Russians trust mass media less and less for news, turning to friends and relatives instead

According to a new survey by the Levada Center, Russians' level of trust in television as a source of information has decreased two fold over the past six years. 

In 2009, three quarters of those surveyed (79 percent) trusted television news. In 2015, this share is now just 41 percent.

However, TV remains the main source of information 85 percent of Russians for news about domestic and international current events.

A quarter of respondents (24 percent) preferred receiving information from friends, family, and neighbors, while one fifth of respondents (21 percent) preferred Internet publications, and 13 percent looked to social networks, newspapers, and radio.

Trust in most news sources has declined in recent years, says the Levada Center. Trust in internet publications have gone from 20 to 18 percent, in newspapers from 14 to 12 percent, and in radio from 13 to 11 percent.

A majority of respondents cited friends and relatives as the most reliable sources of news at 19 percent, which is the same figure as six years ago. Trust in news from socials networks also remained unchanged at 9 percent.

Eight percent of respondents did not pick a single news source as credible. This response has become twice as common since March 2014 (up from 4 percent).