Political actors continue to be inequitably present on TV channels, monitoring report

The public television channel Moldova 1 and the private channels NIT, N4, Eu TV and partly Prime during the first month after the parliamentary elections sacrificed the people’ s right to be informed for party interests. This conclusion is contained in the first report on the post-electoral monitoring of the presence of political actors in the programs of nine TV channels prepared by the Electronic Press Association (APEL). The report covers the period between April 6 and 30, 2009, Info-Prim Neo reports. “Pro TV, TV7, TVC 21 regularly respected the information rights of the people. The editorial behavior of these TV operators, even if not exemplary, deserves being encouraged,” monitor Constantin Marin, dean of the Faculty of Journalism and Communication Sciences at the State University of Moldova, said at the conference held to present the report on Tuesday. According to him, the quantitative and qualitative monitoring data show that the monitored TV channels modified the editorial policy implemented during the election campaign. The report shows that after elections, the Communist Party (PCRM) was most frequently present (in positive and negative context) on all the monitored TV channels, followed by the Liberal Democratic Party (PLDM), the Liberal Party (PL), the Moldova Noastra Alliance (AMN) and other parties that did not pass the election threshold. Vladimir Voronin was the most favored political actor at 7 TV channels. Most often, he was presented in a favorable light at NIT, Moldova 1 and N4. At the same time, Vlad Filat was most often put in a bad light. He is followed by Vladimir Voronin and Serafim Urecheanu. Four television channels - Moldova 1, N4, NIT and Prime - presented in a unfavorable light only the representatives of the Opposition. Victor Moraru, university lecturer and expert of APEL, told the conference that the monitored TV channels often could not resist the temptation to favor certain political actors. “The airtime for the programs broadcast by Eu TV, Moldova 1 and NIT was distributed unequally. Certain political players were favored, while the others disadvantaged,” Moraru said. The experts consider that if such a behavior is maintained, as in the election campaign, the dissensions and polarization in the society will deepen and will hinder the development of the broadcasting sector in Moldova according to democratic principles. The project “Monitoring the Presence of Political/Electoral Actors on the Main Television Channels in the Pre-electoral, Electoral and Post-electoral Period of the 2009 Parliamentary Elections” is financed by the European Commission’s Delegation to Moldova under the European Instrument for Democracy and Human Rights, as part of the Civic Coalition for Free and Fair Elections – Coalition 2009.