Picture // A group of journalists trained to reflect correctly the election campaign. Expert: ‘Voters want to know more than politicians say’

A group of journalists from several media outlets from the Republic of Moldova, who participated in the training ‘Press, Democracy and Elections. Why Media Matters?’, learned how to reflect correctly the election campaigns. The training organised by the Independent Journalism Center took place on 4-5 October.

The journalists found out from Giuseppe Milazzo, researcher under the Institute of Scientific Researches ‘Osservatorio di Pavia’ from Italy and from Nadine Gogu, Head of Independent Journalism Center, about the role and place of the journalist in the election day, how to avoid the perception that the independent media is affiliated to opposition parties, under what conditions the media can accept publicity from election contestants and what indicators should the media outlets observe during the elections to look well in the monitoring reports.

The discussions also focused on issues such as international law on freedom of expression, best practices and professional standards in covering the election campaigns, presenting election candidates in an interesting and equidistant way, the use of social network in elections, or on identifying new approaches and subjects of public interest.

Some of the most important recommendations of the expert Giuseppe Milazzo referred to the journalists' code of conduct during the election campaign. ‘Write with accuracy and impartiality, in accordance with the facts and in a balanced manner, avoid discriminatory language, do not make promises to politicians about the content of the news reports, check the sources, differentiate facts from opinions, cite accurately, don’t take sides. If you cover a controversial topic, you must have as many solid opinions as possible’, said the researcher.

As regards the role of the media during elections, the participants agreed that it is limited to informing the citizens. ‘But people want to know more than politicians want to say, so the role of the press is not just to replicate what the candidates say. This is not enough. Readers wait for an analysis of election-related events and promises made by the candidates. You have the right to criticise a politician more than an ordinary citizen’, mentioned the expert.

Giuseppe Milazzo pointed out that ‘without the freedom of expression, the right to vote is limited’. ‘The Government must promote independence of the media and ensure the access of people to such media’, he said.

Nadine Gogu spoke about media monitoring during election campaigns and highlighted the aspects that should be taken into account by editorial offices to look good in monitoring reports. The expert made a presentation of IJC reports, and pointed out the indicators that must be observed in order to reflect the elections in a fair and equidistant way. ‘Exaggerations and indecent language, labels assigned to certain persons, truncated and manipulatory images that have nothing to do with the context used in order to present certain election competitors in a negative light are only few of deviations that raise questions regarding the observation of ethical and professional standards. Also, the presence of discriminatory elements or the practice of filtering the news are a sign of defending the interests of certain stakeholders rather than of the general public. A balanced coverage implies that materials target all the parties concerned, especially when it comes to controversial issues’, said Nadine Gogu.

Andrei Cebotari, one of the participants in the training, says he has managed to accumulate a unique experience regarding the coverage of electoral campaigns. ‘Trainers Nadine Gogu and Giuseppe Milazzo shared their experience about equidistant monitoring of elections, impartial coverage of election contestants, as well as about observing the electoral day silence by journalists, but also about how many days before the election, journalists have the right to present the exit poll results. This knowledge is very important in the context of covering the parliamentary elections of 24 February 2019 for young journalists’, mentioned Andrei Cebotari.

Violeta Tutuianu also said that she learned new things about ways to cover the election campaign in an impartial and equidistant way. ‘Both experts came up with new insights and taught us how to write, following the rules in order to obtain a balanced media product’, said the participant.

The training was organized by the Independent Journalism Center, as part of the ‘Media Enabling Democracy, Inclusion and Accountability in Moldova’ (MEDIA-M)’ project, funded by USAID and implemented by Internews.