The last report on the monitoring of the coverage of the election campaign by the mass media shows that the news items on news websites continue to be published without ensuring the balance of sources and equidistance.
Mass media expert Petru Macovei, in a news conference at IPN, said last week www.unimedia.md had the best performance among the five information portals monitored. It presented the largest number of election runners in news items and in interviews or programs.
The portal www.omg.md broadcast news only about particular election runners. It presented the Democrat Party mainly in a negative light, saying this party’s first deputy chairman Vlad Plahotniuc has a ‘dubious reputation’. The movement “Ravnopravie” and its candidate for the mayoralty of Orhei town Ilan Shor also appeared only in a negative context. www.omg.md intensely promoted the Our Party and the Party of Socialists, presenting them in a positive light. The controversial materials published on this portal were primarily based on speculations and are distorted.
www.pan.md also covered the election campaign selectively. The Liberal Democratic Party and the Democrat Party were presented in a negative context, while the Our Party and the Party of Socialists appeared only in a positive context.
The situation on www.publika.md is the worst. This portal intensely promotes the candidates of the Democratic Party, while the other parties are practically absent. The published news items are biased and include hidden advertising. When the problems of a particular settlement are presented, the Democratic candidate is shown as the only one who suggests solutions to these.
www.timpul.md didn’t have many electoral materials. Only the Liberal Party appeared for several times on it, in a negative context.
The last report on the coverage of the campaign prior to the June 14 local elections, compiled by the Independent Journalism Center, will be made public next week.
