time again. “Small parties” effectively disappeared from the air. Overall, United Russia this week received 3.5 times more time than all other parties combined.
The main points of the CPRF programme mentioned were: changing the financial and economic course, developing industry, and supporting working people and people’s enterprises. The television channels also reported on Zyuganov’s trip to Tula Oblast and the party’s support for participants in the special military operation. New People promoted practical social initiatives, above all the “Honest Roads” project and Alexei Nechayev’s proposal to create an alimony fund to support mothers. The LDPR built its campaign around social and economic themes — tariffs, healthcare, education and mortgage lending. A Just Russia focused on migration policy, promoting a package of proposals to tighten it.
With the disappearance of the Yabloko party from the air, the editorial policy of the federal television channels as a whole returned to its default settings. They praise and cover United Russia’s activities in detail, while the remaining parties receive strictly neutral and insubstantial reports.
Number and content of news reports
In the tenth week of the election campaign, all six federal channels showed increased attention to the election agenda. This change was most sharply reflected on the TVTs channel, where the share of news bulletins containing election-related reports jumped over the week from 21% to 71%.
The total time allocated to election reports also grew significantly: in the tenth week of the campaign, the television channels devoted a record 278 minutes to this topic — more than in the previous two weeks combined. This was a record for the entire campaign — all thanks to the channels’ desire to cover the ruling party’s congress in every detail.
As a result, United Russia was the only party to receive attention from all six television channels included in our monitoring. Five channels (all except OTR) mentioned New People, while the other parliamentary parties were each mentioned on four channels. Channel One, TVTs and OTR reported on the final removal of Yabloko from the election, while the remaining parties received only very brief mentions on Channel One.
Distribution of airtime between parties
As before, the television channels’ attention to the parties was distributed unevenly. In terms of the number of mentions, United Russia was on a fundamentally different level compared with the other parties — 179 mentions against 33 for its nearest rival.
The chart of the distribution of total airtime allocated to the parties also clearly shows that the growth in attention to the election topic occurred at the expense of a sharp increase in United Russia’s presence: reports about the party were allocated 217 minutes of airtime — 3.5 times more than all other parties combined. Its nearest rivals lagged behind by more than 10 times. The other parliamentary parties also slightly increased their presence on air. Non-parliamentary parties, by contrast, were barely mentioned.
In terms of the average airtime of reports devoted to the parties, the picture is similar — a report about the United Russia congress lasted on average more than three minutes. Such reports contained speeches by the country’s incumbent president, who directly supported the party, and direct speech by its other representatives. The other parties, meanwhile, had to make do with the traditional truncated reports.
Tone of mentions
When it comes to United Russia, a positive tone predominates on television, while for the other parties the channels predominantly choose a neutral-informational tone.
With the disappearance of the Yabloko party from the air, the negative tone also disappeared. The editorial policy of the federal television channels returned to its default settings: praise and cover United Russia’s activities in detail, and give the remaining parties strictly neutral and insubstantial reports.
News hooks of the week
United Russia
The main news hook for United Russia in the tenth week was the second stage of the party congress and the approval of the “People’s Programme”, with which the party will contest the State Duma election. The central place in the coverage of the congress was occupied by Vladimir Putin’s speech, in which he called the programme a serious and fundamental document, stressed the absence of populism in the party’s activities and directly expressed support for United Russia. The president also spoke about the party’s role as the leading political force, support for candidates from among special military operation veterans, and the country’s sovereignty and security. The congress and Putin’s speech were covered in particular detail by Channel One, NTV, OTR and Rossiya 1.
The second major story was the content of the “People’s Programme”. The television reports stated that more than 3 million citizens’ proposals had formed the basis for the document. The programme was presented as consisting of two parts: practical tasks for the next five years and strategic guidelines. Among the most frequently mentioned areas were support for families, children and young people, demography, healthcare and education, regional development, the economy and industry, raising the minimum wage, repairing social infrastructure, supporting special military operation veterans and their families, technological and digital sovereignty, robotics, artificial intelligence and unmanned systems. The financing of the envisaged measures was discussed separately.
The television channels devoted considerable attention to the party’s federal top five and related stories.
Channel One and Rossiya 1 covered in detail interviews with Maria Lvova-Belova, Yevgeny Poddubny and Vladislav Golovin. Lvova-Belova spoke about support for families with children, large families, children with disabilities, families of special military operation participants, the work of the Children’s Protection Fund and the need for proactive state assistance. The materials also mentioned the reduction in the number of orphans, support measures for young and low-income families, and assistance to special military operation participants. Poddubny spoke about medical care and rehabilitation for veterans, their adaptation to civilian life and their involvement in public and political activity. Golovin spoke about work with young people, the “PolitZavod” personnel project, the youth initiatives of Yunarmiya, patriotic education and support for volunteers.
On NTV, representatives of the federal top five also occupied a significant place — Maria Lvova-Belova, Sergei Lavrov, Vladislav Golovin, Sergei Sobyanin and Yevgeny Poddubny. In addition to the interviews with Lvova-Belova and Golovin, the channel covered Lavrov’s statements on the international agenda, including the situation in Africa and Japan’s reaction to Vladimir Putin’s trip to the Kuril Islands. A separate story was Sobyanin’s visit to a KAMAZ production complex and research and technology centre, as well as the topic of cooperation between Moscow and Tatarstan.
TVTs also aired an interview with Maria Lvova-Belova and her statements about the reduction in the number of children in orphanages. In addition, the channel reported on Vladimir Putin’s support for the United Russia initiative on additional support for regional budgets. In materials about industry and KAMAZ, it was mentioned that machine building and quality education are among the priorities of the “People’s Programme”.
Channel Five covered United Russia’s proposals on supporting regional budgets, the provisions of the “People’s Programme”, and Vladimir Putin’s statements about the party’s role and its responsibility for achieving the declared goals.
The OTR channel focused on the second stage of the congress, the adoption of the programme and Putin’s speech, and also aired his interview with Pavel Zarubin after the congress.
Thus, United Russia’s information agenda combined large-scale coverage of the party congress and its election programme with detailed reports about the representatives of the federal top five of candidates.
CPRF
The main news hooks for the CPRF in the tenth week were the presentation of the “Victory Programme”, Gennady Zyuganov’s trip to Tula Oblast and public appearances.
Zyuganov presented the programme at a meeting with the party’s authorised representatives. The central provisions were changing the financial and economic course, transitioning from a course of “survival” to a course of development, supporting industry and people’s enterprises, and orienting the economy towards working people. Zyuganov also stated that, if the proposed measures were implemented, the budget could be doubled within five years. The need to communicate the programme’s provisions more actively to voters, including young people, was separately stressed.
A significant block of reports was devoted to the CPRF’s humanitarian activity in the special military operation zone. The materials reported on the dispatch of humanitarian cargo, including motorcycles, generators and medicines, as well as assistance to children from Novorossiya.
Another news hook was Zyuganov’s trip to Tula Oblast, where he visited industrial and defence enterprises, met with engineers, designers, party activists and supporters, and also took part in the “Banner of the Immortal Regiment” action.
Separate coverage was given to Zyuganov’s participation in an event at the PRC embassy dedicated to the 100th anniversary of Jiang Zemin’s birth. In his speech, he spoke about the development of Russian-Chinese relations and cooperation between the Communist Party of Russia and the Communist Party of China.
An additional news hook was Zyuganov’s participation in the all-Russian “Talents of Russia” mini-football tournament, where he spoke about popularising sport among young people.
New People
The main news hooks of the week for New People were the party’s social initiatives.
The party launched the all-Russian “Honest Roads” project. New People announced the collection of citizens’ complaints, the inspection of questionable cameras and the submission of appeals to the traffic police if their installation was unjustified. The launch of a chatbot for receiving drivers’ complaints was also reported.
The second notable news hook was Alexei Nechayev’s initiative to create an alimony fund. The proposal envisages payments to mothers by the state with subsequent recovery of funds from debtors. Nechayev also attended a multimedia performance about Russian women. In the television materials, the theme of the performance was linked to the problem of single mothers and the party’s initiative to create an alimony fund.
Additionally, the participation of party representatives in events dedicated to State Flag Day was mentioned.
LDPR
The most notable theme of the week was Leonid Slutsky’s regional trip across Siberia and the Far East. The main emphasis was placed on socio-economic problems and the LDPR’s proposals.
In Irkutsk Oblast, Slutsky visited a heavy machine-building plant and proposed introducing a moratorium on tariff increases for citizens and enterprises. He also spoke about support for industry.
In Zabaykalsky Krai, Slutsky met with residents and discussed problems of major repairs and healthcare. Among the party’s stated proposals were a single federal standard for equipping hospitals and polyclinics and increased spending on healthcare.
In Blagoveshchensk, Slutsky met with students and teachers of Amur State University. He proposed raising stipends, establishing a single quality standard for dormitories, ending free education for foreign students and increasing support for Russian students.
In Khabarovsk, Slutsky discussed housing prices. The LDPR announced its intention to appeal to the FAS with a demand to check pricing on the primary housing market of the Far East. The party also promoted the idea of a “People’s Mortgage” at 3%.
A separate news hook was the LDPR’s rally-concert for State Flag Day. In his speech, Slutsky spoke about the significance of the Russian flag, the unity of the country and resistance to external threats.
TVTs also covered the premiere of the film “I Am Russian Too”, created with the LDPR’s participation. Slutsky linked the theme of national self-identification with demographic policy, housing affordability and the return of compatriots.
A Just Russia
The main news hook of the week for A Just Russia was its proposals to tighten migration policy.
Sergei Mironov presented a package of proposals related to migration regulation. Among the stated measures were compulsory medical insurance for foreign citizens and restrictions on the work of unskilled foreigners in certain sectors, including the social sphere, education, healthcare and transport. It is also proposed to restrict migrants’ access to certain social payments and benefits, expand the list of offences constituting grounds for deportation, amend the patent system and introduce a tax on transfers of migrants’ earned funds abroad.
Channel One’s materials separately featured the proposal for a three-percent tax on migrants’ money transfers abroad, which, according to Mironov’s estimate, could bring the budget around 45 billion roubles.
In Barnaul, Mironov also spoke about controlling the growth of housing and utility prices and food prices, proposed establishing a list of basic products and limiting the markup on them, and also developing farm shelves.
Another news hook was the participation of party representatives in an event at the State Duma and a round table marking the 100th anniversary of Fidel Castro’s birth. Mironov spoke about developing cooperation between Russia and Cuba.
Yabloko
The main and only news hook for Yabloko was the decision of the Appeals Chamber of the Supreme Court to cancel the registration of the federal list. At the same time, this historic event for the party was barely covered on federal television.
Channel One mentioned in passing that, after the court’s final decision, the Yabloko line was removed from the ballot.
TVTs reported in slightly more detail on the proceedings in the Supreme Court, stating that the decision to remove the party from the election had been upheld. The reasons cited in the report were violations of intellectual property legislation and the receipt of funds from persons linked to foreign financing.
Rodina, the Party of Direct Democracy, the Greens, Communists of Russia
Last week, the only reason for mentioning the Rodina party was the court case it initiated against Yabloko. This week, Rodina disappeared completely from the television air.
The Party of Direct Democracy, the Greens and Communists of Russia, as in the previous week, received no substantive coverage on the federal television channels.
Reports on the work of the CEC
A separate information block of the week was the CEC’s preparation for the election.
The CEC adjusted the federal ballot after Yabloko’s exclusion. Ten parties remained on the ballot, while number 2 was not transferred to another party and the numbers of the remaining participants were retained.
Among the main themes were the preparation of televised debates and the start of the media campaigning period; the television channels covered in detail the distribution of free airtime among the ten parties remaining on the ballot.
Another theme of the week was the preparation of targeted voter information. Projects related to informing citizens about candidates, polling stations and voting methods began working in the regions. In particular, the OTR channel reported on the “InformUIK” project.
The preparation of model polling stations and the organisation of video surveillance were also covered.
Methodology
For the media monitoring, six federal television channels were selected that are part of the first multiplex and enjoy the greatest popularity among viewers — Channel One, Rossiya 1, NTV, TV Centre, Channel Five and OTR.
On each of the six television channels, news bulletins available in video archives were analysed. During the tenth week of the election campaign, from 16 to 23 August 2026, 220 news bulletins were studied (Channel One — 38 bulletins, Rossiya 1 — 32 bulletins, NTV — 36 bulletins, TVTs — 28 bulletins, OTR — 61 bulletins, Channel Five — 25 bulletins).
We analysed each news bulletin for the presence of reports about political parties. If reports 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 report of voters’ opinions about the parties;
the characteristics of the parties voiced by the presenter or voice-over.