IJC report: Four out of ten television stations massively favor certain candidates

Four out of ten television stations, monitored by the Independent Journalism Center (IJC) during the electoral campaign for the presidential election of November 1, 2020, continue to massively favor certain candidates. Two other stations tend to favor some candidates slightly. These are some of the main conclusions of the fourth monitoring report, which covers the period of October 15-22, 2020, launched by the IJC on Monday, October 26.

According to the report, the public television station Moldova 1 offered equal access to electoral candidates, the tone of presentation in most cases being neutral. Igor Dodon was often presented in neutral light and once positive, and also benefited from appearing in a positive context in the news about the activity of the Government and the local public administration.

Primul în Moldova, NTV Moldova, and Accent TV continued to have a similar editorial policy, treating electoral candidates differently. Igor Dodon was massively favored by these stations, both by the high frequency of appearances/airtime allocated to direct speeches, and by the positive tone. Also, these stations broadcast over 60 positive materials about the activity of the Government and the local public administration, which were favorable for Igor Dodon. At the same time, Igor Dodon was the only candidate frequently presented in extensive news stories about his electoral objectives. The other candidates appeared in 1-2 news stories about the campaign per station. On the other hand, the candidate of the Action and Solidarity Party, Maia Sandu, was mentioned more than cited by these stations, in news on other topics than the electoral priorities of candidates, in most cases with a negative connotation.

Prime TV provided access to most of the electoral competitors in the news, presenting candidates, political parties, and public institutions neutrally in most cases. Igor Dodon and Violeta Ivanov, the candidate of Shor Party, benefited from a large number and airtime of interventions, benefiting from the most news stories about the campaign and about support for them. Maia Sandu and Tudor Deliu, the candidate of the Liberal Democratic Party of Moldova, appeared in news on topics other than the electoral priorities of competitors.

Publika TV had a relatively balanced behavior, providing access to news to most of the electoral competitors, who were presented neutrally. Igor Dodon had the most appearances and the largest airtime for direct speeches, especially in news stories about the campaign and about support for him, other candidates being presented in one news story each, in which they talked about their electoral objectives. Maia Sandu, Tudor Deliu, and Violeta Ivanov were cited/mentioned in news on topics other than their electoral objectives.

Jurnal TV offered access to news to all electoral candidates, without obviously favoring or disfavoring any of them. The station treated competitors equally, informing about everyone’s electoral meetings/promises, the tone of coverage being in most cases neutral. Igor Dodon had five appearances in negative light, and Violeta Ivanov – one appearance.

Pro TV Chisinau had a balanced behavior, without showing obvious tendencies of favoring or disfavoring any electoral competitor. Pro TV offered relatively equal access to all electoral candidates, informing in the news about the electoral priorities of several candidates, which appeared mainly in neutral light. Igor Dodon and Renato Usatii, the candidate of Our Party, had one appearance in negative light each.

TV8 has allocated a lot of space to news stories and programs with direct and indirect electoral tangency. The station did not inform in news about the electoral objectives of competitors, who were the protagonists of stories on topics other than their electoral priorities. In most cases, candidates, parties, and the central public administration were presented neutrally. Igor Dodon had two appearances/mentions in programs in a negative context.

Televiziunea Centrală provided relatively equal access to electoral competitors to talk about their electoral objectives, presenting them mostly neutrally. Violeta Ivanov benefited from the most appearances in positive light, being also favored by the positive news about Shor Party.

By monitoring media outlets, the IJC aims to inform the public about the behavior of the media during the electoral campaign and the access of electoral competitors to the media, but also to notify regulators about trends that could affect media performance or compromise their ability to provide the public with truthful, unbiased, and pluralistic information.

The IJC recommends the Broadcasting Council to use monitoring reports in order to take note of the facts and to assess whether the monitored stations have complied with the right to full, objective, and truthful information.

A total of ten broadcasters were monitored: Moldova 1, Prime TV, Publika TV, Jurnal TV, NTV Moldova, Primul în Moldova, Accent TV, Pro TV, TV8, and Televiziunea Centrală. The stations were selected according to the following criteria: audience/impact (national, regional), type of media (broadcasting), form of ownership (public, private), language of broadcasting (Romanian, Russian).

This report has been produced by the Independent Journalism Center as part of the project “Media Enabling Democracy, Inclusion and Accountability in Moldova” (MEDIA-M), implemented by Internews in Moldova with the support of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and UKAID.The opinions expressed belong to the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the funders.