Seven of the ten TV channels that were monitored during April 20-27 failed to correctly and equidistantly cover the campaign prior to the new local mayoral elections of May 20 and promoted the political agenda of particular candidates, shows the first monitoring report on the conduct of the media in the election campaign that was presented by the Independent Journalism Center (IJC) on May 2, IPN reports.
In a press release, the IJC says the monitoring data reveal that most of the TV channels didn’t offer equal access to all the officially registered election runners and didn’t ensure the pluralism of opinions and the balance of sources.
Prime, Canal 2 and Publika, even if they announced that they will not cover the election campaign, broadcast content that was directly or indirectly electoral in character in their news bulletins, massively favoring independent candidate Silvia Radu. At the same time, Publika favored the candidate of the PPPDA, PAS and PLDM Andrei Nastase.
NTV and Accent intensely supported the candidate of the PSRM Ion Ceban, disfavoring simultaneously Silvia Radu, Andrei Nastase, the PL’s candidate Valeriu Munteanu and the candidate of the Shor Party Reghina Apostolova. RTR favored slightly Ion Ceban and also Reghinei Apostolova by the frequency of reports.
Jurnal TV presented Silvia Radu in a negative light, favoring yet Andrei Nastase. At the same time, this channel impartially covered the campaign events of all the candidates, staged for the press. Moldova 1, Pro TV and TV 8 had a balanced conduct and presented neutrally most of the aspirants for the mayoralty in their newscasts.
The monitoring report was produced by the Independent Journalism Center as a partner of the project “Media Enabling Democracy, Inclusion and Accountability in Moldova” (MEDIA-M) that is financed by USAID and implemented by Internews.
