Judging by the way in which the media covered the election campaign, especially before the presidential runoff, the elections cannot be deemed correct as the journalists favored a candidate or another, broadcast lies and manipulated the public. Such conclusions are contained in Report No. 7 on the mass media coverage of the campaign prior to the presidential elections compiled by the Association of Independent Press (API) and the Independent Journalism Center (CJI). The report was presented in a news conference at IPN on November 16.
CJI head Nadine Gogu said 12 TV channels were monitored during November 6-11. In the course of the last week of the election campaign, these broadcast mainly political materials of an electoral character. The Socialist candidate Igor Dodon was favored the most by the number of appearances and the context in which he appeared, being 158 times presented in a positive light and 87 times in a negative light. The candidate of the Party “Action and Solidarity” Maia Sandu appeared in a negative light in 229 materials and in a positive light in 91 materials.
Nadine Gogu noted that the private TV channels with national coverage Prime TV, Canal 2, Canal 3 and Publika TV broadcast a relatively low number of electoral materials, but in most of these Maia Sandu was disfavored. On the other hand, the private channel Jurnal TV, which has regional coverage, favored Maia Sandu and showed disfavor to Igor Dodon. NTV Moldova and Accent TV had a similar editorial policy. They favored Igor Dodon and disadvantaged and even defamed Maia Sandu. The public TV channel Moldova 1 presented both of the candidates in a favorable light. N4 favored slightly both of them. Only Realitatea TV and Pro TV had an unbiased behavior.
The media NGOs criticized the behavior of journalists who violated not only the Deontological Code, but also the legislation, while the regulatory authority – Broadcasting Coordination Council – followed tacitly how the broadcasters manipulated. In this connection, API executive director Petru Macovei requested that the Council’s chairman Dinu Ciocan and the Council members who didn’t react should tender their resignation. After the presentation of the final report on the coverage of the election campaign, an official application to demand the dismissal of these persons will be submitted to the BCC.
Petru Macovei said they also monitored 12 news portals and three newspapers. The portal agora.md had a relatively balanced editorial behavior. deschide.md was also unbiased and presented the candidates in a relatively neutral light. The regional portal gagauzinfo.md favored evidently Igor Dodon. Jurnal.md disfavored directly and frequently the Socialist candidate. Moldova24.info disseminated Dodon’s accusations against Maia Sandu without offering her the right to reply. Newsmaker.md informed in a balanced and impartial way. Noi.md disadvantaged Maia Sandu. Realitatea.md presented the information in an unbiased way. Sputnik.md disfavored Maia Sandu. Today.md did the same, while Unimedia.info informed relatively neutrally. ziarulnational.md disfavored considerably Igor Dodon.
Among the three monitored papers, KP v Moldove favored evidently Igor Dodon. Saptamana published an editorial that showed disfavor to Maia Sandu, describing her as an ‘inflatable doll’, while Timpul disfavored massively Igor Dodon.
