Sympathies and antipathies of ten monitored broadcasters become more evident

The closer the early parliamentary elections, the more visible are the sympathies and antipathies of the ten broadcasters monitored by the Independent Journalism Center within the Civic Coalition for Free and Fair Elections Project. The fourth monitoring report covers the period between November 1 and 7, Info-Prim Neo reports. In a news conference, the Center's head Nadin Gogu said the number of special electoral programs and newscasts, including debates, in the period has increased by 43% compared with the previous monitoring period. The public stations Moldova 1 and Radio Moldova covered the election campaign in a balanced and equidistant way. The journalists ensured a plurality of opinions both in the news bulletins and the special electoral programs. A large number of election runners were allotted airtime to present their platforms. However, some of them were presented in a favorable light, while others in a negative light. The private TV channel with national coverage Prime TV covered the election campaign only in its news programs, with the Democratic Party more evidently becoming its favorite. Nadin Gogu said another private channel with national coverage – NIT – continues to openly favor the PCRM and its leader. The reporters get actively involved in this process and comment the events in the news stories and show subjectivity. As earlier, NIT failed to ensure a plurality of opinions in its news bulletins. The PCRM continued to be presented in a good light, while the parties of the Alliance for European Integration and its leaders in a bad light. The channel 2 Plus passively covered the election campaign, while N4 favored slightly the PLDM. Publika TV was mainly unbiased, but criticized slightly the PCRM. Jurnal TV favored the Party for Nation and Country and its leaders, who enjoyed more airtime on this channel. Vocea Basarabiei and Prime FM had a fairly negative attitude to the PCRM. Nadin Gogu stressed the monitoring reports are submitted to the Broadcasting Coordination Council, which already commented on a number of objections. “Compared with last year, the situation has changed. The Council now examines and takes our reports into account,” she said. Four more monitoring reports, including a summing up one, will be presented until the November 28 elections.