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Reports on monitoring media during the election campaign suggest that a large number of media outlets failed to ensure a diversity of opinions, either favoring or disfavoring certain election candidates. While promoting the candidates’ party programs, some of the media outlets were also involved in the distribution of a number of materials that contained serious violations of ethical norms. These included the broadcast of one of the candidate’s intercepted telephone conversations, an action which cannot be justified by invoking major public interest. Due to this fact, media NGOs are urging all media outlets to respect legal and ethical norms, as well as to display proper and impartial conduct during the second round of the new local elections campaign.
According to the law, broadcasters and print media are obliged to offer equal and non-discriminatory conditions when providing airtime or advertising space for election publicity purposes (Article 69 of the Electoral Code). Additionally, in accordance with the Broadcasting Code (Article 7), broadcasters are obliged to cover election campaigns in a truthful, balanced and impartial way. Both codes emphasize that the media shouldn’t favor any particular candidates based on their social status or position.
It is worth reminding that if a media outlet decides not to cover the election campaign, it should abide by Article 7 of the Broadcasting Code. According to it, broadcasters should structure their newscasts in such a way as to ensure that the presented information is truthful and that the depicted reality is not distorted by editing trickery, comments, wordings or subtitles. When reporting on a subject concerning a conflict situation, the broadcaster should respect the principle of obtaining information from multiple sources.
At the same time, a journalist’s obligations are not limited to respecting the law. A journalist also should be guided in his or her activity by ethical and professional norms stipulated in the Code of Ethics, the Style Guidelines Containing Ethical Norms, and by generally accepted standards of informative journalism used in developed democratic countries.
We urge media representatives to display proper conduct, avoid playing into politicians’ hands and to offer an objective and impartial coverage of events within informative and analytical TV programs throughout the second round of the new local elections campaign.
Independent Journalism Center
Association of Independent Press
Association of Electronic Press
Press Freedom Committee
Center for Investigative Journalism
Association of Independent TV Journalists
‘Access-info’ Center
