In the last week before the October 20 elections, the referendum was more frequently the subject of electoral materials on TV than earlier. The referendum, as a democratic exercise, but also the European integration on which it focused, were discussed more intensely, shows the fourth monitoring report presented by the Independent Journalism Center (IJC) within the Civic Coalition for Free and Fair Elections.

IJC executive director Nadine Gogu told a news conference at IPN that the previous reports showed that there were few journalistic materials about the referendum during the first weeks of the campaign. The TV channels presented mainly news about the registration of political parties as referendum campaigners. The focus, however, was on the presidential election.

In the last week before the election, the number of topics about the referendum increased. Explanatory materials about this exercise were also disseminated, but they were insufficient for the voters to be well informed, said Nadine Gogu.

The fourth monitoring report, which covers the period of October 11-18, also shows that politics reached the first place among the most publicized topics on TV channels. The electoral process and corruption, including electoral corruption, are the next two topics of interest.

The Independent Journalism Center monitored 10 television stations during the campaign prior to the presidential election and the constitutional referendum. These are: Cinema 1, Exclusiv TV, Gagauziya Radio Televizionu (GRT), Jurnal TV, Moldova 1, N 4, Pro TV, TV 8, TVC 21, and TVR Moldova. The monitoring covered electoral programs broadcast in the evening, the main newscasts of the day and electoral debates.

In connection with the runoff presidential election, the IJC extended the monitoring period for two more weeks.

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