Only 3.7% of the marathon’s interviews focused on domestic Ukrainian politics, despite numerous reasons to discuss it in a month when protests took place in the country for the first time since the start of the full-scale invasion.
Since May 2022, Detector Media has been collecting data on the people featured on air during the “United News” TV marathon.
On May 21, 2024, the First Channel of Suspilne withdrew from the joint TV marathon, remaining part of the “United News” project in accordance with the NSDC decision, and began broadcasting independently. Therefore, we now assess it separately, comparing it with “United News.”
In July 2025, Suspilne held 1,473 guest interviews — almost one hundred more than in June. Women were speakers in 23.4% of these appearances — an increase compared to 18.7% in June.
During the same period, “United News” hosted 1,239 guests, of whom women accounted for 15.8% — also a rise compared to 14.7% in June.
Number of Guests on “United News” Marathon and Suspilne First Channel (men and women)
July 2025
Suspilne also traditionally featured more unique guests in its broadcasts. Over the month, 806 different people appeared on air, while the state-run marathon introduced only 581 guests.
Number of Unique Guests on “United News” Marathon and Suspilne First Channel (men and women)
July 2025
The lists of the most frequent guests on “United News” and Suspilne in July diverged significantly.
Suspilne most often gave the floor to military commentator Oleksiy Hetman — 14 times, while “United News” invited him only three times. Similarly, the most frequent commentator on the marathon was State Border Guard Service spokesperson Andriy Demchenko, who appeared in 18 broadcasts there but only five on Suspilne.
Further down the list of “United News” guests were state spokespersons, along with political commentator Volodymyr Fesenko, who appeared 16 times. On Suspilne, the most frequent guests were independent experts, including Viktor Trehubov, spokesperson for the “Khortytsia” Operational-Strategic Group, who appeared 11 times.
Most Frequent Guests on “United News” Marathon and Suspilne First Channel
July 2025. Guest ranking based on the total number of appearances across the marathon and Suspilne First.
The political representation — or rather its absence — on “United News” remains striking. There were 110 total appearances by government representatives over the month (Cabinet of Ministers, “Servant of the People” MPs, and the President’s Office) versus just 19 total appearances by “opposition” representatives. In other words, the state-run marathon featured the government in 86.3% of its broadcasts. Not once during the month did it find space for European Solidarity or Holos.
By contrast, using the same formula, Suspilne hosted 65 conversations with government representatives and another 164 (combined) with representatives of all the major opposition parties. The ruling party was still featured more often than any single opposition faction, but not more than all of them combined. Notably, Suspilne did not feature any representatives of the President’s Office.
All this took place against the backdrop of the parliamentary vote to strip NABU and SAP of their independence.
Presence of Political Party Representatives on “United News” Marathon and Suspilne First Channel
July 2025
Presence of Politicians on “United News” Marathon and Suspilne First Channel
July 2025
Against the backdrop of a politically charged July, Suspilne’s range of topics turned out to be quite diverse: 23.6% of discussions focused on international relations, 19.8% on military developments, 19.6% on humanitarian issues, and — unsurprisingly, given the cancellation of NABU and SAP’s independence — another 19.6% on Ukrainian domestic politics.
During the same period, the state-run marathon allocated 35.3% of its airtime to coverage of the war, 18.8% to social issues, 18.4% to international affairs, and around 11% each to humanitarian and economic topics. Yet only 3.7% of its interviews directly addressed Ukrainian domestic politics. One might ask: wasn’t something happening then...?
