Experts have found improvements in the coverage of the electoral campaign by some broadcasters

Some of the monitored mass media, especially broadcasters, changed their editorial policies on the coverage of the electoral campaign, having given up the practices of aggressive promotion of certain contestants – it is one of the conclusions of the third report on monitoring mass media in the electoral campaign for the general local elections in Moldova.

According to the report, produced by the Independent Journalism Center, in the period of 31 May – 7 June 2015 there was slight improvement in terms of impartiality and objectivity, pluralism of opinions, diversity and balance of sources. Also, some monitored media outlets showed better indicators in gender equality, although the tendency of quoting mostly men still persists. On the other hand, some of the monitored websites continue actively promoting the political agenda and candidates of certain political entities to the detriment of other electoral contestants, and their materials were in fact hidden electoral campaigning.

During the reporting period, the following coverage trends were found:

Moldova 1 public television covered the electoral campaign in a correct and neutral manner, ensuring the balance of sources and partially pluralism of opinions. The news produced by Moldova 1 did not clearly favor or disfavor any electoral contestant.

Prime and Canal 2 private televisions with national coverage had a similar editorial policy, covering the campaign with less tendentiousness than in the previous monitoring period. The channels partially provided pluralism of opinions and balance, but failed to provide diversity of sources. Judging by the frequency and context of electoral contestants’ appearances, Prime and Canal 2 slightly favored the Democratic Party of Moldova, which had the advantage of a large number of news stories with a direct or indirect electoral nature.

TV 7 channel with regional coverage had a relatively balanced and unbiased behavior, having ensured pluralism of opinions and diversity of sources, but failed to ensure their balance. The channel did not favor any candidate through the number of appearances or mentions in newscasts, but it slightly favored the Liberal Democratic Party of Moldova by the context of appearances.

Accent TV did not ensure impartiality, objectivity, pluralism of opinions, diversity and balance of sources in news stories. The number of materials favoring the Party of Socialists decreased, but this contestant still had the largest share of appearances in positive light. At the same time, the number of materials disfavoring the Liberal Party was still high.

Omg.md covered a small number or electoral contestants, frequently disfavoring the Democratic Party and its representatives and promoting “Our Party”.

Pan.md covered the electoral campaign selectively, presenting a small number of electoral contestants in news stories and opinion articles. The governing parties and the Liberal Party were frequently criticized, while “Our Party” and the Party of Socialists were favored by the positive context of presentations in nearly every material concerning them.

Publika.md continued intensely promoting the Democratic Party candidates, emphasizing their achievements and demonstrating the massive support that they have in communities by choosing to present only positive opinions.

Timpul.md published a small number of articles about elections and electoral contestants, which concerned a very small number of candidates. Accordingly, there was no evident favoring or disfavoring of any electoral contestant.

Unimedia.info provided the greatest diversity of electoral contestants; its materials about elections were balanced, and electoral contestants were covered without evident editorial preferences.

The goal of this project is to monitor and inform the public about mass media behavior during the electoral campaign, including electoral contestants’ access to mass media and provision of pluralism of opinions. The report is being produced as part of the Monitoring Mass Media During the Electoral Campaign project of the Independent Journalism Center with support of the East Europe Foundation, from the resources provided by the Government of Sweden through Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida) and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Denmark/DANIDA. The opinions herein are those of authors and may not reflect the opinion of the East Europe Foundation, the Government of Sweden, Sida or the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Denmark/DANIDA.