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In October 1999, Branch Office of BBSS
Gallup International in Prishtina, conducted in Kosova public
opinion survey regarding the mass media consumption. A standard
questionnaire was used for the purpose, which comprised
three media sections (TV section, section for radio, section
for print media) and two demographics' segments (consumer
and standard demographics).
Survey was conducted
equipped with the standard methodology, exercised also in
other research projects in Albania, Macedonia, Romania and
Bulgaria, covering 1,000 Albanian respondents, 18 and over
years old, chosen on random stratified selection principles
across whole Kosova.
Interviewees
were asked to point to the names of media they prefer to
follow, which topics of the programming the are interested
in, asked in broad terms about the frequency of watching/listening/reading
respective media in Kosova and about the possession/consumption
of certain items in their households.
From the results
of the survey it can be inferred that Albanian inhabitants
of Kosova most often read newspapers, then listen to radio
and on the third place comes watching TV, as a mean of information.
Among other interpretations, one may resort to the relatively
high concentration of population in towns and surrounding
villages in this verging on the harsh winter conditions
season, on the evident expansion of the distribution network
of newspapers, which use for the purpose even not-matched
before outlet of ordinary shops. On the other hand, reading
newspapers is not linked to a certain schedule or a timetable,
as it is in the case of radio or TV, which could be interrupted
or disturbed for different reasons.
Answers to the
question Which daily newspapers/weekly magazines do you
read and how often were broken into three modalities, viz.:
often, rarely, never. From daily newspapers that are published
today in Kosova "Koha ditore" is read most often,
then comes "Rilindja", "Kosova sot",
then "Bota sot", with just a slight variance in
percentages, and "Dardania" and "Dukagjini",
which are declared to be read fairly rarely. Weekly editions
as of the moment feature only "Zëri". Radio
listenership of Kosovar Albanians is predominantly in-home
activity (77.1%), and far less at work or in the car entertainment.
Today in Kosova,
there are a great number of radio stations that can be received
through most simple radio sets and through satellite dishes
also. From 20 radio stations mentioned in the questionnaire,
a ranking of 6 most listened radios in Kosova was done,
based on the frequency of listening. The first place belongs
to Radio DW (Deutsche Welle), and then comes Radio 21, VOA
(Voice of America), Radio Free Europe, Radio Tirana and
Radio Free Kosova.
As we can see,
out of 6 most listened radio stations in Kosova, three of
them are foreign radios, and their frequency of listening
is relatively high. This might be because of the fact that
during the war, foreign radio stations were the main source
of information for the citizens of Kosova.
Television is
the main source of information and for creating the public
opinion. The survey has shown that watching TV is in the
third place as one of the means of information, after reading
newspapers and listening to radio. Getting informed through
TV is more effective and full, but in the period after the
war in Kosova there are still some reasons, which have made
impossible the full way of informing through television.
The destroyed and robbed TV sets and satellite dishes, the
lack of local TV stations, a very limited satellite programme
in Albanian language, a great dynamics of everyday life
in Kosova today, are some of the reasons that put watching
TV in the third place as a mean of information.
From the list of 12 TV channels offered in the questionnaire,
a ranking of 5 most watched TV-s in Kosova was used again.
The first place belongs to TVSH (Albanian TV), the second
to RTK (Radio Television of Kosova), and then come foreign
TV channels, BBC World, VOA (Voice of America) and CNN International.
Out of these
most watched TV channels in Kosova, 75.4% of Kosovar Albanians
follow news and informative programmes, while a very low
percentage goes to the next in the general preferences cultural
and political programs, music, sports and movies.
From the results of the Consumers' Demographics section,
we can extract some evaluations on the standard of citizens
of Kosova. The fact that 68.7% of citizens of Kosova possess
freezers, 60.9% TV sets with remote control, 55.6% satellite
dishes, 48.5% cars, shows a relatively high standard of
citizens of Kosova. While, the goal of the survey was not
to measure the living standard, but only detection of some
indicators, this can reflect the level of living standard.
From the results
we are extracting these items too for this time: 31.1% of
citizens of Kosova possess dogs, 22.5% tractors, 20.4% cats,
9.8% mobile telephones, 6.7% computers, 5.9% video cameras
and 0.4% internet subscription.
From the question
Would you say for yourself as being a person who drinks
coffee, smokes cigarettes, drinks beer, drinks spirits comes
out that 89.7% of respondents say that drink coffee, 51.3%
smoke cigarettes, 30.5% drink beer and 15.0% drink spirits.
From the standard
demographics section comes out that approximately in one
house live 7 people, and approximately 2 of them are children
below 14 years of age.
From the set
of questions on the living standard comes out that 3.4%
of respondents estimate their living standard compared with
the other people in the country as very high and high, 64.8%
as medium and 30.7% as low and very low.
Compared to
one year ago 17.5% of respondents estimate their present
living standard as now it is much better and now it is a
little better, 66.4% estimate that now it is a little worse
and now it is much worse and 15.5% say there is no difference.
While, 81.1%
of respondents believe their personal living standard and
of their family in the next 2-3 months will improve a lot
and will improve a little, 4.6% believe that will become
a little worse and will become much worse, while 7.8% believe
that there will be no change in their living standard.
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