MEDIA MONITORING DURING the ELECTORAL CAMPAIGN for the General Local Elections of October 20, 2019, and for New Parliamentary Elections in Single-Member Districts No
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
MEDIA MONITORING DURING THE ELECTORAL CAMPAIGN for the general local elections of October 20, 2019, and for new parliamentary elections in single-member districts no. 17, 33, 48, and 50 Report no. 3 October 5-11, 2019 This report has been prepared by the Independent Journalism Center with the support of East Europe Foundation, from the resources provided by Sweden, and with the support of the US Agency for International Development (USAID) and UKAID. The opinions expressed belong to the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the donors. 1 1. General data Purpose and objectives of the project: Monitor and inform the public about media behavior during the election campaign and the access of the candidates to the media. The aim of monitoring is to analyze reporting trends that may affect the performance of media outlets and compromise their ability to provide accurate, unbiased and pluralistic information to the public. Monitoring period: September 20 - October 19, 2019 Criteria for selecting the media outlets to be monitored: • audience/impact—national, regional; • media type—audiovisual; • form of ownership—public, private; • broadcasting language—Romanian, Russian. List of the monitored media outlets: Moldova 1 (19:00) – public television, national coverage, broadcasts in Romanian and Russian; Prime TV (21:00) – private television, national coverage, broadcasts in Romanian and Russian; Publika TV (17:00) – private television, national coverage, broadcasts in Romanian and Russian; Jurnal TV (19:00) – private television, regional coverage, broadcasts in Romanian and Russian; NTV Moldova (19:00) – private television, regional coverage, broadcasts in Romanian and Russian; RTR Moldova (19:00) – private television, regional coverage, broadcasts in Russian and Romanian; TV 8 (19:00) – private television, regional coverage, broadcasts in Romanian and Russian; Pro TV (20:00) – private television, regional coverage, broadcasts in Romanian; Accent TV (20:00) – private television, regional coverage, broadcasts in Romanian and Russian; Televiziunea Centrală (20:00) – private television, regional coverage, broadcasts in Romanian and Russian. 2. Methodological framework The full content of the main daily newscasts on each TV station was monitored, and items with a direct or an indirect election character were analyzed by content and context to determine whether they were favorable or unfavorable to a party or political entity. In addition, the items were analyzed according to the following criteria: 2 Impartiality and objectivity/political partisanship. According to the Journalist's Code of Ethics, news must be impartial and objective and not favor certain parties/groups/persons to the detriment of others. The presence of discriminatory elements in reports and news items is a primary criterion for subjective reporting. News screening and a minimal analysis of background and context also contribute to presenting the interests of certain actors and not of the public at large. Fairness and balance of sources/pluralism of opinion. In order to be fair and balanced, news items must present the perspectives of all parties concerned, especially when it comes to controversial subjects, and must treat opponents equally. In addition, the media must provide access to a variety of opinions to help viewers create their own opinions about what has happened. Language and images used. Deliberate exaggerations and obscene language such as pejoratives or labeling as well as images manipulated so that certain parties appear in a negative light raise serious questions about compliance with ethical and professional standards. The ethical behavior of journalists is most often questioned when images display aspects that do not correspond to reality, when they are simulated, and also when news stories are illustrated with images unrelated to the text. 3. Monitoring data Moldova 1 Involvement in the electoral campaign Between October 5 and 11, 2019, the public television station Moldova 1 paid increased attention to the coverage of the electoral campaign. In the seven newscasts broadcast, Moldova 1 had 44 electoral materials, which appeared in two special sections: “General Local Elections 2019” and “New Parliamentary Elections 2019.” More attention was paid to local elections, in 33 materials, while only four materials were made about the new parliamentary elections. Seven other reports spoke about the following issues: the printing of the ballots; monitoring of elections from the perspective of social inclusion; the last day in which electoral competitors could withdraw from running for the position of mayor or councilor; presentation of the platform Alegeri.md; the conclusions of the monitoring reports concerning the electoral behavior of the public television station Moldova 1, made by the Broadcasting Council, the WatchDog community, and the Independent Journalism Center. Of the 33 materials that addressed the 2019 local elections, 30 covered the race for Chisinau Mayor’s Office; two reports referred to the electoral promises of two candidates for the position of mayor of Balti, Serghei Rubtov of the Party of Communists (PCRM) and Ghenadie Formanciuc of Shor Party; and one report featured a candidate for the position of mayor of the municipality of Cahul, Eugen Osadcenco of the Party of Socialists (PSRM). Moldova 1 also continued following the case of Ruslan Codreanu, who was excluded from the electoral race for the position of head of the capital after the Supreme Court of Justice admitted the appeal filed by the Central Electoral Commission and 3 overturned the October 8 decision of the Chisinau Court of Appeal. The reason invoked was faults in the lists of his supporters’ signatures. Impartiality and objectivity. Political partisanship The 44 materials related to elections were objective and impartial, and did not violate the standards of professional ethics. Of the 37 materials about electoral competitors, 33 focused on their electoral priorities and promises. All these news stories had the same format, presenting only the opinion of the primary source, and each of them was about 1 minute long. Thus, reporters only repeated the statements of the candidates running for elections, without completing their materials with background information. The reports showed no obvious tendency to favor any candidates. The PSRM candidate Ion Ceban had the most appearances (eight), followed by Andrei Nastase of ACUM/PPDA/PAS Bloc with seven appearances, Valeriu Munteanu of the Save Bessarabia Union (USB) with five appearances, Octavian Ticu of the Party of National Unity (PUN) with four appearances, the context being positive or neutral. Six other candidates appeared in news once or twice, most often in a neutral context. It should be noted that in the case of Ghenadie Formanciuc, the Shor Party candidate for the position of mayor of Balti municipality, his image was not presented in the news, which disadvantaged him in comparison with other electoral competitors. Fairness and balance of sources. Pluralism of opinion During the reporting period, the public television did not ensure pluralism of opinion in news on this topic. Of the 19 electoral competitors registered for the race for Chisinau Mayor’s Office, Moldova 1 granted airtime to 12, two of whom announced that they are withdrawing from the electoral race – Andrei Donica (“Speranța-Nadejda” [Hope] Movement) and Boris Volosatii (“Democracy at Home” Party). Most of the time news mentioned/cited the PSRM candidate Ion Ceban, who had eight appearances, followed by Andrei Nastase (ACUM/PPDA/PAS Bloc) with seven appearances, Valeriu Munteanu (Save Bessarabia Union) with five appearances, Octavian Ticu (Party of National Unity (PUN)) with four appearances. Vlad Turcanu (Romanian Popular Party), Dorin Chirtoaca (Liberal Party), and Valeri Klimenko (Shor Party) had two appearances each, and Victor Chironda (“New Force” Movement), Vladimir Cebotari (Democratic Party of Moldova), and Ivan Diacov (“Our Party”) were cited/mentioned once each. The activities of the other electoral competitors fighting for the capital’s mayoral seat were not covered in reports, and their names as electoral competitors were not listed in any report either. Of the total number of electoral news stories, four referred to controversies. In three cases, the accusations from Valeriu Munteanu and Dorin Chirtoaca, Valeri Klimenko and Ivan Diacov concerned the activities of PSRM and of this party’s electoral competitor Ion Ceban, and in one case Octavian Ticu accused President Igor Dodon of “high treason.” In all four cases, the right to reply was offered, and the balance of sources was ensured. The gender ratio was clearly unfavorable to women, who were cited only once (Ana Gutu of the Party of National Unity, October 8, 2019), while men were mentioned 36 times. 4 The language and images used In the third week of the electoral campaign, no language discriminating or denigrating electoral competitors was used in the newscasts of the public television Moldova 1. No labels or images that did not correspond to reality were used, either. Prime TV Involvement in the electoral campaign Between October 5 and 11, 2019, the national television station Prime TV actively covered the electoral campaign, having broadcast 29 electoral materials in its main newscasts. Most of these materials (26) appeared in the section “General Local Elections 2019.” They covered aspects of the electoral process, such as the publication of the results of a sociological