Trust in the media is lost, it cannot be restored by restrictions — study

The audience's trust in the Russian media is declining, this is happening against the background of the growth of disinformation, deepfakes, clickbait and biased content. However, it will not be possible to change the trend due to restrictions and technologies. These are the conclusions drawn from the results of a study of the Russian media environment, writes RBC.

The study, which was attended by 537 media representatives and communications specialists, is being conducted for the fourth year in a row. This time it was held by the Association of Consulting Companies in the field of public Relations (ACOS), the research company PR News, the Center for the development of new media ("Together Media") and the communication agency PR-Consulta.

The trend of chaotic media consumption topped the top 5 main results of the study (54%). This is followed by a crisis of trust and quality (51%), tightening of control and legalizing the media environment (48%), the entrenchment of self-censorship as an editorial culture (46%) and the transformation of AI into a routine working tool (45%).

The study also captures the difference between journalists and communication specialists. Journalists feel the pressure on their profession much more acutely: 53% of them highlight the growth of self-censorship (against 40% for communicators), and 37% note the increased dependence of editorial offices on algorithms (against 25%).

PR specialists are concerned about how to build a dialogue with the audience in conditions of strict regulation, how not to disrupt the campaign and minimize the risks of fines. At the same time, both journalists and PR specialists agree on one thing: without restoring trust between media market participants and audiences, any technological and legal settings will remain only "cosmetics".

Experts call the chaotic media consumption the key media trend of 2025. The audience is dispersed across dozens of sources, platforms and personal channels, consumption becomes impulsive, and competition for attention is unprecedented.

"Instead of the usual "mass audience", a mosaic ecosystem of attention has been formed. Each person collects their information route from channels, personal brands and local media. The era of "one universal coverage" is over — we live in an era of spot attention, where those media and brands that are able to speak not "with everyone at once", but with specific communities in their language, win. Universal strategies are working worse and worse, and editors have to become navigators in this complex reality. Experts consider the fragmentation of the audience and the struggle for its attention to be one of the main challenges of the modern media market," says Lilia Glazova, CEO of the PR News research company, head of the AKOS Industry Research and Ratings Committee, Vice President of RASO.

Technologically, producing content has become easier than ever, but it is becoming increasingly difficult to trust it.

Natalia Vlasova, General Director of ANO "CNRM" (project "Together Media") indicates:

"The most important deficit and at the same time the most valuable asset of the media is not traffic, but audience trust. The crisis of trust undermines journalism and strengthens the demand for fact-checking, honesty and responsibility. The audience is tired of the information noise and is looking not just for news, but for landmarks. These are sources who honestly explain what is going on and take responsibility for fact-checking. Two requests come to the fore: the value of verified information and sources that can be trusted is growing, and there is also a demand for content that does not inform, but explains and helps to understand complex processes. For media and communication teams, this is a signal: reputation capital and long-term credibility are becoming a key asset, not a "nice bonus" to coverage."

Regulation and control are fixed as a new norm: the rules of content placement, labeling, advertising formats are changing, legal and procedural costs are growing.

"Experts perceive the controllability of the media environment as one of the systemic factors determining the future of the industry. The determining influence on the creation and distribution of content goes to infrastructure elements: platform algorithms, regulatory requirements and legal norms. For editorial offices, this is a matter of survival, for companies — the predictability of rules, legal risks and the cost of mistakes. For agencies and corporate communication teams, the legalization of the media environment has become part of the operational reality. The number of approvals has increased, the costs of compliance and expertise have increased, and the economics of communication projects have changed. At the same time, strict rules have undoubted advantages. It is becoming more difficult to use unfair practices, which means that the market is painfully, but still moving towards a more civilized model," comments Evgenia Nemchinova, Head of the Media Relations Committee of AKOS, Managing Partner of PR-Consulta.

Self-censorship turns into a systematic approach to the choice of topics, formulations and angles. A lot of resources are spent not on finding new agendas, but on risk assessment. Self-censorship becomes not a personal choice of an individual author, but a built-in survival practice.

In the long run, this weakens the entire Russian-speaking cultural and media environment: complex topics become either niche or completely replaced by entertainment content.

A separate major trend is related to the rutinization of artificial intelligence. Neural networks are becoming a common working tool and are perceived as a way to speed up processes. Today, the main question is where automation is acceptable, how to label such content, how not to replace live expertise with an endless stream of readable but empty texts.

Perception also depends on professional experience. Young professionals (experience up to 3 years) are more likely to focus on AI, new formats and personal promotion. With increasing experience, attention is shifting to systemic and institutional challenges: experts with more than 16 years of experience are most sensitive to the crisis of trust, total control and chaotic environment.