A part of the media outlets covered the election campaign prior to the runoff vote in Chisinau municipality relatively neutrally. Others were politically biased in favor of the electoral competitors, stays a new monitoring report produced by the Independent Journalism Center (IJC) as part of the Civic Coalition for Free and Fair Elections that consists of several dozen NGOs.

In a news conference at IPN on June 5, IJC executive director Nadine Gogu said the public TV channel Moldova 1 and the private channels RTR and ProTV had a relatively balanced conduct, without evidently favoring or disfavoring a particular election runner. Prime, Canal 2 and Publika, even if they announced they will not cover the campaign, broadcast electoral content that advantaged Ion Ceban and disadvantaged Andrei Nastase.

TV8 covered mainly neutrally the activity of the two candidates, but Andrei Nastase, of the Party “Platform Dignity and Truth”, was several times presented in a positive context, while his Socialist rival  Ion Ceban was presented in a negative context for several times. Jurnal TV ensured access to both of the electoral contenders to its newscasts, presenting these in different contexts. Andrei Nastase was massively favored, being presented primarily in a positive context, while Ion Ceban was presented in a negative light and also in a neutral and positive light.

NTV and Accent TV seriously deviated from the Deontological Code and the Broadcasting Code. They behaved like the electoral agents of Ion Ceban, who was broadly present in their news bulletins. Andrei Nastase appeared seldom at these channels, mainly in a negative light.

“These elections are over, but we will have new elections in autumn. The lesson should be learned, especially by the Broadcasting Coordination Council, which admitted that particular problems existed and it was unable to always react promptly. I think we have enough time until the parliamentary elections to center on these problems and solve them,” stated Nadine Gogu.

The monitoring report covered the period between May 21 and June 2 and was compiled within the project “Media enabling democracy, inclusion and accountability in Moldova” that is financed by USAID.