According to Mihaela Botnaru, Director of Monitoring and Research at the National Audio Visual Council, “the purpose of the study was to give the council precise information about how the public consume mass media, as compared to other leisure activities, and how interested they are in elections and political news.

One of the most relevant results for us is that the Romanian public are now more interested in televised debates than entertainment shows; and this is a signal for us to pay increased attention to debates and to ensure they are respecting the rules. It is also a useful means to see how well known CNA is among the public.”

Based on interviews with 2000 Romanians, the study is packed with statistics about what form of media the public prefer (TV, radio, newspaper or internet), interest in politics and elections, viewing habits and levels of trust in the CNA as compared to other public institutions.

As regards “media consumption” this study confirms that television is by far the biggest source of information for the most Romanians. For example, one of the results shows that the average Romanian watches 160 minute of TV a day, as compared to just 50 minutes a day reading newspapers. News programmes are the most popular type of emmission, and 80% say TV is their most important source of information.

In answer to the question “to what extent are you interested in politics?”, a big majority (79%) said they were not. This can be contrasted with a question about what type of news they are most interested in, where the item of most interest was political news (28%, as compared to just 1% interested in news about crimes and accidents).

Regarding the European Parliament Election, 48% say they already know who they will vote for and 37% are interested or very interested in the election. But international experience suggests that more people declare their intention to vote than actually do so on the day.

The study includes an interesting analysis of voter behaviour during the election campaign period – and the direct influence of media on voter behaviour. In the last Parliamentary elections in 2004, 42% of those questioned said they decided who to vote for “during the campaign” and 16% decided “after the TV and radio debates”.

The number of people who have heard about the National Audio Visual Council in Romania has increased to 81% (up from 70% in 2004). Of those who have heard of the Audio Visual Council, 45% have ‘much’ or ‘very much’ trust in the institution.

Post script: Romania’s European Parliamentary election was held on 25th November 2007. According to this “CURS” Study, 37% of the Romanian population said they are ‘interested’ or ‘very interested’ in the European Parliament election”. Actual figures after the election show that 30% of Romanians came to vote for the EP; the lowest figure in Romania’s short history of democracy but a respectable number when compared to the 17% who voted in Slovakia’s EP election in 2004.

The project is funded by the European Commission - PHARE programme