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CAMPAIGN AGAINST INFORMATIONAL MANIPULATION BY MEANS OF MASS-MEDIA “MANIPULATION FOOLS US. DON'T LET ANYONE THINK INSTEAD OF YOU!” REPORT ON MONITORING mass-media institutions in terms of covering major public interest subjects with a view to determine possible tendencies of informational manipulation no. 1, February – April 2014 The campaign against informational manipulation is implemented by the Association of Independent Press (API) with the support of Free Press Unlimited (The Netherlands) and National Endowment for Democracy (USA). The monitoring report was produced under the project “Promoting objective journalism and enhancing mass-media education level of Moldovan regions’ inhabitants”, financed by National Endowment for Democracy (NED). The opinions in this report belong entirely to the authors and do not express the opinion of the financing organization. www.api.md - 1 - I. GENERAL INFORMATION Throughout the period 1 February – 31 October 2014, the Association of Independent Press (API) is monitoring a number of mass-media institutions from Republic of Moldova, with a view to determine the tendencies for informational manipulation of the public. Monitoring results inserted in quarterly reports stand for an in-depth analysis of the manner in which main media institutions from the country cover the same public-interest issues, and subjects concerning certain political or economic actors. Goal and objectives of monitoring: To determine the tendencies for informational manipulation by mass-media while reporting on controversial subjects involving political or economic actors, to encourage the media to refrain from manipulation and help mass-media product consumers to distinguish between manipulation and accurate and equidistant coverage of the reality. Criteria for selecting the monitored mass-media: • Form of ownership – public and private • Coverage area – national and regional • Language – Romanian and Russian • Impact – circulation and audience Print press: Timpul, Ziarul Național, Komsomolskaya Pravda v Moldove (online versions of these publications have been analyzed) Audiovisual media: Moldova 1, Prime TV, Publika TV (debate shows - on television channel, news – on website Publika.md ), Jurnal TV, Accent TV (online version), Pro TV, TV 7 Online media: Unimedia.info, Omg.md, Jurnal.md, Gagauzinfo.md (in March) During 18-24 April 2014, apart from Moldovan mass-media institutions indicated above, the main news programs and debate shows during primetime have been subject to monitoring at 5 Russian television channels, rebroadcast in R. Moldova (NTV, Pervyi Kanal, RTR, REN TV and Rossiya 24), with a view to assess their modalities of covering the conflict from south-eastern Ukraine. Analysis procedures: The relevant materials have been subject to a contrastive analysis, and the following served as reference texts: press releases, media statements delivered during conferences or briefings, in the Parliament, Government, other state or private institutions. Mainly, the method of qualitative content analysis has been applied. Bearing in mind the fact that manipulation through mass-media is frequently done by means of selection of events for reporting, selection of sources, tendentiousness of texts and headlines, selection of video images, photographs and captions thereof, measurements have been done for the frequency - 2 - and perspective of covering concerned subjects, the sources employed have been analyzed, alongside with the tonality of reporting on news protagonists, images and language employed. The monitored issues have been identified in terms of their importance and compliance with the public interest. The following can be mentioned among the main subjects monitored throughout 1 February - 30 April 2014: - referenda in Gagauz Yeri (3-9 February), - decision of Democratic Party’s deputy Valeriu Guma to withdraw from the Parliament and Democratic Party (6-15 February 2014), - Tax Inspectorate reform and fraud at Railway Service (10-16 February 2014), - Vladimir Plahotniuc’s criminal file in Romania (10-16 February 2014), - annual report of the Ministry of Domestic Affairs (24 February – 2 March 2014), - Russian Federation’s decision to dispatch troops in Crimea (3-9 March 2014), - commemorating March 2 (3-9 March 2014), - dismissal of Ministry of Defence Vitalie Marinuţă (3-9 March 2014), - devaluation of the national currency (10-16 March 2014), - attempt to bribe Moldovan deputies (14-21 February 2014 and 3-16 March 2014), - Neaga prosecutor case (3-9 March 2014), - Parliament’s request to allocae a land plot to build a block-building for deputies (10-16 March 2014), - Crimea’s annexation by Russian Federation (17-23 March 2014), - Tiraspol’s intention to adhere to Russian Federation (17-23 March 2014), - Venice Commission’s recommendation to amend the Election Code (24-30 March 2014), - initiating the criminal file against the Communist deputy Grigore Petrenco (24-30 March 2014), - appeal of Liberal Reformist Party’s deputy, Ana Guţu, on protecting the informational space (31 March - 6 April), - commemorating 7 April 2009 events (7-14 April 2014). At the same time, during 18-24 April 2014, the main prime-time news programs and debate shows have been monitored at 5 Russian television channels, rebroadcast in R. Moldova (NTV, Pervyi Kanal, RTR, REN TV and Rossia 24) in order to assess how the latter covered the conflict in South-Eastern Ukraine. - 3 - II. GENERAL TENDENCIES IN MASS-MEDIA FROM R. MOLDOVA The monitoring data for the period 1 February-30 April 2014 highlight certain tendencies of informational manipulation displayed by several mass-media institutions while covering public interest issues. Manipulation occurred mainly through: Selection/filtering of information – during the reference period, there have been registered numerous cases when mass-media selected the subjects not grounding on their importance and degree of public interest, but relying on owners’ preferences and agendas. Some media either avoided reporting about certain public interest issues, or issued brief outlines, without depicting entirely the facts and ensuring sufficient information to the readers, which would enable them to understand the things in certain cases (most frequently, these situations were registered in newspapers Komsomolskaya Pravda v Moldove, Timpul, and television channels Moldova 1 and Prime TV). Thus, filtering the news and minimally covering important events are indicative of the desire to defend the interests of certain stakeholders, but not of the general public. Exacerbation of facts – another manipulation technique to which several mass-media subject to monitoring have constantly applied is to exaggerate the facts, with the aim to perpetuate and promote certain messages, as well as discredit the protagonists. This was done either by attributing too much attention to details, or by exaggerating facts. Exacerbation of facts was promoted most frequently by the portals Gagauzinfo.md and Omg.md, television channel Accent TV (while reporting on Gagauz referenda), Jurnal TV and Jurnal.md (while issuing reports which directly involved Vladimir Plahotniuc). Selection of sources – in some cases, the monitored mass-media institutions ensured a pseudo- pluralism of opinions, by selecting sources and opinions expressing the same thought, conveying the same message and advocating the same cause, with the goal to perpetuate positive or negative perception about certain stakeholders. This line of action was most frequently applied by Jurnal TV, Jurnal.md, Omg.md, as well as Gagauzinfo.md (in news items on Gagauz referenda). Tendentiousness of information – the production and dissemination of tendentious information were a common procedure, being seldom used by the majority of media institutions subject to monitoring. In certain cases, the news contained discriminatory and slanderous elements, and the reality was sieved from the points of view of authors (Omg.md, Accent TV, in controversial news referring to authorities and representatives of Democratic Party/PD). Seeming to be neutral and objective, some materials have hidden appreciations on behalf of the journalist or his/her media institution (Jurnal TV, Jurnal.md, in materials referring to Democratic Party representatives). Sometimes, mass-media have filtered the information and highlighted certain aspects which are favourable to the protagonists (Timpul, Publika TV, when reporting on controversial subjects about Democratic Party representatives). - 4 - Language/labelling – in the reference period, some mass-media resorted to certain modalities of manipulating information, such as: labelling or presenting information in a sarcastic and taunting manner, making use of pejorative terms in relation to an event or character. This technique was sporadically used by most mass-media subject to monitoring. However, it was most frequently encountered in the case of Jurnal TV television channel, and portals Omg.md and Jurnal.md. Headlines/images, video and audio effects – with small exceptions, the monitored mass-media did not appeal to headlines and images with the goal to manipulate. Nevertheless, several cases were recorded when certain words in headlines had been stressed in order to show their importance (Publika TV, Timpul, in their materials addressing Democratic Party representatives). Some media selected the images and video materials on purpose, with a view to depict certain actors in a dark light, by appealing to audio-video effects which would amplify the negative