Monitoring Report on Presence of Political/Electoral Actors in the Programs of TV Channels in the Election Period for the 2009 Parliamentary Elections

“MONITORING THE POLITICAL/ELECTORAL ACTORS ON THE MAIN TV CHANNELS DURING THE PRE-ELECTION, ELECTION AND POST-ELECTION PERIODS OF THE 2009 PARLIAMENTARY ELECTIONS”

Monitoring Report on presence of political/electoral actors in the programs of TV channels in the election period for the 2009 parliamentary elections

Period: 18 February – 03 March, 2009

A project implemented by the Electronic Press Association with the support of the Delegation of the European Commission to Moldova and of the Soros Foundation-Moldova within the Civic Coalition for Free and Fair Elections – Coalition 2009

Chişinău, 2009

1 CONTENTS

1. Methodological frame …………………………………………………………………… 3

2. Presence of political actors in newscasts: STATISTICAL DATA .…………………… 4

3. Quantity dimension of the political actors' presence in news .…………………..…12

3.1General data 3.2 Political actors in newscasts

4. Quality dimension of political actors' presence in news …………………….... 17

4.1Political actors. Positive context 4.2Political actors. Negative context 4.3 Political actors. Favoring attitude 4.4 Political actors. Unfavorable attitude 4.5 Quality of news covering political actors

5. Presence of political actors in programs: STATISTICAL DATA ………………… 23

6. Quantity dimension of the political actors' presence in programs ………………. 26

6.1 General data 6.2Political actors in programs

7. Quality dimension of political actors' presence in programs ………………… 29

7.1 Political actors. Positive context 7.2Political actors. Negative context 7.3 Political actors. Favoring attitude 7.4 Political actors. Unfavorable attitude

8. Electoral advertising ……………………………………………………………..…………. 33

9. Conclusions …….……………………………………………………………………………. 35

2 1. METHODOLOGICAL FRAME

Period : 18 February – 03 March, 2009

Object of monitoring: news and current affairs programs with the presence of political actors (interval: 6.00 – 24.00), electoral advertising

Goal: determining the presence, in terms of quantity and quality, of the electoral actors in news/current affairs programs, in thematic programs and in electoral advertising, from the perspective of legal and professional requirements established for broadcasters in the electoral campaign for the April 5 elections in 2009.

Author of monitoring: The Electronic Press Association from Moldova

MONITORING CARD:

Monitored TV stations: Eu TV, Moldova 1, N 4, NIT, Prime, Pro TV, TV 7, TVC 21, 2 Plus

Monitored political actors:

. Presidency (Moldovan president, presidential advisors, the presidency's spokesperson); . Parliament (parliamentary factions, independent parliamentarians); . Government (members of the government, deputy ministers, the government's spokesperson); . Local public administration (general mayor of Chisinau, Municipal Council's chairperson, district presidents and deputy presidents, councilors, mayors); . Political parties (representatives/supporters of political parties and their opponents).

Quantity analysis:

. Frequency and duration of political actors' appearing in news: a) direct interventions; b) mentions/appearance; . Frequency and duration of political actors' appearing in programs: a) direct interventions; b) mentions/appearance; . Weight of duration of news with the presence of political actors as related to the total duration of newscasts; . Number of sources used in conflict-related stories: a) 1 information source; b) 2 and more information sources independent from one another.

Quality analysis:

. Content of information: a) positive; b) neuter; c) negative . Journalist's attitude: a) favoring; b) unfavorable, c) impartial.

Content of information: a) positive; b) negative; c) neuter

Categories of information political actors are associated with: - Information with positive content was defined the information in which the political actors are associated with positive actions, and the TV story contains positive feelings and emotions, appraisals, admiration, etc. - Information with negative content was defined the information in which the political actors are associated with negative actions, and the TV story contains negative emotions, accusations, criticism, etc. - Information with neuter content was defined the information in which the political actors are associated with neither positive, nor negative actions, and the TV story does not bear expressive or emotional load.

Journalist's attitude: a) favoring; b) unfavorable, c) impartial.

- The orientation of a journalist's attitude is identified from analyzing the text, and the video images from the televised story.

3 2. PRESENCE OF POLITICAL ACTORS IN NEWSCASTS: STATISTICAL DATA

Monitored TV station: EuTV Monitored program: NEWS Monitored period: 18.02.09-03.03.09 No. of stories (with p.a. pres.) 137 No. of conflict stories: 40 News duration(sec): 14602 1 info source: 23 Program duration(sec): 54720 2+ info sources: 17

No. POLITICAL ACTORS PRESENCE CONTENT ATTITUDE Data synthesis

ear.

Neuter Positive Negative Impartial Favorable Unfavorable mentions/app mentions/appear. No. interventions + Direct int. (number) Menti./appear. (duration, Duration interventions + Menti./appear. (number) Direct int. (duration, sec) sec) + personalized 1 Voronin V. 2 50 24 608 4 0 22 2 0 24 26 658 2 Greceanai Z. 5 90 18 195 8 0 15 4 0 19 23 285 3 Urechean S. 3 48 15 499 0 12 6 0 5 13 18 547 4 Chirtoaca D. 0 0 14 120 0 11 3 0 0 14 14 120 5 Tarlev V. 6 102 8 294 0 3 11 0 3 11 14 396 6 Malasevschi A. 3 9 9 195 0 9 3 0 9 3 12 204 7 Osipov V 4 36 7 29 0 3 8 0 0 11 11 65 8 Rosca Iu. 2 66 9 190 2 0 9 2 0 9 11 256 9 Corduneanu A. 2 49 8 152 6 0 4 4 0 6 10 201 10 Filat V. 2 12 8 172 0 8 2 0 4 6 10 184 11 Musuc E. 2 44 8 76 0 6 4 0 0 10 10 120 12 Klimenko V. 6 81 3 105 0 3 6 0 0 9 9 186 13 Buceatchi P. 4 32 4 140 0 0 8 0 0 8 8 172 14 Burca B. 0 0 6 136 0 6 0 0 2 4 6 136 15 Copaci T. 6 159 0 0 6 0 0 0 0 6 6 159 16 Munteanu I. 6 243 0 0 3 0 3 0 0 6 6 243 17 Baldovici V. 0 0 4 128 4 0 0 0 0 4 4 128 18 Chetraru A. 2 34 2 6 0 2 2 0 0 4 4 40 19 Cimpoi M. 0 0 4 40 0 0 4 0 0 4 4 40 20 Diacov D. 0 0 4 8 0 4 0 0 0 4 4 8 21 Ghimpu M. 0 0 4 8 0 4 0 0 0 4 4 8 22 Mejinschi V. 4 32 0 0 0 0 4 0 0 4 4 32 23 Stepaniuc V. 0 0 4 44 0 0 4 0 0 4 4 44 24 Braghis D. 0 0 3 45 0 3 0 0 3 0 3 45 25 Ciobanu I. 0 0 3 69 0 3 0 0 0 3 3 69 26 Nirca N. 0 0 3 9 0 3 0 0 0 3 3 9 27 Pantea V. 0 0 3 58 0 3 0 0 0 3 3 58 28 Petrencu A. 0 0 3 111 0 0 3 0 2 1 3 111 29 Platon V. 0 0 3 138 0 3 0 0 0 3 3 138 30 Plesca I. 0 0 3 18 0 3 0 0 0 3 3 18 31 Sarbu S. 0 0 3 93 0 0 3 0 0 3 3 93 32 Tanase A. 0 0 3 24 0 0 3 0 0 3 3 24 33 Tap Iu. 0 0 3 24 0 3 0 0 0 3 3 24 34 Cubreacov V. 1 28 1 6 0 0 2 0 0 2 2 34 35 Pruteanu G. 0 0 2 100 0 2 0 0 0 2 2 100 + Institutions 0 0 1 Parties 37 604 225 4258 5 162 95 5 39 218 262 4862 2 GOVERNMENT 25 556 60 1475 41 0 44 16 0 69 85 2031 3 PLA 8 176 56 1616 18 20 26 4 2 58 64 1792 4 PRESIDENCY 2 50 21 572 4 0 19 2 0 21 23 622 5 Parliament 0 0 4 68 0 0 4 0 0 4 4 68 + Parties 0 0 1 AMN 7 84 71 1305 0 56 22 0 11 67 78 1389 2 PCRM 7 140 55 1288 12 6 44 6 0 56 62 1428 3 PLDM 5 21 36 878 0 33 8 0 17 24 41 899 4 PPCD 9 189 32 703 12 0 29 9 0 32 41 892 5 PL 0 0 24 227 0 21 3 0 0 24 24 227 6 PSD 4 102 14 145 0 12 6 0 6 12 18 247

4 7 UCM 6 102 11 318 0 6 11 0 3 14 17 420 8 PDM 2 34 12 68 0 12 2 0 0 14 14 102 9 PC 0 0 12 36 0 12 0 0 0 12 12 36 10 RAVN 6 81 3 105 0 3 6 0 0 9 9 186 11 MAE 0 0 6 126 0 3 3 0 2 4 6 126

Monitored TV station: Moldova 1 Monitored program: NEWS Monitored period: 18.02.09-03.03.09 No. of stories (with p.a. pres.) 242 No. of conflict stories: 19 News duration(sec): 23895 1 info source: 12 Program duration(sec): 84725 2+ info sources: 7

No. POLITICAL ACTORS PRESENCE CONTENT ATTITUDE Data synthesis

No. interventions + Neuter Positive Negative Impartial Favorable Unfavorable mentions/appear. Direct int. (number) Duration interventionsDuration + Menti./appear. (number) Direct int. (duration, sec) Menti./appear. (duration, sec) mentions/appear. + personalized 1 Voronin V. 3 69 84 1577 33 0 54 8 0 79 87 1646 2 Greceanai Z. 0 0 41 782 28 0 13 12 0 29 41 782 3 Sarbu S. 9 334 7 55 0 0 16 0 0 16 16 389 4 Osipov V. 6 288 6 84 0 3 9 0 3 9 12 372 5 Uratu S. 5 116 5 51 0 0 10 0 0 10 10 167 6 Petrencu A. 6 140 3 39 0 0 9 0 0 9 9 179 7 Buceatchi P. 4 84 5 46 9 0 0 0 0 9 9 130 8 Banari S. 3 51 6 111 0 0 9 0 0 9 9 162 9 Copaci T. 4 128 4 50 5 0 3 0 0 8 8 178 10 Sainciuc S. 4 313 4 64 6 0 2 0 0 8 8 377 11 Vrabie V. 0 0 7 79 3 0 4 3 0 4 7 79 12 Braghis D. 3 90 3 21 0 0 6 0 0 6 6 111 13 Dumbraveanu A. 3 135 3 45 0 3 3 0 3 3 6 180 14 Urechean S. 3 63 3 27 0 0 6 0 0 6 6 90 15 Tcaci A. 5 248 0 0 0 0 5 0 0 5 5 248 16 Andronic N. 2 80 3 39 0 2 3 0 2 3 5 119 17 Tarlev V. 1 20 4 37 0 0 5 0 0 5 5 57 18 Braga V. 2 30 2 16 0 0 4 0 0 4 4 46 19 Mejinschi V. 0 0 4 181 0 0 4 0 0 4 4 181 20 Chirtoaca D. 3 38 0 0 0 0 3 0 0 3 3 38 21 Diacov D. 3 42 0 0 0 0 3 0 0 3 3 42 22 Godea M. 3 48 0 0 0 0 3 0 0 3 3 48 23 Lupan N. 3 129 0 0 0 0 3 3 0 0 3 129 24 Serebrian O. 3 99 0 0 0 0 3 0 0 3 3 99 25 Untila V. 3 61 0 0 0 0 3 0 0 3 3 61 26 Bujor L. 2 156 1 56 0 0 3 0 0 3 3 212 27 Baldovici V. 0 0 3 18 0 0 3 0 0 3 3 18 28 Lupu M. 0 0 3 9 0 0 3 0 0 3 3 9 29 Musuc E. 2 30 0 0 2 0 0 2 0 0 2 30 30 Nirca N. 1 11 1 7 0 0 2 0 0 2 2 18 31 Tanase A. 1 31 1 7 0 0 2 0 0 2 2 38 32 Bulat G. 0 0 2 52 2 0 0 0 0 2 2 52 33 Railean V. 0 0 2 12 0 0 2 0 0 2 2 12 34 Pavlicenco V. 0 0 1 15 0 0 1 0 0 1 1 15 + Institutions 0 0 1 Parties 70 2128 161 2367 7 45 179 4 15 212 231 4495 2 GOVERNMENT 23 756 117 2501 78 0 62 28 0 112 140 3257 3 PRESIDENCY 3 69 78 1481 30 0 51 8 0 73 81 1550 4 PLA 0 0 8 175 0 8 0 0 8 0 8 175 5 Parliament 0 0 3 9 0 0 3 0 0 3 3 9 + Parties 0 0 1 PCRM 15 418 147 2571 64 3 95 20 0 142 162 2989 2 AMN 14 568 39 784 0 19 34 0 8 45 53 1352

5 3 INDEP 8 167 13 174 0 0 21 0 0 21 21 341 4 MAE 6 140 12 228 0 0 18 0 0 18 18 368 5 PLDM 5 96 12 157 0 4 13 0 2 15 17 253 6 PSD 5 120 11 164 4 3 9 4 0 12 16 284 7 PL 3 38 12 158 0 5 10 0 0 15 15 196 8 PDM 6 141 6 39 0 3 9 0 0 12 12 180 9 PEMAVE 5 165 5 61 0 3 7 0 3 7 10 226 10 UCM 1 20 8 71 0 1 8 0 0 9 9 91 11 PDSMU 5 248 2 46 0 0 7 0 0 7 7 294 12 PPR 2 80 3 39 0 2 3 0 2 3 5 119 13 PC 1 11 4 37 0 0 5 0 0 5 5 48 14 PPCD 0 0 5 90 0 2 3 0 0 5 5 90 15 PPNT 0 0 2 10 0 0 2 0 0 2 2 10 16 UMPR 0 0 2 10 0 0 2 0 0 2 2 10

Monitored TV station: N4 Monitored program: NEWS Monitored period: 18.02.09-03.03.09 No. of stories (with p.a. pres.) 186 No. of conflict stories: 66 News duration(sec): 19485 1 info source: 52 Program duration(sec): 27034 2+ info sources: 14

No. POLITICAL ACTORS PRESENCE CONTENT ATTITUDE Data synthesis

6 1 Parties 43 787 224 3806 38 125 104 3 18 246 267 4593 2 GOVERNMENT 15 309 91 2379 45 0 61 0 0 106 106 2688 3 PLA 17 377 71 2880 17 53 18 0 9 79 88 3257 4 PRESIDENCY 0 0 61 2143 36 0 25 3 0 58 61 2143 + Parties 0 0 1 PCRM 15 383 123 3730 67 0 71 6 0 132 138 4113 2 AMN 18 228 51 1059 0 45 24 0 9 60 69 1287 3 PL 5 82 49 659 0 46 8 0 11 43 54 741 4 PLDM 6 198 35 322 9 23 9 0 0 41 41 520 5 MAE 6 100 15 201 11 6 4 0 0 21 21 301 6 PDM 3 39 18 222 3 12 6 0 1 20 21 261 7 PSD 7 134 13 93 1 7 12 0 0 20 20 227 8 UCM 0 0 17 212 0 11 6 0 0 17 17 212 9 PC 0 0 3 30 0 3 0 0 0 3 3 30 10 PDSMU 0 0 3 45 0 3 0 0 3 0 3 45 11 PPCD 0 0 3 15 0 0 3 0 0 3 3 15 12 PPR 0 0 3 120 0 0 3 0 0 3 3 120

Monitored TV station: NIT Monitored program: NEWS Monitored period: 18.02.09-03.03.09 No. of stories (with p.a. pres.) 333 No. of conflict stories: 46 News duration(sec): 47827 1 info source: 41 Program duration(sec): 84520 2+ info sources: 5

No. POLITICAL ACTORS PRESENCE CONTENT ATTITUDE Data synthesis

7 1 GOVERNMENT 40 792 193 7491 126 9 98 42 0 191 233 8283 2 Parties 33 500 151 4264 23 58 103 0 16 168 184 4764 3 PRESIDENCY 13 395 168 4398 110 0 71 19 0 162 181 4793 4 PLA 8 82 69 3718 23 41 13 3 7 67 77 3800 5 Parliament 2 8 8 50 2 0 8 2 0 8 10 58 + Parties 0 0 1 PCRM 39 981 279 6519 163 0 155 23 0 295 318 7500 2 AMN 3 24 48 1817 3 30 18 0 12 39 51 1841 3 PL 11 142 20 212 0 20 11 0 0 31 31 354 4 PLDM 9 72 18 416 4 8 15 0 4 23 27 488 5 PSD 6 78 15 279 2 7 12 0 0 21 21 357 6 UCM 3 36 15 294 0 6 12 0 0 18 18 330 7 PC 0 0 5 300 0 5 0 0 0 5 5 300 8 PDM 0 0 5 30 0 0 5 0 0 5 5 30 9 PPCD 0 0 5 30 0 0 5 0 0 5 5 30 10 PPR 0 0 3 60 0 3 0 0 0 3 3 60

Monitored TV station: ProTV Monitored program: NEWS Monitored period: 18.02.09-03.03.09 No. of stories (with p.a. pres.) 275 No. of conflict stories: 83 News duration(sec): 22985 1 info source: 0 Program duration(sec): 73911 2+ info sources: 83

No. POLITICAL ACTORS PRESENCE CONTENT ATTITUDE Data synthesis

8 33 Sima Gh. 3 48 0 0 0 0 3 0 0 3 3 48 34 Gagauz F. 3 27 0 0 0 0 3 0 0 3 3 27 35 Papuc G. 0 0 3 33 0 0 3 0 0 3 3 33 36 Stratan A. 0 0 3 18 0 0 3 0 0 3 3 18 37 Cubreacov V. 0 0 3 15 0 0 3 0 0 3 3 15 38 Secareanu S. 0 0 3 9 0 0 3 0 0 3 3 9 39 Serebrian O. 0 0 3 9 0 0 3 0 0 3 3 9 40 Bujor L. 2 44 0 0 0 0 2 0 0 2 2 44 41 Vieru C. 2 40 0 0 0 0 2 0 0 2 2 40 42 Negrei I. 2 25 0 0 0 0 2 0 0 2 2 25 43 Tulea O. 2 22 0 0 0 0 2 0 0 2 2 22 44 Utica N. 2 22 0 0 0 0 2 0 0 2 2 22 45 Lucinschi C. 2 20 0 0 0 0 2 0 0 2 2 20 46 Platon V. 0 0 2 14 0 2 0 0 0 2 2 14 47 Ghimpu M. 0 0 2 6 0 0 2 0 0 2 2 6 48 Arama A. 1 87 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 1 1 87 49 Pavlicenco V. 1 16 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 1 1 16 50 Caba P. 1 13 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 1 1 13 51 Gutu E. 1 13 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 1 1 13 52 Sova V. 0 0 1 9 0 0 1 0 0 1 1 9 + Institutions 0 0 1 Parties 182 3116 475 4924 5 110 542 0 0 657 657 8040 2 GOVERNMENT 7 77 112 1511 0 44 75 0 4 115 119 1588 3 PLA 20 280 40 554 2 7 51 0 0 60 60 834 4 PRESIDENCY 0 0 39 400 0 6 33 0 0 39 39 400 5 Parliament 0 0 18 265 0 13 5 0 0 18 18 265 + Parties 0 0 1 PCRM 23 435 153 1705 0 54 122 0 0 176 176 2140 2 AMN 30 462 75 799 0 8 97 0 0 105 105 1261 3 PLDM 38 566 56 434 0 5 89 0 0 94 94 1000 4 PL 14 183 43 271 0 11 46 0 0 57 57 454 5 PSD 11 196 43 510 4 9 41 0 0 54 54 706 6 UCM 18 277 32 218 1 7 42 0 0 50 50 495 7 PPCD 4 123 45 278 0 17 32 0 0 49 49 401 8 PDM 11 174 28 209 0 3 36 0 0 39 39 383 9 INDEP 21 393 11 311 0 0 32 0 0 32 32 704 10 PDSMU 7 103 20 282 0 3 24 0 0 27 27 385 11 PC 4 89 18 183 0 8 14 0 0 22 22 272 12 MAE 6 105 7 76 0 0 13 0 0 13 13 181 13 PEMAVE 6 90 6 190 0 0 12 0 0 12 12 280 14 RAVN 3 57 6 51 0 0 9 0 0 9 9 108 15 UMPR 3 48 2 32 0 0 5 0 0 5 5 80 16 PPNT 2 22 2 46 0 0 4 0 0 4 4 68

Monitored TV station: TV 7 Monitored program: NEWS Monitored period: 18.02.09-03.03.09 No. of stories (with p.a. pres.) 357 No. of conflict stories: 37 News duration(sec): 30425 1 info source: 5 Program duration(sec): 62043 2+ info sources: 32

No. POLITICAL ACTORS PRESENCE CONTENT ATTITUDE Data synthesis

9 6 Braghis D. 15 270 10 80 0 0 25 0 0 25 25 350 7 Voronin V. 0 0 24 267 0 5 19 0 0 24 24 267 8 Filat V. 10 161 10 80 5 0 15 0 0 20 20 241 9 Osipov V 10 188 10 99 0 0 20 0 0 20 20 287 10 Pavlicenco V. 12 244 7 52 5 0 14 0 0 19 19 296 11 Petrencu A. 12 227 7 92 5 0 14 0 0 19 19 319 12 Cotet V. 7 160 12 52 0 2 17 0 0 19 19 212 13 Chirtoaca D. 10 190 8 31 5 0 13 0 0 18 18 221 14 Greceanai Z. 4 106 14 227 4 5 9 0 0 18 18 333 15 Klimenko V. 10 235 7 45 5 0 12 0 0 17 17 280 16 Tcaci A. 8 233 8 68 5 0 11 0 0 16 16 301 17 Turcan V. 15 365 0 0 0 0 15 0 0 15 15 365 18 Stepaniuc V. 10 190 5 155 5 0 10 0 0 15 15 345 19 Serebrian O. 5 164 10 99 0 0 15 0 0 15 15 263 20 Musuc E. 6 135 8 32 0 0 14 0 0 14 14 167 21 Rosca V. 8 108 4 20 0 0 12 0 0 12 12 128 22 Cosarciuc V. 5 85 5 70 0 0 10 0 0 10 10 155 23 Gamurari A. 5 55 5 35 5 0 5 0 0 10 10 90 24 Negrei I. 5 55 5 20 0 0 10 0 0 10 10 75 25 Vieru B. 5 80 5 20 0 0 10 0 0 10 10 100 26 Papuc G. 0 0 10 240 0 5 5 0 0 10 10 240 27 Uratu S. 0 0 10 55 0 0 10 0 0 10 10 55 28 Nagacevschi V. 8 120 0 0 0 0 8 0 0 8 8 120 29 Catrinici L. 6 71 0 0 0 0 6 0 0 6 6 71 30 Rosca Iu. 0 0 6 29 0 1 5 0 0 6 6 29 31 Bujor L. 5 125 0 0 0 0 5 0 0 5 5 125 32 Guma V. 5 65 0 0 0 0 5 0 0 5 5 65 33 Harlamenco A. 5 110 0 0 0 0 5 0 0 5 5 110 34 Lucinschi C. 5 103 0 0 0 0 5 0 0 5 5 103 35 Munteanu I. 5 190 0 0 0 0 5 0 0 5 5 190 36 Sainciuc S. 5 50 0 0 0 0 5 0 0 5 5 50 37 Corduneanu A. 0 0 5 20 0 0 5 0 0 5 5 20 38 Stavila I. 0 0 5 108 0 0 5 0 0 5 5 108 39 Alexei N. 2 34 2 6 2 0 2 0 0 4 4 40 40 Andronic N. 2 16 2 6 2 0 2 0 0 4 4 22 41 Lupu M. 0 0 4 32 0 0 4 0 0 4 4 32 42 Cernei O. 0 0 3 15 0 0 3 0 0 3 3 15 43 Baldovici V. 0 0 2 16 2 0 0 0 0 2 2 16 + Institutions 0 0 1 Parties 293 5922 500 7662 145 99 549 0 0 793 793 13584 2 GOVERNMENT 18 382 162 4655 27 74 79 0 0 180 180 5037 3 PLA 12 270 93 2715 1 34 70 0 0 105 105 2985 4 PRESIDENCY 0 0 37 419 0 14 23 0 0 37 37 419 5 Parliament 15 365 14 573 0 2 27 0 0 29 29 938 + Parties 0 0 1 PCRM 35 732 151 3193 14 88 84 0 0 186 186 3925 2 PDM 45 1029 66 1284 25 0 86 0 0 111 111 2313 3 PLDM 48 926 45 368 5 4 84 0 0 93 93 1294 4 AMN 40 726 53 842 5 2 86 0 0 93 93 1568 5 MAE 44 791 40 513 36 0 48 0 0 84 84 1304 6 PSD 21 405 31 277 5 0 47 0 0 52 52 682 7 PL 20 325 31 217 10 2 39 0 0 51 51 542 8 UCM 16 497 35 523 25 2 24 0 0 51 51 1020 9 INDEP 18 435 29 313 5 0 42 0 0 47 47 748 10 PDSMU 16 378 26 354 10 5 27 0 0 42 42 732 11 RAVN 10 235 12 75 5 0 17 0 0 22 22 310 12 PPCD 0 0 22 196 0 6 16 0 0 22 22 196 13 PLD 2 34 5 39 2 0 5 0 0 7 7 73 14 PC 0 0 5 15 0 0 5 0 0 5 5 15 15 PEMAVE 0 0 5 35 0 0 5 0 0 5 5 35 16 PPR 2 16 2 6 2 0 2 0 0 4 4 22 17 PRM 0 0 1 6 0 0 1 0 0 1 1 6 18 PSMPR 0 0 1 6 0 0 1 0 0 1 1 6

Monitored TV station: TVC21 Monitored program: NEWS Monitored period: 18.02.09-03.03.09 No. of stories (with p.a. pres.) 161 No. of conflict stories: 20 News duration(sec): 16943 1 info source: 5 Program duration(sec): 44668 2+ info sources: 15

10 No. POLITICAL ACTORS PRESENCE CONTENT ATTITUDE Data synthesis

No. interventions + Neuter Positive Negative Impartial Favorable Unfavorable mentions/appear. Direct int. (number) Duration interventionsDuration + Menti./appear. (number) Direct int. (duration, sec) Menti./appear. (duration, sec) mentions/appear. + personalized 1 Voronin V. 3 180 24 436 2 3 22 0 3 24 27 616 2 Urechean S. 9 207 14 231 6 0 17 0 0 23 23 438 3 Tarlev V. 12 198 6 126 4 0 14 0 0 18 18 324 4 Braghis D. 9 156 9 72 9 0 9 0 0 18 18 228 5 Filat V. 9 114 8 42 0 0 17 0 0 17 17 156 6 Greceanai Z. 6 98 11 104 5 0 12 0 0 17 17 202 7 Banari S. 5 182 11 207 2 0 14 0 0 16 16 389 8 Tanase A. 8 143 6 58 0 0 14 0 0 14 14 201 9 Klimenko V. 7 100 3 54 3 0 7 0 0 10 10 154 10 Tcaci A. 5 96 5 70 3 0 7 0 0 10 10 166 11 Osipov V. 3 84 6 21 0 0 9 0 0 9 9 105 12 Chirtoaca D. 6 108 2 24 0 0 8 0 0 8 8 132 13 Musuc E. 2 40 5 20 0 0 7 0 0 7 7 60 14 Lucinschi C. 4 72 2 24 0 0 6 0 0 6 6 96 15 Braga V. 3 78 3 12 0 0 6 0 0 6 6 90 16 Diacov D. 3 78 3 18 0 0 6 0 0 6 6 96 17 Ostalep V. 3 60 3 12 0 0 6 0 0 6 6 72 18 Stepaniuc V. 0 0 6 54 0 3 3 0 0 6 6 54 19 Uratu S. 3 24 2 60 0 0 5 0 0 5 5 84 20 Nagacevschi V. 0 0 5 170 0 0 5 0 0 5 5 170 21 Cosarciuc V. 3 42 0 0 0 0 3 0 0 3 3 42 22 Cotet V. 3 69 0 0 0 0 3 0 0 3 3 69 23 Leanca Iu. 3 48 0 0 0 0 3 0 0 3 3 48 24 Mejinschi V. 3 18 0 0 0 0 3 0 0 3 3 18 25 Serebrian O. 3 72 0 0 0 0 3 0 0 3 3 72 26 Untila V. 3 60 0 0 0 0 3 0 0 3 3 60 27 Vieru C. 3 24 0 0 0 0 3 0 0 3 3 24 28 Formuzal M. 0 0 3 12 0 0 3 0 0 3 3 12 29 Zubic V. 0 0 3 15 0 0 3 0 0 3 3 15 30 Bujor L. 2 16 0 0 0 0 2 0 0 2 2 16 31 Gutu E. 2 32 0 0 0 0 2 0 0 2 2 32 32 Dodon I. 0 0 2 6 0 0 2 0 0 2 2 6 33 Pavlicenco V. 0 0 2 12 0 0 2 0 0 2 2 12 34 Petrencu A. 0 0 2 12 0 0 2 0 0 2 2 12 35 Cernei O. 1 16 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 1 1 16 36 Nirca N. 1 10 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 1 1 10 37 Salaru A. 0 0 1 8 1 0 0 0 0 1 1 8 + Institutions 0 0 1 Parties 143 2583 243 4789 66 19 301 0 0 386 386 7372 2 GOVERNMENT 7 98 73 1354 7 18 55 3 0 77 80 1452 3 PLA 18 281 34 1271 3 9 40 0 0 52 52 1552 4 PRESIDENCY 3 180 25 465 2 4 22 0 3 25 28 645 5 Parliament 0 0 5 64 0 3 2 0 0 5 5 64 + Parties 0 0 1 AMN 35 635 59 1345 10 2 82 0 0 94 94 1980 2 PCRM 9 278 70 1359 7 16 56 0 3 76 79 1637 3 PLDM 28 450 36 720 1 0 63 0 0 64 64 1170 4 PSD 15 244 25 300 18 0 22 0 0 40 40 544 5 UCM 18 282 21 393 19 0 20 0 0 39 39 675 6 PDM 19 336 17 410 2 0 34 0 0 36 36 746 7 PDSMU 10 195 13 216 3 0 20 0 0 23 23 411 8 INDEP 8 206 13 267 2 0 19 0 0 21 21 473 9 PL 9 180 11 144 4 1 15 0 0 20 20 324 10 PEMAVE 3 78 5 72 0 0 8 0 0 8 8 150 11 MAE 0 0 6 64 2 0 4 0 0 6 6 64 12 PNL 2 52 2 90 2 0 2 0 0 4 4 142 13 RAVN 1 16 3 18 0 0 4 0 0 4 4 34 14 PC 1 10 1 52 0 0 2 0 0 2 2 62

12 15 PPCD 0 0 2 16 0 2 0 0 0 2 2 16

3. Quantity dimension of the political actors' presence in news

3.1 General quantity data The TV stations Moldova 1, ProTV, TV7, EuTV, NIT, N4, TVC21 (except for 2 Plus and Prime, which have not got involved in the electoral campaign), during the monitoring period (18 February - 3 March, 2009), aired newscasts with a total duration of 431,621 sec. or more than 120 hours, as 176,552 sec. or 49.04 hours (40.86% from the total duration of newscasts) was the duration of 1,691 stories in which the monitored political actors were present. The reference indices gained momentum compared to the first two weeks of the campaign. Thus, the duration of newscasts rose 5%, and the duration of the stories covering political actors increased 10.47%. The monitored TV stations assigned different air time for newscasts. The first in this respect, as during the first campaign weeks, is Moldova 1 (23.53 hours), while the last in this ranking is N4 (7.5 hours.) NIT, EuTV and TVC21, in the third and fourth weeks of the campaign, increased the volume of newscasts (respectively, from 20.17 to 23.48 hours, from 13.6 to 15.2 hours and from 10.41 to 12.4 hours), while ProTV and TV7, on the contrary, reduced the duration of the news programs from 22.12 to 20.53 hours and from 18.46 to 17.23 hours. The duration of the news stories covering political actors was different on different stations. Thus, compared to the previous monitoring campaign, in the third and fourth electoral weeks, the duration increased in the general context of news programs on N 4 (from 64.55 to 72.07%), on NIT (from 50.13 to 56.58%), on TV 7 (from 41.16 to 49.03%), on ProTV (from 22.65 to 31.06%), on Moldova 1 (from 22.65 to 28.2%). On TVC21 and EuTV, the weight of the news in which political actors were present diminished (respectively from 47.87 to 37.93% and from 36.31 to 26.68 %.) However this weight, expressed in airtime, actually kept the figures of the ranking of the previous monitoring period. Worth to mention is that in this ranking, Moldova 1 and ProTV swapped their positions. Thus, the first is NIT with 13.28 hours (compared to 10.11 hours in the first two campaign weeks); TV7 is on position 2 with 8.45 hours (7,35 hours); Moldova 1 is on position 3 with 7.03 hours (5.37 hours), ProTV is the fourth with 6.38 hours (6.59 hours), N4 is the 5th with 5.41 hours (5.19 hours); TVC21 is on position 6 with 5.1 hours (5.39 hours) and the last is EuTV, as during the previous period, with 4.05 hours (5.17 hours.) Graph no.1

Weight of duration of news with the presence of political actors (p.a.) as related to the total duration of newscasts

Stories with p.a. presence: duration (sec) Newscasts: total duration (sec)

84725 84520

73911

62043 54720 47827 44668

30425 27034 23895 22985 19485 16943 14602

EuTV M1 N4 NIT ProTV TV7 TVC21

3.2 Political actors

a) Personalized actors

13 The number of personalized actors covered in weeks 3 and 4 in the campaign was dropping on all the monitored TV stations, except for EuTV, where a slight growth was noticed (from 34 to 35). Thus, on ProTV this index fell from 70 to 55, on TV7 – from 55 to 43, on TVC21 – from 54 to 37, on Moldova 1 – from 45 to 34, on NIT and N4 – from 38 each to, respectively, 30 and 33. The political scope of the mostly publicized politicians grew more diverse on all the monitored stations, which is different from the first two campaign weeks. In a top 10 on TCV21, TV7, ProTV, NIT, N4 and EuTV, representatives of 6-7 political parties and 1-2 independent candidates were present. The only TV station with the shortest list of publicized political actors was Moldova 1 (representatives of 3 parties – PCRM, AMN, MAE, and two independent candidates.) It’s worth reminding that in the previous period, Moldova 1’s top 10 also included representatives of the PCRM and the PSD. President Vladimir Voronin, the PCRM’s leader, was the first in top 10 of 5 out of 7 monitored TV services. On Moldova 1, N4 and NIT, the intensity of publicizing V. Voronin increased. Thus, V. Voronin’s presence on Moldova 1 increased as frequency by 85 % (from 47 to 87 appearances) and as duration by 47% (from 1,119 to 1,646 sec.), on N4 – as frequency with 24 % (from 54 to 67) and as duration with about 47 % (from 1,606 to 2,359 sec.), and on NIT, the presence of V. Voronin in the newscasts went up 8 percent (from 167 to 181), and as duration – with about 27 % (from 3,763 to 4,793 sec.) Still, it is worth to point out the following. During the reference period, V. Voronin entered the list of those 10 on some services that did not grant him increased coverage in the first two campaign weeks. The question is about EuTV (26 appearances with a duration of 658 sec.) and TVC21 (27 appearances with a duration of 616 sec.). V. Voronin was also in the top (position 2) of ProTV (36 appearances with a duration of 362 sec.) and TV7 (position 7 – as frequency, 24 appearances.) On ProTV, the first position was occupied by another personalized political actor – the AMN’s leader Serafim Urechean (36 appearances with the duration of 523 sec.). He also was on position 1 on TV7 in terms of number of appearances (37).

EuTV EuTV Top 10 actori personalizati. Frecventa aparitiilor Top 10 actori personalizati. Durata aparitiilor (sec)

658 26 23 547

18 396 14 14 12 285 11 11 10 10 256 243 204 201 186 184

FILAT V. FILAT V. OSIPOV V TARLEV V. ROSCA IU. TARLEV V. ROSCA IU. VORONIN V. VORONIN V. URECHEAN S. URECHEAN S. MUNTEANU I. KLIMENKO V. GRECEANAI Z. CHIRTOACA D. GRECEANAI Z. MALASEVSCHI A. CORDUNEANU A. MALASEVSCHICORDUNEANU A. A.

Moldova 1 Moldova 1 Top 10 actori personalizati. Frecventa aparitiilor Top 10 actori personalizati. Durata aparitiilor (sec)

1646 87

782 41 389 377 372 248 212 16 181 180 179 12 10 9 9 9 8 8

SARBU S. TCACI A. BUJOR L. OSIPOV V. VORONIN V. SARBU S. URATU S. SAINCIUC S. OSIPOV V. BANARI S. COPACI T. GRECEANAI Z. MEJINSCHI V. PETRENCU A. VORONIN V. SAINCIUC S. GRECEANAI Z. PETRENCU A.BUCEATCHI P. DUMBRAVEANU A.

N4 N4 Top 10 actori personalizati. Frecventa aparitiilor Top 10 actori personalizati. Durata aparitiilor (sec) 2359 67

26 495 14 14 12 458 11 9 9 284 264 8 7 237 222 184 173 150

SARBU S. COTET V. MUSUC E. UNTILA V. TARLEV V. SARBU S. COTET V. MUSUC E. TARLEV V. VORONIN V. VORONIN V. OSTALEP V. URECHEAN S. PETRENCU A. URECHEAN S. SAINCIUC S. CHIRTOACA D. GRECEANAI Z. CHIRTOACA D. GRECEANAI Z.

14 NIT NIT Top 10 actori personalizati. Frecventa aparitiilor Top 10 actori personalizati. Durata aparitiilor (sec)

181 4793

53 31 909 849 18 18 17 408 354 10 10 9 9 242 150 144 126 112

LUPU M. FILAT V. LUPU M. FILAT V. MUSUC E. TARLEV V. COPACI T. TARLEV V. VORONIN V. VORONIN V. URECHEAN S. SAINCIUC S. URECHEAN S. SAINCIUC S. GRECEANAI CHIRTOACAZ. D. STEPANIUC V. GRECEANAI Z. STEPANIUCCHIRTOACA V. D.

ProTV ProTV Top 10 actori personalizati. Frecventa aparitiilor Top 10 actori personalizati. Durata aparitiilor (sec)

36 36 523 28 382 376 365 22 337 328 18 18 18 17 17 17 180 176 173 151

FILAT V. SARBU S. OSIPOV V SARBU S. TARLEV V. URATU S. TARLEV V. BANARI S. ROSCA IU. BANARI S. VORONIN V. VORONIN V. URECHEAN S. URECHEAN S. GRECEANAI Z. GRECEANAI Z. CHIRTOACA D. CHIRTOACA D. NAGACEVSCHI V. NAGACEVSCHI V.

TV7 TV7 Top 10 actori personalizati. Frecventa aparitiilor Top 10 actori personalizati. Durata aparitiilor (sec)

37 37 693 30 606 28 594 26 25 24 507 492 20 20 19 365 350 345 333 319

FILAT V. TARLEV V. OSIPOV V BANARI S. DIACOV D. TANASE A. BANARI S. TARLEV V. DIACOV D. TANASE A. BRAGHIS D.VORONIN V. TURCAN V. BRAGHIS D. URECHEAN S. URECHEAN S. PETRENCU A. PAVLICENCO V. STEPANIUC GRECEANAIV. Z.

TVC21 TVC21 Top 10 actori personalizati. Frecventa aparitiilor Top 10 actori personalizati. Durata aparitiilor (sec)

27 616 23 438 18 18 389 17 17 16 14 324 10 10 228 202 201 170 166 156

TCACI A. FILAT V. BANARI S. TARLEV V. TANASE A. FILAT V. BRAGHIS D. TARLEV V. TCACI A. VORONIN V. BANARI S. TANASE A. URECHEAN S. GRECEANAI Z. VORONIN V. BRAGHIS D. KLIMENKO V. URECHEAN S. GRECEANAI Z. NAGACEVSCHI V.

b) Institutionalized actors. Institutions During weeks 3 and 4 of the campaign, as in the first two weeks, the monitored TV services saw as a priority to cover political parties, although their appearance in newscasts was declining about 14 per cent. It’s worth mentioning, that on 6 out of 7 TV stations, the parties were on position 1 on the list of covered institutionalized political actors. The political parties, all together, got 2,780 appearances with the total duration of 47,710 sec. Their times on air increased 1.13 times compared to the first two weeks of the campaign. The government was on position two in the top of the most covered institutionalized political actors. It benefited from 943 appearances with a total duration of 24,336 sec. The government benefited, according to these indices, of a similar coverage as the one in the first two weeks of the campaign (cf.: 911 presences during 23,257 sec.) On NIT, the mostly publicized institutionalized actor was the government.

15 The local public administrations were on position 3, in this regard. All in all, those 7 TV stations granted the LPA 14,395 sec. of air time, that being 2 times less than in the first two campaigning weeks. The LPA got referred to 454 times, that is 3 times less than during the first monitored election period. The presidency was highlighted in news 450 times during 10,572 sec. (respectively, 1.56 and about 1.6 times more than in the first two weeks.) The parliament got the most insignificant coverage (69 appearances with the total duration of 1,402 sec.) (10 and, respectively, 7 times less than in the period from February 4 to 17, 2009). The presence of the institutionalized political actors in newscasts was different in intensity on different stations. The table below quantifies the frequency and the duration of covering the government, parliament, presidency, the LPA and the political parties from 18 February to March 3, 2009.

TV station Government Parliament Presidency PLA Parties position position position position position Frequency 140 3 3 6 81 2 8 7 231 6 M1 Duration 3257 3 9 6 1550 3 175 7 4495 7 Frequency 233 1 10 3 181 1 77 3 184 7 NIT Duration 8283 1 58 6 4793 1 3800 1 4764 5 Frequency 180 2 29 1 37 5 105 1 793 1 TV7 Duration 5037 2 938 1 419 6 2985 3 13584 1 Frequency 85 6 4 3 23 7 64 4 262 5 EUTV Duration 2031 5 68 4 622 5 1792 4 4862 4 Frequency 106 5 0 7 61 3 88 2 267 4 N4 Duration 2688 4 0 7 2143 2 3257 2 4593 6 Frequency 119 4 18 2 39 4 60 5 657 2 ProTV Duration 1588 6 265 2 400 7 834 6 8040 2 Frequency 80 7 5 6 28 6 52 6 386 3 TVC 21 Duration 1452 7 64 5 645 4 1552 5 7372 3

NIT, according to the data from the table, was the station having granted the largest amount of airtime to the government and the presidency in its newscasts (position 1 as frequency and duration.) This station went on promoting the editorial policies that it also employed during the first two weeks of the campaign. The same can be said about the PLA. NIT mirrored their activities 77 times during 3,800 sec., and was on position 3 – as frequency and on position 1 – as duration. It’s worth mentioning that the Parliament disappeared from top 10 of the preferences of this station, as the parliament got but 10 appearances during 58 seconds (position 3 – as frequency and position 6 – as duration). NIT offered but restricted airtime to political parties (position 7 - as frequency and position 5 – as duration.) N4, as during the previous monitoring period, displayed its attachment for the presidency (position 2 – as frequency and duration.) New was the interest of this station for the PLA (position 3 – as frequency and 2 – as duration.) N4 went on being extremely reserved with the parliament (position 7 – as frequency and duration), rather reluctant with the political parties (position 4 – as frequency and position 6 – as duration.) Not like in the first two campaign weeks, N4 took less interest in the government (in this respect, N4 fell from position 2 to position 5 – as frequency and position 4 – as duration.) During weeks 3-4, Moldova 1 partially changed its priorities in covering the institutionalized actors. If this channel promoted the parliament more during the first two weeks (position 2) and the Presidency (position 3), then during the last monitoring period its favorites were the Presidency (position 2 – as frequency and position 3 – as duration) and the Government (position 3 – as frequency and duration). Moldova 1 went on being reluctant with the PLA (position 7) and political parties (position 6 – as frequency and position 7 – as duration.) In the list of institutionalized actors, which got not so much covered by Moldova 1, there is its ancient favorite: the Parliament (position 6). TV7 treated, almost with the same intensity, 4 out of 5 institutionalized political actors – the Government (position 1 – as frequency and position 2 – as duration). The Parliament (position 1), the PLA (position 1 – as frequency and position 3 – as duration) and the political parties (position 1). TV7 displayed low interest for the presidency (position 5 - as frequency and 6 - as duration). EuTV approached the institutionalized political actors with enough reluctance and with a certain amount of balance. However, as it did in the first two election weeks, EuTV displayed a likeness for the parliament (position 3 – as frequency and position 4 – as duration) and the PLA (position 4). ProTV kept its enhanced interest for parties (position 2 - as frequency and duration). It showed similar interest for the parliament (position 2). The other political actors were treated almost in the same manner as before (the PLA - position 5 - as frequency and 6 - as duration; the Government – position 4 – as frequency and 6 - as duration; Presidency - position 4 – as frequency and 7 – as duration).

16 TVC21 maintained its interest for political parties in weeks 3 and 4 , as it did in weeks 1 and 2, (position 3) and went on to cover, insignificantly, although in a balanced manner, the activities of the power institutions (on average: position 6).

c) Institutionalized actors. Political parties The monitored TV stations covered by 14 political parties, on average. Leading in this respect was TV 7 (18 parties). It was followed by ProTV and Moldova 1 (with 16 each), TVC21 (15), N4 (12), EuTV (11) and NIT (10). The stations granted different priority to political parties. Out of 5 stations from din 7 monitored, placed the PCRM as the first on their list (TV7, NIT, ProTV, N4, Moldova 1). On the other two stations – TVC21 and EuTV – the PCRM was on position 2, the AMN being on position 1. The difference between the holders of the first two places and the ones holding the last two places was considerable. Thus, NIT covered the PCRM – the first on its list – granting it 318 appearances during 7,500 sec., the AMN, being on position 2, had 51 appearances during 1,841 sec. The last on the list were the PPCD (5 appearances, 30 sec.) and the PPR (3 appearances, 60 sec.). on TV the first two parties – the PCRM and the PDM – had, respectively, 186 and 111 appearances during 3,925 and 2,313 sec., and the last two parties – the PRM and the PSMPR had by an appearance during 6 sec. These differences, also noticed, more or less, on the other monitored TV stations, speak about the non- balanced coverage of the political parties as electoral actors. They are also confirmed by the interrelation of the airtime granted to the party on the first and the last places and the average airtime granted to other electoral competitors on each particular station. Thus, NIT publicized the PCRM 18 times more than the other 9 parties. In other words, if the PCRM had 7,500 sec. on NIT, as airtime, then the other parties – got by 421 sec. on average. On N4 and Moldova 1, in the same context, the PCRM had 12 times more appearances than the average of the other 11 and, respectively, 15 parties. Other TV stations proved to be more balanced. The difference between the most covered and the average of the other parties on EuTV was 3 times (the leader – AMN), on TVC21 – 4.3 times (the leader – AMN), on ProTV – 4.7 times (the leader – PCRM), on TV7 – 6 times (the leader – the PCRM).

Top 10 political parties: duration (sec)

102 126 EuTV 1428 1389 899 420 247 227 892

91 90 M1 2989 1352 253 180 284 196 368 294

15 N4 4113 1287 520 261212227 741 301 45

30 NIT 7500 1841 48830330357354

ProTV 2140 1261 1000 383 495 706 454 181 385 401

196 TV7 3925 1568 1294 2313 1020 682 542 1304 732

64 16 TVC21 1637 1980 1170 746 675 544 324 411

PCRM AMN PLDM PDM UCM PSD PL MAE PDSMU PPCD

Conclusions The quantity data of monitoring the newscasts in the third and the fourth weeks of the election campaign speak about the monitored services going on differently treating the political actors, both personalized and institutionalized. NIT, N4, Moldova 1, and sometimes EuTV, show themselves as distinct supporters of political forces (in the case of the first 3 – the PCRM, in the fourth case – the PPCD). TV7, ProTV and TVC21, apart from their attachment for the Liberal parties, display an attachment for a balanced quantity approach of the actors

17 involved in the electoral race. A similar conduct, although only in some parts remarked in the comments from above, was adopted by EuTV, a distinct exponent of the PPCD.

4. QUALITY DIMENSION OF POLITICAL ACTORS' PRESENCE IN NEWS

4.1. Political actors in news. Positive context

7 of 9 monitored TV stations broadcast news with political actors in a positive context. (See Table 1)

Table 1 No. POLITICLAL ACTORS. POSITIVE CONTEXT EuTV Moldova 1 NIT ProTV TV7 N4 TVC21 Personalized 1 GRECEANAI Z. 8 VORONIN V. 33 VORONIN V. 110 TARLEV V. 10 VORONIN V. 42 BRAGHIS D. 9 2 CORDUNEANU 6 GRECEANAI 28 GRECEANAI Z. 21 BANARI S. 5 COTET V. 9 URECHEAN S. 6 3 COPACI T. 6 BUCEATCHI P. 9 LUPU M. 6 CHIRTOACA D. 5 PETRENCU A. 6 GRECEANAI Z. 5 4 VORONIN V. 4 SAINCIUC S. 6 SAINCIUC S. 6 DIACOV D. 5 BUCEATCHI P. 3 TARLEV V. 4 5 BALDOVICI V. 4 COPACI T. 5 STEPANIUC V. 6 FILAT V. 5 CATRINICI L. 3 KLIMENKO V. 3 6 MUNTEANU I. 3 VRABIE V. 3 COTET V. 4 GAMURARI A. 5 GRECEANAI Z. 3 TCACI A. 3 7 ROSCA IU. 2 MUSUC E. 2 BALDOVICI V. 3 KLIMENKO V. 5 SAINCIUC S. 3 BANARI S. 2 8 BULAT G. 2 COPACI T. 3 PAVLICENCO V. 5 VRABIE V. 3 VORONIN V. 2 9 LUPAN N. 3 PETRENCU A. 5 SALARU A. 1 10 MUNTEANU I. 3 STEPANIUC V. 5 Institutions 1 GOVERNMENT 41 GOVERNMENT 78 GOVERNMENT 126 PARTIES 5 PARTIES 145 GOVERNMENT 45 PARTIES 66 2 PLA 18 PRESIDENCY 30 PRESIDENCY 110 PLA 2 GOVERNMENT 27 PARTIES 38 GOVERNMENT 7 3 PARTIES 5 PARTIES 7 PLA 23 PLA 1 PRESIDENCY 36 PLA 3 4 PRESIDENCY 4 PARTIES 23 PLA 17 PRESIDENCY 2 5 Parliament 2 Parties 1 PPCD 12 PCRM 64 PCRM 163 PSD 4 MAE 36 PCRM 67 UCM 19 2 PCRM 12 PSD 4 PLDM 4 UCM 1 PDM 25 MAE 11 PSD 18 3 AMN 3 UCM 25 PLDM 9 AMN 10 4 PSD 2 PCRM 14 PDM 3 PCRM 7 5 PDSMU 10 PSD 1 PL 4 6 PL 10 PDSMU 3 7 AMN 5 INDEP 2 8 INDEP 5 MAE 2 9 PLDM 5 PDM 2 10 PSD 5 PNL 2 11 RAVN 5 PLDM 1 12 PLD 2 13 PPR 2

a) Personalized actors Out of the monitored televisions, ProTV covered the largest number of personalized political actors in its news – 52; NIT – the smallest – 30. ProTV put no personalized political actor in a positive context. President V. Voronin is the mostly covered personalized actor in a positive context, as he got a total of 191 appearances on 5 televisions, including on three of those – Moldova 1, NIT and N4 – 185 appearances. Thus, NIT put this actor in a positive context in 1 story out of three; N4 – one in four, and Moldova 1 – one in seven, out of the total number news stories in which political actors were present. Compared to the previous monitoring period, publicizing this personalized political actor grew in frequency on Moldova 1 and la N4 and was almost at the same level on NIT. (See graph 1: the first column represents the number of appearances in the 04-17 February period; the second column – the number of appearances in the 18 February – 03 March period). Graph 1

18 The mostly covered personalized actor in a positive context: comparative data

111 110

04.02 - 17.02.2009 18.02 - 03.03.2009 42 33 34 29

Moldova 1 NIT N4

On 4 televisions (EuTV, M1, NIT and N4), the representative of the authorities prevail among the actors put in a positive context; on 2 stations (TV7 and TVC21) – it is the representatives of the political opposition who prevail. On EuTV the first on the list is premier Z. Greceanai. On Moldova 1, NIT and N4 – president V. Voronin. On TV7 – V. Tarlev. On TVC21 – D. Braghis. TV7 put in a positive context the largest number of personalized actors – 16. EuTV – the smallest – 7. As for EuTV, the relation between the frequency of covering the holders of position 1 and position 10 from the list is 4 to 1; the same relation on NIT is 55 to 1.

b) Institutionalized actors. Institutions The televisions covered the institutions as actors in a different manner. So, 4 stations – EuTV, Moldova 1, NIT and N4 grant priority to the news in which the Government is presented in a positive context. On EuTV – 41 times; on Moldova 1 – 78; on NIT – 126 and on N4 – 45 times. 3 televisions – ProTV, TV7 and TVC21 – grant priority to the news stories in which the political parties are put in a positive context: on ProTV – 5 times; on TV7 – 145 times and on TVC21 – 66.

c) Institutionalized actors. Political parties Three televisions – EuTV, Moldova 1 and ProTV put in a positive context by 2 of those 11 (EuTV) and, respectively, 16 political parties they covered in their news. This index in NIT's case is 4 to 10; in N4's case – 5 to 12; in TV7's case – 13 to 18; in TVC21's case – 11 to 15. EuTV put the PPCD and the PCRM in a positive context in its news. Moldova 1, NIT and N4, blatantly put the PCRM as a political actor in its news. The first position on the other televisions are occupied by different political actors. The aggregated number of positive-context appearances of the PCRM in the newscasts of all the monitored televisions, gives it a highly superior position compared to the other competitors (See Graph 2. The first column represents the data of the previous monitoring; the second column – of the present monitoring session.) Except for the UCM and the MAE, this index as to all the political parties as actors, including the PCRM, is declining.

Graph 2

19 Political parties in a positive context (frequency): comparative data

04.02 - 17.02.2009 18.02 - 03.03.2009 419

327

116 102 58 49 49 32 30 43 3745 19 14 18 1912 10

PCRM PSD PDM PLDM PL AMN UCM PPCD MAE

4.2 Political actors. Negative context

7 of the 9 monitored televisions aired mews with political actors put in a negative context. (See table 2)

Table 2 N POLITICAL ACTORS. NEGATIVE CONTEXT o. + EuTV M1 NIT ProTV TV7 N4 TVC21 Personalized GRECEANAI 1 URECHEAN S. 12 DUMBRAVEANU A. 3 CHIRTOACA D. 20 ROSCA IU. 7 Z. 5 CHIRTOACA D. 23 VORONIN V. 3 2 CHIRTOACA D. 11 OSIPOV V. 3 URECHEAN S. 14 VORONIN V. 6 PAPUC G. 5 URECHEAN S. 11 STEPANIUC V. 3 3 MALASEVSCHI A. 9 ANDRONIC N. 2 MUSUC E. 7 GRECEANAI Z. 4 VORONIN V. 5 TARLEV V. 4 4 FILAT V. 8 FILAT V. 4 LUPU M. 4 COTET V. 2 BRAGHIS D. 3 5 BURCA B. 6 ANDRONIC N. 3 HARLAMENCO A. 3 ROSCA IU. 1 DIACOV D. 3 6 MUSUC E. 6 TARLEV V. 3 TARLEV V. 3 FILAT V. 3 7 DIACOV D. 4 BRAGHIS D. 2 UNTILA V. 3 8 GHIMPU M. 4 PLATON V. 2 GHIMPU M. 2 9 TARLEV V. 3 MUSUC E. 1 MUSUC E. 2 10 BRAGHIS D. 3 Institutions 16 12 1 PARTIES 2 PARTIES 45 PARTIES 58 PARTIES 110 PARTIES 99 PARTIES 5 PARTIES 19 GOVERNMEN GOVERNMEN 2 PLA 20 PLA 8 PLA 41 GOVERNMENT 44 T 74 PLA 53 T 18 3 GOVERNMENT 9 PARLIAMENT 13 PLA 34 PLA 9 4 PLA 7 PRESIDENCY 14 PRESIDENCY 4 5 PRESIDENCY 6 PARLIAMENT 2 PARLIAMENT 3 Parties 1 AMN 56 AMN 19 AMN 30 PCRM 54 PCRM 88 PL 46 PCRM 16 2 PLDM 33 PL 5 PL 20 PPCD 17 PPCD 6 AMN 45 AMN 2 3 PL 21 PLDM 4 PLDM 8 PL 11 PDSMU 5 PLDM 23 PPCD 2 4 PSD 12 PEMAVE 3 PSD 7 PSD 9 PLDM 4 PDM 12 PL 1 5 PDM 12 PCRM 3 UCM 6 AMN 8 AMN 2 UCM 11 6 PC 12 PDM 3 PC 5 PC 8 PL 2 PSD 7 7 UCM 6 PSD 3 PPR 3 UCM 7 UCM 2 MAE 6 8 PCRM 6 PPR 2 PLDM 5 PDSMU 3 9 MAE 3 PPCD 2 PDM 3 PC 3 10 RAVN 3 UCM 1 PDSMU 3

a) Personalized actors TVC21 and Moldova 1 put fewest personalized actors in a negative context in their newscasts – 2 and 3, respectively. On 3 televisions – EuTV, NIT and N4 – the personalized actors mostly covered in a negative context are S. Urechean and D. Chirtoaca. On Moldova 1 – A. Dumbraveanu and V. Osipov; on ProTV – Iu. Rosca and V.Voronin; on TV7 – Z. Greceanai and G.Papuc; on TVC21 – V. Voronin and V. Stepaniuc. Four stations: EuTV, Moldova 1, NIT and N4, put the representatives of the opposition parties in a negative context. One station – TVC21 – put the representatives of the governance in a negative context. Two stations - ProTV, TV7 – put in a negative context the representatives of the ruling party and of the opposition parties.

b) Institutionalized actors. Institutions

20 All those 7 televisions aired news in which the political parties are the institutions-actors most frequently put in a negative context. EuTV, Moldova 1, NIT and N4 put the PLA on position 2. These stations do not put the Government (safe for NIT), the Parliament and the Presidency in a negative context.

c) Institutionalized actors. Political parties The political parties as actors mostly frequently covered in a negative context are the PCRM, the AMN and the PL. Three stations – EuTV, Moldova 1 and NIT – put the AMN on position 1. Other three stations – ProTV, TV7 and TVC 21 – the PCRM. N4 – PL. TVC21 put the smallest number of political parties as actors in a negative context – 4. NIT and TV7 placed by 7. N4 – 9 parties. The other televisions – by 10 political parties. Unlike the previous period (04 – 17 February, 2009), during the reference period (18 February – 03 March, 2009), in terms of number of appearances in the news in a negative context on those 7 stations, actor PL yielded its 'leading' position to the actor PCRM, although it remains, as AMN, PCRM and PLDM, in the group of the political actors most often put in a negative context. Three actors – PL, PLDM and PSD appeared rarer in a negative context than in the previous period, while the other – appeared more often (See graph 3).

Graph 3

Political parties in a negative context (frequency): comparative data

04.02 - 17.02.2009 18.02 - 03.03.2009

174 160 167

106 100 89 86 77 84

38 33 30 27 15 13 12

PL AMN PCRM PLDM PSD UCM PDM PPCD

4.3. Political actors. Favoring attitude

Two stations – ProTV and TV7 – favored no political actor. One station – TVC21 – favored a single actor – the Government – 3 times (See Table 3).

Table 3 NO POLITICAL ACTORS. FAVORING ATTITUDE . + EuTV M1 NIT ProTV TV7 N4 TVC21 Personalized 1 GRECEANAI Z. 4 GRECEANAI Z. 12 VORONIN V. 19 VORONIN V. 3 2 CORDUNEANU A 4 VORONIN V. 8 GRECEANAI Z. 2 3 VORONIN V. 2 VRABIE V. 3 LUPU M. 2 4 ROSCA IU. 2 LUPAN N. 3 5 MUSUC E. 2 Institutions GOVER 1 3 GOVERNMENT 16 GOVERNMENT 78 GOVERNMENT 42 PARTIES 3 NMENT 2 PLA 4 PRESIDENCY 30 PRESIDENCY 19 PRESIDENCY 3 3 PARTIES 5 PARTIES 7 PLA 3 4 PRESIDENCY 2 PARLIAMENT 2 5 Parties 1 PPCD 9 PCRM 20 PCRM 23 PCRM 6 2 PCRM 6 PSD 4

a) Personalized actors EuTV favored 4 personalized political actors: Z.Greceanai and A.Corduneanu – 4 times; V. Voronin and Iu. Rosca – 2 times;

21 Moldova 1 favored 5 personalized political actors: Z.Greceanai and V.Voronin – 12 and, respectively, 8 times; V. Vrabie and N. Lupan – by 3 times; E. Musuc – 2 times; NIT favored 3 personalized political actors: V.Voronin – 19 times; Z. Greceanai and M. Lupu – 2 times each; N4 favored 1 politic personalized political actor: V. Voronin – 3 times. So, V. Voronin (32 times on 4 televisions) and Z. Greceanai (18 times) went on remaining as the political actors toward whom the favorable attitude is most often displayed in newscasts.

b) Institutionalized actors. Institutions Four televisions most often favor the Government in their news: Moldova 1 – 78 times; NIT – 42 times; EuTV – 16 times and TVC21 – 3 times. Position 2, as frequency, is held by the presidency as an institution-actor: Moldova 1 – 30 times; NIT – 19 times; N4 – 3 times and EuTV – 2 times. Parties are favored in news by EuTV, Moldova 1 and N4.

c) Institutionalized actors. Political parties The four televisions displayed in news, differently as frequency, favoring attitudes toward 3 political parties as actors: the PCRM – 55 times; the PPCD – 9 times and the PSD – 4 times. EuTV in its news favors 2 actors – the PPCD and the PCRM. Also Moldova 1 favors two actors: the PCRM and the PSD. NIT and N4 favors by one actor, which is the same PCRM.

4.4 Political actors in newscasts. Unfavorable attitude The televisions used different professional standards in writing news with the presence of political actors (See Table 4). Table 4 No POLITICAL ACTORS. UNFAVORABLE ATTITUDE . + EuTV M1 NIT ProTV TV7 N4 TVC21 Personalized 1 MALASEVSCHI A. 9 DUMBRAVEANU A. 3 URECHEAN S. 9 CHIRTOACA D. 6 VORONIN V. 3 2 URECHEAN S. 5 OSIPOV V. 3 FILAT V. 4 URECHEAN S. 3 3 FILAT V. 4 ANDRONIC N. 2 GHIMPU M. 2 4 TARLEV V. 3 5 BRAGHIS D. 3 6 BURCA B. 2 7 PETRENCU A. 2 Institutions 1 PARTIES 39 PARTIES 15 PARTIES 16 GOVERN. 4 PARTIES 18 PRESIDENCY 3 2 PLA 2 PLA 8 PLA 7 PLA 9 Parties 1 PLDM 17 AMN 8 AMN 12 PL 11 PCRM 3 2 AMN 11 PEMAVE 3 PLDM 4 AMN 9 3 PSD 6 PLDM 2 PDSMU 3 4 UCM 3 PPR 2 PDM 1 5 MAE 2

a) Personalized actors Two stations – ProTV and TV7 unfavored no personalized political actor in the newscasts. One television – TVC21 – unfavored a single personalized actor – V. Voronin, three times. NIT unfavored two actors – S. Urechean (9 times) and V. Filat (4 times.) Moldova 1 and N4 unfavored by three personalized actors. Moldova 1 – A. Dumbraveanu and V. Osipov – by three times each, and N. Andronic – two times. N4 – D. Chirtoaca (6 times), S. Urechean (3 times) and M. Ghimpu (2 times). EuTV unfavored the largest number of personalized actors – 7: A. Malasevschi – 9 times; S. Urechean – 5 times; V. Filat – 4 times; V. Tarlev and D. Braghis – by 3 times each; B.Burca and A. Petrencu – by two times each. Only one personalized political actor, representing the government, was unfavored in newscasts, the others represent the political opposition. S. Urechean is the most unfavored personalized actor in news (17 times.)

b) Institutionalized actors. Institutions ProTV shows an unfavorable attitude as to a single institution as an actor – the GOVERNMENT – 4 times, and TVC21 – toward the PRESIDENCY – 3 times. EuTV, Moldova 1, NIT and N4 put in a bad light by two institutions as actors, the same: the political parties and the PLA. As frequency, the parties are blatantly unfavored compared to the PLA.

c) Institutionalized actors. Political parties

22 Two televisions – ProTV and TV7 – aired no news displaying unfavorable attitudes toward any political party, as an actor. TVC21 unfavored (3 times) a single actor – the PCRM. NIT unfavors two party – AMN and PLDM. Moldova 1 and N4 unfavored by four parties. EuTV – 5. Most often the unfavorable attitude was displayed in news toward the political party AMN – 50 times, followed by the PLDM – 23 times and the PL – 11 times. The ruling party was put in a bad light 3 times in the news of a single television. The other stations showed their unfavorable attitude toward opposition parties.

4.5 Quality of news presenting political actors The largest number of news stories presenting political actors were broadcast by TV7 – 357 and NIT – 333, while EuTV the smallest number – 137. The largest number of conflict-related stories were aired by ProTV – 83 and N4 – 66 (See Graph 1).

Graph 1

Number of conflict-related stories

357 333 275 242 186 161 137 83 66 40 46 37 19 20

EuTV Moldova 1 N4 NIT ProTV TV7 TVC21

Total number of news Conflict-related stories

The largest share of conflict-related stories, as related to the total number of news stories presenting political actors were aired by N4 - 35%, ProTV - 30% and EuTV - 29%. The smallest share – Moldova 1 - 8% (See Graph 2).

Graph 2

Conflict-related stories quota (%)

35%

29% 30%

14% 12% 10% 8%

EuTV Moldova 1 N4 NIT ProTV TV7 TVC21

A single television – ProTV – during the reference period, produced all the conflict stories by using more info sources, in accordance to the professional standards. TV7 and TVC21 also have more stories based on more

23 sources. At the same time, on 4 stations – EuTV, Moldova 1 and, especially, NIT and N4, the number of stories based on a single source is prevailing among the conflict-related stories. For instance, on NIT, this rate is 7 in 8 conflict-related stories, and on la N4 - 3 out of 4 are based on a single information source (See Graph 3).

Graph 3

Number of sources used in conflict-related stories Number of sources used in conflict-related stories period: 18 February - 03 march 2009 period: 04 -17 February, 2009

83 99

52 41 32 46 47 23 28 17 26 14 15 19 18 12 14 13 17 7 5 5 5 9 9 5 0 0

EuTV Moldova 1 N4 NIT ProTV TV7 TVC21 EuTV Moldova 1 N4 NIT ProTV TV7 TVC21

1 source 2 sources + 1 source 2 sources +

Conclusions: . most televisions (EuTV, Moldova 1, NIT, N4) go on ignoring the legal provisions (The Broadcasting Code, art. 7 (3) and (4), the CEC Regulation, points 4, 17) envisaging the way of mirroring the election race in newscasts and current affairs programs. The number of the stories presenting electoral competitors, in which the latter ones are put in positive or in negative contexts, remains big; . save for a station (ProTV), the others, to a greater extent (EuTV, Moldova 1, NIT and N4) or to a smaller extent (TV7 and TVC21), do not observe the professional standards in writing the news. The favorable or unfavorable attitudes shown as to news makers diminish the quality of the info-product offered to the public. Showing one's attachment for certain electoral competitors in the news and one's antipathy for others cannot reach the goal of informing the public objectively, impartially and fully – the only purpose to be pursued by broadcasters. A journalist's displaying, in news, his/her favorable or hostile attitude toward different contestants, bears a huge manipulating potential, likely to hamper the voters to make an informed, conscientious or qualified final choice.

5. POLITICAL ACTORS' PRESENCE IN PROGRAMS: STATISTICAL DATA

Monitored station: EuTV Monitored program: PROGRAMS Period: 18.02.09 - 03.03.09 Program title: Duration (sec) Program title: Duration (sec) Epicentru 35298 Post Factum 11456 Media Expres 25896 Scurt pe doi 2009

No. POLITICAL ACTORS PRESENCE CONTENT ATTITUDE Data synthesis

24 12 Cernei O. 0 0 8 196 0 6 2 0 6 2 8 196 13 Hadarca I. 0 0 8 1796 0 8 0 0 8 0 8 1796 14 Plesca I. 0 0 8 348 0 8 0 0 6 2 8 348 15 Cimpoi M. 0 0 6 210 0 4 2 0 4 2 6 210 16 Pavlicenco V. 0 0 6 164 0 4 2 0 2 4 6 164 17 Untila V. 0 0 6 128 0 6 0 0 4 2 6 128 18 Tarlev V. 0 0 5 66 0 5 0 0 3 2 5 66 19 Bujor L. 0 0 4 124 0 4 0 0 2 2 4 124 20 Cebanu I. 0 0 4 92 0 4 0 0 2 2 4 92 21 Corduneanu A. 2 130 2 160 2 0 2 2 0 2 4 290 22 Cosarciuc V. 0 0 4 124 0 4 0 0 2 2 4 124 23 Godea M. 0 0 4 122 0 4 0 0 4 0 4 122 24 Gutu I. 0 0 4 124 0 4 0 0 2 2 4 124 25 Klimenko V. 2 30 2 62 0 4 0 0 4 0 4 92 26 Nagacevschi V. 0 0 4 358 0 4 0 0 4 0 4 358 27 Nirca N. 0 0 4 12 0 4 0 0 4 0 4 12 28 Onceanu A. 0 0 4 124 0 4 0 0 2 2 4 124 29 Osipov V. 4 54 0 0 0 0 4 0 0 4 4 54 30 Salaru A. 0 0 4 572 0 4 0 0 4 0 4 572 31 Stepaniuc V. 0 0 4 52 0 0 4 0 0 4 4 52 32 Tap Iu. 0 0 4 32 0 4 0 0 2 2 4 32 33 Balan V. 0 0 2 250 0 2 0 0 2 0 2 250 34 Can A. 0 0 2 46 0 2 0 0 2 0 2 46 35 Leanca Iu. 0 0 2 156 0 2 0 0 2 0 2 156 36 Nantoi O. 0 0 2 26 0 0 2 0 0 2 2 26 37 Savga L. 0 0 2 44 0 0 2 0 0 2 2 44 + Institutions 0 0 1 Parties 20 368 309 27566 27 262 40 25 208 96 329 27934 2 PLA 8 2654 2 116 0 0 10 0 0 10 10 2770 3 GOVERNMENT 2 20 7 137 0 0 9 0 0 9 9 157 4 PRESIDENCY 0 0 8 821 0 0 8 0 0 8 8 821 + Parties 0 0 1 AMN 4 54 95 9380 0 89 10 0 69 30 99 9434 2 PLDM 2 6 56 7655 0 56 2 0 44 14 58 7661 3 PL 0 0 42 4274 0 42 0 0 38 4 42 4274 4 PPCD 4 2698 29 4667 27 0 6 25 0 8 33 7365 5 PCRM 2 20 25 1074 0 0 27 0 0 27 27 1094 6 PDM 2 6 23 543 0 21 4 0 15 10 25 549 7 PC 0 0 16 48 0 16 0 0 10 6 16 48 8 PSD 2 6 13 275 0 13 2 0 13 2 15 281 9 MAE 0 0 10 190 0 10 0 0 6 4 10 190 10 UCM 0 0 9 244 0 9 0 0 7 2 9 244 11 PPR 6 136 2 72 0 2 6 0 2 6 8 208 12 PNL 0 0 2 40 0 0 2 0 0 2 2 40 13 RAVN 1 15 1 31 0 2 0 0 2 0 2 46

Monitored station: Moldova 1 Monitored program: PROGRAMS Period: 18.02.09 - 03.03.09 Program title: Duration (sec) Program title: Duration (sec) Buna dimineata 32400 Martisor 2009 4800 Business review 92 Rezonans 3500 La datorie 2280 Vector european 1830

No. POLITICAL ACTORS PRESENCE CONTENT ATTITUDE Data synthesis

25 1 PCRM 1 360 2 29 1 0 2 1 0 2 3 389

Monitored station: N4 Monitored program: PROGRAMS Period: 18.02.09 - 03.03.09 Program title: Duration (sec) Revista presei 10370

No. POLITICAL ACTORS PRESENCE CONTENT ATTITUDE Data synthesis

Neuter Positive Negative Impartial Favorable Unfavorable mentions/appear. mentions/appear. No. interventions + Direct int. (number) Menti./appear. (duration, Duration interventionsDuration + Menti./appear. (number) Direct int. (duration, sec) sec) + personalized 1 Greceanai Z. 0 0 14 368 8 0 6 2 0 12 14 368 2 Voronin V. 0 0 12 148 6 0 6 0 0 12 12 148 3 Chirtoaca D. 0 0 8 84 0 8 0 0 4 4 8 84 4 Filat V. 0 0 6 80 0 6 0 0 0 6 6 80 5 Urechean S. 0 0 6 180 0 4 2 0 0 6 6 180 6 Rosca Iu. 0 0 4 24 2 2 0 2 0 2 4 24 7 Tarlev V. 0 0 4 40 0 4 0 0 0 4 4 40 8 Braghis D. 0 0 2 30 0 2 0 0 0 2 2 30 9 Cotet V. 0 0 2 30 0 0 2 0 0 2 2 30 10 Musuc E. 0 0 2 44 0 0 2 2 0 0 2 44 11 Stratan A. 0 0 2 8 0 0 2 0 0 2 2 8 + Institutions 0 0 1 Parties 0 0 55 1108 8 41 6 6 17 32 55 1108 2 GOVERNMENT 0 0 20 506 10 0 10 6 0 14 20 506 3 PLA 0 0 18 370 0 14 4 2 4 12 18 370 4 PRESIDENCY 0 0 12 148 6 0 6 0 0 12 12 148 + Parties 0 0 1 PCRM 0 0 34 754 18 0 16 6 0 28 34 754 2 PLDM 0 0 14 194 0 12 2 0 2 12 14 194 3 PL 0 0 10 88 0 10 0 0 6 4 10 88 4 AMN 0 0 8 184 0 6 2 0 2 6 8 184 5 PSD 0 0 6 78 0 4 2 2 2 2 6 78 6 UCM 0 0 6 44 0 6 0 0 2 4 6 44 7 PEMAVE 0 0 4 140 2 0 2 0 0 4 4 140 8 PPCD 0 0 4 24 2 2 0 2 0 2 4 24 9 PC 0 0 3 6 0 3 0 0 3 0 3 6 10 MAE 0 0 2 4 0 2 0 0 2 0 2 4 11 PDM 0 0 2 4 0 2 0 0 2 0 2 4

Monitored station: ProTV Monitored program: PROGRAMS Period: 18.02.09 - 03.03.09 Program title: Duration (sec) In profunzime 25854 VIP-Magazin 3060

No. POLITICAL ACTORS PRESENCE CONTENT ATTITUDE Data synthesis

26 3 Klimenko V. 0 0 1 3 0 0 1 0 0 1 1 3 4 Papuc G. 0 0 2 16 0 2 0 0 0 2 2 16 5 Tarlev V. 0 0 1 8 0 0 1 0 0 1 1 8 6 Voronin V. 0 0 3 18 0 2 1 0 0 3 3 18 + Institutions 0 0 1 GOVERNMENT 0 0 13 1604 0 7 6 0 0 13 13 1604 2 Parliament 1 2400 1 75 0 0 2 0 0 2 2 2475 3 Parties 0 0 4 134 0 0 4 0 0 4 4 134 4 PRESIDENCY 0 0 3 18 0 2 1 0 0 3 3 18 + Parties 0 0 1 PCRM 0 0 7 39 0 2 5 0 0 7 7 39 2 PPCD 1 2400 1 120 0 0 2 0 0 2 2 2520 3 RAVN 0 0 1 3 0 0 1 0 0 1 1 3 4 UCM 0 0 1 8 0 0 1 0 0 1 1 8

Monitored station: TV7 Monitored program: PROGRAMS Period: 18.02.09 - 03.03.09 Title program: Duration (sec) Cotidian Business 270 Observator 3496

No. POLITICAL ACTORS PRESENCE CONTENT ATTITUDE Data synthesis

Neuter Duration interventions + Positive Negative Impartial Favorable Unfavorable Direct int. (number) Menti./appear. (number) Direct int. (duration, sec) Menti./appear. (duration, sec) No. interventions mentions/appear.+ mentions/appear. + personalized 1 Cotet V. 4 118 2 36 2 0 4 0 0 6 6 154 2 Cernei O. 2 40 2 16 4 0 0 0 0 4 4 56 3 Greceanai Z. 0 0 4 24 4 0 0 0 0 4 4 24 + Institutions 0 0 1 PLA 8 456 9 1148 8 3 6 0 0 17 17 1604 2 GOVERNMENT 0 0 5 224 4 1 0 0 0 5 5 224 + Parties 0 0 1 PLDM 4 118 2 36 2 0 4 0 0 6 6 154 2 AMN 2 40 2 16 4 0 0 0 0 4 4 56 3 PCRM 0 0 4 24 4 0 0 0 0 4 4 24

6. QUANTITY DIMENSION OF POLITICAL ACTORS' PRESENCE IN PROGRAMS

6.1 General data Both the political parties running in the electoral race and the televisions having offered airtime for programs with political actors continued, from 18 February to 3 March, 2009, to put to the test their potential in political/electoral communication, developing the experience they gained in the period preceding the campaign. The number of programs presenting electoral agents rose, although insignificantly (from 14 to 15 titles.) Compared with the period 4-17 February, the duration of the presence of political actors in programs increased to 45 hours in those two weeks (compared to 36 hours in the period 4-17 February.) In general, the monitored stations remained loyal to the modalities of presenting the election campaign they had adopted in the initial stage of the campaign. However, several televisions, as before, did not have programs attending by political actors (NIT, 2 Plus, Prime). The same stance was taken by TVC 21 during the reference period. Moldova 1 and EuTV aired by 6 (Moldova 1) and 4 (EuTV) series of programs presenting political actors, ProTV and TV7 – by 2, N4 – one. The duration of those programs varied on different televisions, the programs about political/electoral themes being the longest on Moldova 1 and EuTV. During the monitored period, EuTV had the same amount of airtime dedicated to programs attended by political actors (74,569 seconds), remaining, as before, loyal to the chosen format – two programs with significant duration (Epicentru and Media Expres), a programs with an average duration (Post-Factum) and a short program (Scurt pe doi). Moldova 1, as number of programs, had

27 six programs in its schedule during the reference period (one more than before), but it doubled the airtime dedicated to this type of programs (44,902 seconds compared to 21,460 seconds in the previous monitoring period.) The duration of the political actors’ presence in the programs of the monitored televisions sets out the following picture:

Political actors’ presence in the programs Duration (sec) and quota (%)

N 4, 10370, TV7, 3766, 6% 2%

ProTV, 28514, EuTV, 74569, 18% 46%

Moldova 1, 44902, 28%

It is noticed that, in comparison to the previous monitoring period, all the stations slightly decreased the quotas from the total airtime dedicated to programs attended by political actors, but this index increased on Moldova 1.

6.2 Political actors in programs During the reference period, 43 personalized political actors (fewer than in the previous monitoring period) and 19 institutionalized political actors (including 14 political parties) were present in the programs of the monitored TV stations.

a) Personalized actors The personalized actors, present in the programs of the monitored TV stations, represented different political parties, public authorities, exponents of the parties running in the electoral race. Most attention was paid to the political parties, as the representatives of the administrative institutions got about 1/3 from the airtime. As number of appearances, Zinaida Greceanâi enjoyed the most (35), followed by Vlad Filat (29), Serafim Urechean (26), Vladimir Voronin (25), Dorin Chirtoacă and Iurie Roşca (by 19 each) etc. It’s worth mentioning that most of those appearances were mentions / indirect appearances. Only Nicolae Andronic had 6 direct appearances during this period, although as time – 280 seconds – other electoral contestants were covered more: Vlad Filat – 6,422 seconds, Serafim Urechean – 5,476 seconds. Position 3 in this ranking is held by Angela Aramă – as she was present in a program on ProTV. The graphs below illustrate the frequency and duration of the political actors’ appearing in the programs of the monitored televisions:

Top 10 personalized actors: frequency Top 10 personalized actors: duration (sec) TV synthesis TV synthesis

35 6422 5476 29 26 25 19 19 17 12 2400 2157 11 10 1796 997 966 941 572 487

Filat V. Filat V. Rosca Iu. Diacov D. Cernei O. Tarlev V. Arama A. Rosca Iu. Salaru A. Voronin V. Braghis D. Hadarca I. Voronin V. Ghimpu M. Greceanai Z. Urechean S. Chirtoaca D. Urechean S. Greceanai Z. Chirtoaca D.

The number of direct and indirect appearances of the other electoral actors, whose presence was certified by the monitoring, was not so significant, varying from 10-12 (Oleg Cernei, Dumitru Braghiş, Vasile Tarlev) to 1-2 appearances.

28 It’s worth mentioning that, compared to the pre-election period, the televised weight of the most covered political actors before the campaign -- Vladimir Voronin and Iurie Roşca -- waned. As for the other political actors having appeared on TV screens during the last monitored period, their televised presence was rather insignificant, as the stations granted them from 100 to 900 seconds in appearances (direct and indirect), or even from 90 to 8 seconds. In general, the TV stations differently granted televised airtime to the personalized political actors. Thus, although EuTV paid attention to a significant number of political actors (37), anyway the mostly covered politicians remained, as during the previous monitoring period, Vlad Filat (23 appearances, of which 21 indirect,) Serafim Urechean (20 appearances – all of them indirect) and Iurie Roşca (15 appearances, all – indirect.) Those 6 seconds of direct appearances of Vlad Filat are but a small index, if compared to the duration of his indirect appearances on EuTV – 6,342 seconds. The same can be noticed in the case of the indirect appearances of Serafim Urechean on EuTV– 5,296 seconds. Iurie Roşca was covered by EuTV during 2,133 seconds, the other political actors, save for Ion Hadârcă (1,796 seconds), being granted much smaller airtime. During the reference period, Moldova 1 presented two political actors in its programs: Zinaida Greceanâi and Vitalie Vrabie, both with a visibility of about 300-400 seconds, V. Vrabie – appeared 9 times (4 - direct and 5 – indirect), and Z. Greceanâi - 3 times (1 – direct appearance and 2 – indirect.) As before, N4 presented the electoral contestants rather insignificantly, not presenting them in direct appearances but mostly speaking about them in “Revista presei” (Press Review) indirectly (Zinaida Greceanâi –14 times, 168 seconds; Vladimir Voronin – 12 times, 148 seconds; Serafim Urechean – 6 times, 180 seconds, etc.) Almost the same reserved editorial attitude was displayed by TV7, but with more stress on the direct appearances. Here, there are three names on the list of covered political actors (V. Coteţ, 6 appearances, of which -- 4 direct appearances, during 154 seconds), O. Cernei, 4 appearances, of which 2 direct during 54 seconds, Z. Greceanâi, 4 mentions during 24 seconds. Taking into account the format of the program “În profunzime”, Pro TV presented the political actor directly (there was but one during the monitored period – Angela Aramă, a single appearance during 2,400 seconds). Other political actors appeared on ProTV but episodically and only in mentions / indirect appearances, in clips from 3 to 18 seconds (Z. Greceanai, V. Klimenko, G. Papuc, V. Tarlev, V. Voronin). Generally, during this stage of the campaign, the statistical data speak about a less significant number of personalized political actors present on the monitored stations. Again, the observers certify an insignificant rate of presenting, in TV programs, the rank and file of the political parties, as the televisions, and the electoral strategies of the political parties, focused on party leaders preponderantly.

b) Institutionalized actors. Institutions The TV presence of institutionalized political actors (Parliament, Presidency, Government, Local Public Administration – PLA, Political Parties) speaks about different ways of covering those on the monitored stations, what was determined by the upcoming elections. Thus, the general coverage picture speaks about enhancing the attention paid to political parties compared to other institutionalized actors – a natural thing in a whirling electoral race – having 388 appearances during 29,176 seconds. However, during the same period of the campaign, the televisions granted twice less time to presenting parties than in the period 04 - 17 February (59,554 seconds). The PLA got 4,744 seconds in 45 appearances, while the Government – 3,583 seconds in 68 appearances. The televised presence of the Parliament and the Presidency was less significant during this period, as the Parliament got two appearances, 1– direct on ProTV with parliamentarian Angela Aramă, during 2,400 seconds, and another also on ProTV in an indirect appearance during 75 seconds. The Presidency was on screens 23 times (all – indirect appearances / mentions, during 987 seconds). In this context, the transfer of the media’s interest toward the electoral political actors is explainable.

c) Institutionalized actors. Political parties As for the concrete coverage of the political parties’ activities by the TV stations, the monitors find the space and time granted directly to political parties decreased compared with the previous monitoring period. This drop was notified for AMN (with 3,465 seconds), PLDM (with 4,929 seconds), PCRM (with 5,497 seconds), PSD (with 6,652 seconds), PDM (with 6,476 seconds), etc. Practically, all the parties, compared to the previous monitoring period, recorded drops in their presence as duration on the screens. It’s worth mentioning that the most significant presence among the institutionalized political actors – the political parties – was granted to the PPCD – 9,909 seconds – in 5 direct appearances, totaling 5,508 seconds and 34 indirect appearances during 4,811 seconds). The AMN and the PLDM had also by 6 direct appearances, but with much shorter durations: 94 seconds for the AMN and 124 seconds for the PLDM. These parties however had a more significant presence as indirect appearances / mentions: AMN, respectively, 105 mentions during 9,580 seconds, and PLDM – 72 mentions during 7,885 seconds. For the other parties, save for the PL (52 appearances, all – indirect, during 4,362 seconds) and the PCRM (3 direct appearances and 72 indirect appearances, with a total duration of 2,300 seconds), the visibility degree proved to be rather insignificant, as many parties had no direct appearance, while the timing of their indirect appearances varied from 40 to 500 seconds.

29 Political parties: frequency Political parties: duration (sec) TV synthesis TV synthesis

111 9909 9674 8009 78 75

52 4362 39 2300 27 21 19 16 553 359 296 208 194 140 54 49 40 8 2 4 3 2

PL PC PL PC AMN PDM PSD UCM PPR MAE PNL AMN PDM PSD UCM MAE PPR PNL PPCD PLDM PCRM RAVN PLDM PCRM PPCD RAVN PEMAVE PEMAVE

The TV channels adopted different conducts in covering the political actors. Thus the list of the parties covered by Moldova has but a single item – the PCRM, 3 appearances during 389 seconds. N4 showed even less interest in presenting the activities of parties (no direct appearance recorded), being more attentive in mentioning the PCRM (34 references during 754 seconds). In this regard, almost 200 seconds rested with the PLDM (14 references) and the AMN (8 mentions). The other 8 parties indirectly present in N4’s programs benefited from 4 to 140 seconds. TV7 focused on three parties – PLDM, AMN and PCRM, respectively, with 6, 4 and 4 appearances with a less significant duration in the PLDM’s (154 seconds), 56 – AMN and 24 – PCRM. ProTV, through the same program featuring Angela Aramă, presented the PPCD, and the other parties indirectly mentioned in ProTV‘s programs - PCRM, RAVN and UCM – had a total of 50 seconds. On EuTV, AMN as the main target registered 99 appearances, of which 95 indirect during 9,434 seconds. PLDM, 58 appearances, of which 56 – indirect during 7,661 seconds. The presentations of the PPCD totaled 7,365 seconds on this channel (33 appearances, of which - 4 direct, during 2,698 seconds.)

Conclusions The statistical data point out an insufficient coverage of the electoral race by the monitored televisions. Shirking from presenting political actors in programs (valid for NIT, Prime, 2Plus, TVC 21) or covering without the necessary balance (in terms of number of appearances and airtime granted to political actors) prove to be a media practice contributing less than necessary to the fair running of the electoral race, to adequately inform the electorate.

7. QUALITY DIMENSION OF POLITICAL ACTORS' PRESENCE IN PROGRAMS

7.1 Political actors in programs. Positive context Table 1 No. POLITICAL ACTORS. POSITIVE CONTEXT EuTV Moldova 1 N4 ProTV TV7 Personalized 1 ROSCA IU. 13 GRECEANAI Z. 1 GRECEANAI Z. 8 CERNEI O. 4 2 CORDUNEANU A. 2 VRABIE V. 2 VORONIN V. 6 GRECEANAI Z. 4 3 ROSCA IU. 2 COTET V. 2 Institutions 1 PARTIES 27 GOVERNMENT 6 GOVERNMENT 10 PLA 2 PARTIES 8 GOVERNMENT 3 PREŞEDINŢIE 6 Parties 1 PPCD 27 PCRM 1 PCRM 18 AMN 4 2 PEMAVE 2 PCRM 4 3 PPCD 2 PLDM 2

30 a) Personalized actors Although a month has passed after the launch of the campaign, the observers go on finding cases in which certain personalized political actors enjoy preferential treatment on behalf of several channels in their programs, especially EuTV and N4. PPCD leader Iu. Roşca is maintained in a positive context on EuTV, gaining 13 such appearances. Other 2 times Iu. Roşca is put in a positive context in programs on N4. Besides Iu. Rosca, only another personalized political actor appears on EuTV in a positive context: another PPCD top figure, Al. Corduneanu. Premier Z. Greceanâi, running on the PCRM’s list for the parliament, is positively covered by 3 of those 5 channels having broadcast programs attended by political actor: on N4 (8 times), and TV7 (4 times) and once on Moldova 1. N4 also positively covers PCRM leader V. Voronin (6 times). TV7 grants priority to O. Cernei from the AMN (4 times) and to V. Coteţ from the PLDM (2 times.) Pro TV is the only television having aired programs attended by political actors without putting them in a positive context.

b) Institutionalized actors. Institutions The parties a positively treated on EuTV, M1 and N4, gaining a total of 41 appearances of this type. The Government is positively mentioned on N4 (10 times) and TV7 (4 times.) N4 positively presents the Presidency (6 times), and TV7 – the PLA (8 times.)

c) Institutionalized actors. Political parties The PPCD is the party most often publicized in a positive context: on EuTV (27 times) and on N4 (2 times.) The PCRM is put in a positive context on N4, blatantly standing out among other parties (18 times). The PCRM also appears in a positive context on TV7 (4 times) and on Moldova 1 (1 time.)

7.2. Political actors in programs. Negative context Table 2 No. POLITICAL ACTORS. NEGATIVE CONTEXT EuTV Moldova 1 N4 ProTV TV7 Personalized 1 FILAT V. 21 CHIRTOACA D. 8 VORONIN V. 2 2 URECHEAN S. 18 FILAT V. 6 PAPUC G. 2 3 DIACOV D. 15 URECHEAN S. 4 4 CHIRTOACA D. 11 TARLEV V. 4 5 GHIMPU M. 9 ROSCA IU. 2 6 TANASE A. 9 BRAGHIS D. 2 7 HADARCA I. 8 8 PLESCA I. 8 9 BRAGHIS D. 7 10 CERNEI O. 6 Institutions GOVERNMEN 1 PARTIES 20 PARTIES 41 T 7 2 PLA 8 PLA 14 PREŞEDINŢIE 2 3 GOVERNMENT 2 Parties 1 AMN 89 PLDM 12 PCRM 2 2 PLDM 56 PL 10 3 PL 42 AMN 6 4 PDM 21 UCM 6 5 PC 16 PSD 4 6 PSD 13 PC 3 7 MAE 10 PPCD 2 8 UCM 9 MAE 2 9 PPR 2 PDM 2 10 RAVN 2

a) Personalized actors

31 PLDM president V. Filat, AMN president Serafim Urechean and a PL leader, Dorin Chirtoacă, remain the preferred targets of EuTV and N4. These two channels are consistent in negatively presenting those 3 political actors, a fact also certified in the pre-election period. EuTV is excelling in this respect, going on presenting political actors in a negative context: V. Filat (21 times), S. Urechean (18 times), D. Diacov (15 times), D. Chirtoacă (11 times), M. Ghimpu (9 times), A. Tănase (9 times) etc. EuTV never puts representatives of the PCRM or the PPCD in a negative context. N4’s program presenting political actors is The Press Review. N4 never quotes article from the print media in which the representatives of the ruling PCRM are presented in a negative light. ProTV puts president Voronin in a negative context (2 times.) Moldova 1 and TV7 put no political actor in a negative light.

b) Institutionalized actors. Institutions The parties are most often placed in a negative context by the monitored stations: N4 (41 times), EuTV (20 times). Those two channels also mentioned the PLA in a negative context (22 times all in all.) The Government appeared in a negative context on ProTV (7 times), the Presidency (2 times), while Moldova 1 and TV7 do not present the institutions as actors in a negative context.

c) Institutionalized actors. Political parties AMN is mostly often presented in a negative context: on Eu TV (89 times), on N4 (6 times.) PLDM is mentioned in a negative context: on EuTV (56 times) and N4 (12 times). PL appears in a negative context 42 times on EuTV and 10 times on N4. PCRM is mentioned twice in a negative context on ProTV. Moldova 1 and TV7 put no party in negative context.

7.3. Political actors in programs. Favoring attitude Table 3 No. POLITICAL ACTORS. FAVORING ATTITUDE EuTV Moldova 1 N4 ProTV TV7 Personalized 1 ROŞCA IU. 11 VRABIE V. 2 ROŞCA IU. 2 2 GRECEANAI Z. 1 GRECEANAI Z. 2 3 MUŞUC E. 2 Institutions 1 PARTIES 25 GOVERNMENT 6 PARTIES 6 2 GOVERNMENT 6 3 PLA 2 Parties 1 PPCD 25 PCRM 1 PCRM 6 2 PSD 2 3 PPCD 2

a) Personalized actors Journalists from EuTV, N4 and Moldova 1 have not renounced favoring political actors. EuTV mostly often favors personalized actor Iu. Roşca (11 times.) N4 favors the same actor twice. N4 also favors Z. Greceanâi and E. Muşuc by two times each. Moldova 1 preferentially treats defense minister V. Vrabie and prime-minister Z. Greceanâi (2 times, respectively 1 time.) ProTV and TV7 favor no one.

b) Institutionalized actors. Institutions Eu TV favors only political parties (only PPCD), 25 times. Moldova 1 and N4 favor the Government (6 times each.) ProTV and TV7 favor no institution as an actor.

c) Institutionalized actors. Political parties The PPCD is mostly often favored by journalists in programs: on EuTV (25 times) and on N4 (2 times.) The PCRM is favored by N4 (6 times) and by Moldova 1 (once.) N4 also favors the PSD (2 times). N4 favored the same parties in the monitoring period 04-17 February. Other channels showed no favorable attitude toward any party as an actor.

7.4. Political actors in programs. Unfavorable attitude

32 Table 4 No. POLITICAL ACTORS. UNFAVORABLE ATTITUDE EuTV Moldova 1 N4 ProTV TV7 Personalized 1 FILAT V. 17 CHIRTOACA D. 6 2 URECHEAN S. 16 GHIMPU M. 4 3 DIACOV D. 11 URECHEAN S. 2 4 CHIRTOACA D. 11 PAVLICENCO V. 2 5 GHIMPU M. 9 TANASE A. 2 6 HADARCA I. 8 7 TANASE A. 7 8 BRAGHIS D. 7 9 PLESCA I. 6 10 CERNEI O. 6 Institutions 1 PARTIES 20 PARTIES 17 2 PLA 8 3 GOVERNMENT 2 PLA 4 Parties 1 AMN 69 PL 6 2 PLDM 44 PC 3 3 PL 38 AMN 2 4 PDM 15 UCM 2 5 PSD 13 PSD 2 6 PC 10 PLDM 2 7 UCM 7 MAE 2 8 MAE 6 PDM 2 9 PPR 2 10 RAVN 2

a) Personalized actors Only 2 televisions – EuTV and N4 – accept having unfavorable attitudes toward personalized political actors. As during the previously monitored periods, the journalists from those two stations pay no attention to the ethical and electoral norms when they main speak about top figures from AMN, PLDM and PL. In EuTV’s case the spectrum of denigrated political actors is wider, but not as wide as to include representatives of two parties: PCRM and PPCD. EuTV’s favorite targets remain V. Filat (PLDM), S. Urechean (AMN) and D. Chirtoacă (PL). The have recently been joined by D. Diacov (PDM). N4 first disregards the PL leaders, D. Chirtoacă (6 times) and M. Ghimpu (4 times), but also S. Urechean, V. Pavlicenco and A. Tănase (by 2 times each). Moldova 1, ProTV and TV7 unfavor no one.

b) Institutionalized actors. Institutions Only EuTV and N4 display unfavorable attitudes toward institutions. Both mostly disregard parties and, to a smaller extent, the PLA.

c) Institutionalized actors. Political parties EuTV and N4 are the only televisions to discredit parties. EuTV mostly intensely unfavors the AMN (69 times), the PLDM (44 times) and the PL (38 times), but also other parties as the PDM, the PSD and the PC. N4 disregards the PL, first, (6 times) and a series of other parties, as the PC and the AMN.

Conclusions . 2 of the monitored televisions – EuTV and N4 – indulge in sheer violations of the electoral legislation. They defy the Regulation on covering April 5 parliamentary elections, favoring certain political actors in the programs they air and denigrating others. . It’s worth remarking the change for better in the performance of the public television Moldova 1, which treats in a more balanced manner (save for some exceptions) most of the political actors in its programs, except for its newscasts and electoral debates. In the pre-election period, Moldova 1 was intensely favoring the ruling party and its leaders, as well as the Presidency, the Government and the Parliament. Another channel, NIT, which used to present almost exclusively only president V. Voronin in a positive context, renounced this trend after the campaign started.

33 8. ELECTORAL ADVERTISING

Information on broadcasting ads in period 18 February through March 3, 2009

Total PSD PL AMN PPCD PCRM PLDM PDM TV stations EuTV 720 1570 1170 3460 Moldova 1 1240 950 1410 1480 1670 880 7630 N4 1475 1475 NIT 320 1320 1270 2910 ProTV 540 1140 590 1550 510 4330

34 TV7 620 1140 1160 1550 1210 5680 TVC21 200 1090 1290 Total Contestants 3100 1490 3690 1570 7195 7130 2600

The national public broadcaster, as during the previous monitoring period, aired the largest amount of electoral advertising. Being on position 2 during the previous monitoring session, ProTV yielded this position to TV7. The smallest amounts of ads, as in the previous period, were broadcast by TVC21 and N4 (See Graph 1.)

Graph 1

Televiziuni volum publicitate electorala (sec) Televiziuni volum publicitate electorala (sec) 18 februarie - 03 martie 2009 04-17 februarie 2009 9000 7630 8000 800 725 7000 700 5680 570 6000 600 4330 490 5000 500 420 3460 2910 400 4000 235 300 3000 190 1475 1290 2000 200 120 1000 100 0 0 EuTV Moldova 1 N4 NIT ProTV TV7 TVC21 EuTV M1 N4 NIT ProTV TV7 TVC21

The PCRM and the PLDM are leading among the electoral competitors, as during the previous monitoring session, in terms of amounts of ads aired by the televisions. The AMN and the PSD aired almost half of the leaders’ volume, as the PSD had no ads broadcast during the previous period. The AMN and the PDM increased the visibility through ads, compared with the previous period. The PL and the PPCD supplied the smallest amount of electoral advertising (See Graph 2).

Graph 2

Concurenti volum publicitate electorala (sec) Concurenti volum publicitate electorala (sec) 18 februarie - 03 martie 2009 04-17 februarie 2009

8000 7195 7130 7000 1125 1200 6000 840 1000 5000 3690 800 4000 600 3100 2600 235 3000 400 1570 180 190 160 1490 200 0 0 0 0 0 2000 0 1000 0 PL PC PSD AMN PPCD PCRM PLDM PDM UCM MAE PSD PL AMN PPCD PCRM PLDM PDM PDSMU

Moldova 1 airs the ads of 6 electoral contestants; ProTV and TV7 – of 5 competitors each; EuTV and NIT – of 3 contestants each; TVC21 – of two contestants; N4 – of a single contestant (See Graph 3.) PSD supplied electoral advertising to 5 of those 7 televisions monitored. It does not air on N4 and ProTV. PL aired ads on two stations: Moldova 1 and ProTV. AMN aired ads on 3 televisions: Moldova 1, ProTV and TV7. PPCD aired ads on a single television – EuTV. PCRM aired ads on all the stations, except for TVC21. PLDM did not air ads on two stations of 7 – on EuTV and N4. PDM aired ads on 3 stations: Moldova 1, ProTV and TV7. A single station – EuTV – on 25 February and 3 March aired electoral advertising in an amount exceeding the norm (not more than 120 sec. a day for each contestant). On 25 February, this station aired the PPCD’s advertising during 150 sec., and on March 3 – the ads of the PCRM during 140 sec.

Graph 3

35 Electoral advertising broadcasting Period: 18 February - 03 march, 2009

PSD, 720

EuTV PPCD, 1570 PCRM, 1170

PSD, 1240 PL, 950 AMN, 1410 Moldova 1 PCRM, 1480 PLDM, 1670 PDM, 880

N4 PCRM, 1475

PSD, 320

NIT PCRM, 1320 PLDM, 1270

PL, 540 AMN, 1140 ProTV PCRM, 590 PLDM, 1550 PDM, 510 PSD, 620 AMN, 1140 TV7 PCRM, 1160 PLDM, 1550 PDM, 1210 PSD, 200

TVC21 PLDM, 1090

FINAL CONCLUSIONS

36 During the 3rd and 4th weeks of the campaign of the parliamentary elections, the monitored TV services (2 Plus, EuTV, Moldova 1, N4, NIT, Prime, ProTV, TV7 and TVC21) went on displaying different approaches in presenting the political actors: 2 Plus and Prime did not have relevant programs to be monitored, neither this time, while NIT and TVC 21 avoided to present political actors in thematic programs. As a consequence, we find that newscasts and programs presenting political actors were broadcast by 7 and, respectively, 5 TV stations, during the reference period. Generally, first, ProTV, as well as TV7 and TVC21, in their news and/or thematic programs, abide by the provisions of art. 7 of the Broadcasting Code, regarding the political and social balance and pluralism and by art. 4 of the CEC Regulation on covering the April 5 elections, which requires “the balanced, fair and impartial coverage of the parliamentary elections by the media, the protection of the freedom of speech, the establishment of some compulsory norms for the enforcement of these principles by journalists, electoral competitors, politicians engaged in the electoral campaign.” Those provisions were neglected to greater or smaller extents by NIT, N4, Moldova 1 and EuTV. These services, in their news and/or thematic programs, often treated the political actors unfairly, tendentiously and in an unbalanced manner. Thus, those stations ignored the provisions of art. 10 (on fairly treating electoral contestants) and art. 48 (on covering charities of candidates and their relatives). As a result, these TV stations jeopardized the fair information of voters on electoral events, platforms and competitors. It’s worth mentioning that despite the general vicious practice of some TV stations, in weeks 3 and 4 of the campaign, attempts, welcomed by experts, to renounce the tendentious view of commenting on some political actors and to treat them fairly and impartially were certified. The next period will prove whether those trends are irreversible or accidental.