The online portals that cover the election campaign selectively present information and use discriminatory language against election contenders, shows the first monitoring report produced by the Independent Journalism Center.
In the monitored period, the portal www.pan.md selectively presented the election runners, favoring almost exclusively the Party “Partidul Nostru” and the Party of Socialists. The main opponents of these parties were presented mainly in a bad light. Critical articles were published principally about the Democratic Party and its representatives. In relation to the Party of Communists, the portal had a different editorial attitude. This party was most often presented neutrally, sometimes in a negative light, but also in a positive light.
In a news conference at IPN, mass media expert Petru Macovei said that in general, the websites’ editorial policy is not impartial, while some of the news items published in the period were biased. Most of the news stories had only one source or several sources that are on the same side of the barricade. Neither gender equality was ensured. Most of the times, the language used by the authors of articles from www.pan.md met the deontological norms, but there were cases when insulting language and even discriminatory words were used against protagonists.
Most of the news items placed on the portal www.publika.md obeyed the principle of journalistic impartiality. But some focused mainly on the activities and plans of the candidates and administration of the Democratic Party, the reality being thus covered non-objectively. The news stories that referred to a conflict situation were generally balanced, with some cases when the balance of sources wasn’t ensured and the principle of correctness was thus violated.
More than one third of the articles published on wwww.timpul.md referred to a controversial subject or included accusations against candidates and parties. The Party of Communists and the Party of Socialists were often criticized, while the Liberal party and its candidate Dorin Chirtoaca were favored. Half of the articles about conflict situations were more or less balanced, while the others were not.
The portal www.unimedia.md had the widest range of published news that generally met the impartially and objectivity norms. Most of the times, the candidates and parties were presented in a neutral light. The portal’s journalists had the best performance as regards their position in articles. Less than half of the articles about conflict situations were balanced, with the opinions of both of the sides being presented.
www.omg.md didn’t actively cover the election campaign. The covered subjects were mainly critical of the suspended mayor of Chisinau Dorin Chirtoaca or referred to the registration of candidates for the post of mayor, primarily in Chisinau and Balti, on behalf of the parties “Partidul Nostru” and “Casa Noastra – Moldova (Red Block), and to the activities of businessman and politician Renato Usatyi.
Petru Macovei said the angle from which the themes were treated and the frequency at which some of the election runners were presented, exclusively in a positive light, with others being presented only in a negative light, show that the portals’ editorial policy is aimed not at comprehensively informing about the election campaign, but at promoting some of the contenders and discrediting others. Each third news item published in the monitored period was biased, while most of the others presented only one opinion/position.
The first monitoring report covered the period between May 1 and May 14.
