MEDIA SOURCES OF INFORMATION AND THEIR USE BY THE INHABITANTS OF RURAL AREAS

Abstract

The aim of the study was to investigate, which source of information about rural areas and agriculture village inhabitants prefer the most and how their choice has evaluated over the years. The literature on the subject, Statistics Poland reports (GUS reports) and “The Polish countryside and agriculture” reports issued between 2012 and 2018 were used to in this study. A min., 1,500 respondents from Poland took part in each and every empiric study, but in 2018 sampling was applied. The authors of the article used the comparative method to elaborate on the results of the study regarding the policy on media and information targeted to village residents. Research shows that, in the years 2012-2018, farmers’ and village inhabitants’ interests in new mass media-the Internet grew significantly, whereas their interests in television or radio broadcasts decreased. It has also been pointed out that the trend to read daily press and specialized papers increased. Village inhabitants (not a farmer) preferred daily press and journals, whereas farmers chose specialised press. In the future, it would be appropriate to extend the research by detailed information of online sources of information. It seems that farmers more often use Twitter or Facebook than dedicated online services as the quickest way to gain knowledge. Therefore, governmental entities should also invest in these communication channels and take care of content, updated information and graphic layout.