Four of ten channels monitored by the Independent Journalism Center (CJI) - Moldova 1, Jurnal TV, Pro TV and TV 8 - correctly and impartially covered the election campaign. NTV Moldova and Primul în Moldova favored considerably the Electoral Bloc of the Communists and Socialists (EBCS), disfavoring the Party of Action and Solidarity (PAS). TV 6 favored the Shor Party and slightly disfavored the PAS, while Publika TV favored slightly the EBCS and disfavored the PAS. Another two TV channels – Prime TV and RTR Moldova – favored slightly the Shor Party, shows the second report on the monitoring of the audiovisual media in the campaign prior to the snap parliamentary elections (June 11-17), which was presented by CJI executive director Nadine Gogu in a news conference at IPN.
According to Nadine Gogu, the monitored TV channels offered relatively equal access to the election contenders , while another part favored some and ignored others. The electoral content was mainly correct and equidistant, presenting the protagonists equitably, while the controversial articles were balanced. Most of the electoral subjects quoted mainly election runners, without treating the subjects in depth, quoting one or several sources from the same camp and without providing other context information that would help the readers to better understand what’s going on. Most of the content on the ten TV channels was imbalanced from the angle of gender, the men being quoted more often than the women.
Moldova 1 had a balanced behavior, offering relatively equal access to election contestants, without favoring or disfavoring any of them. Most of the electoral content was correct and impartial, but was based primarily on one source of information. There were used a correct and neutral language and relevant images. The conflict news items were mainly balanced, while the gender equality of sources wasn’t ensured.
Prime TV offered access to news items to most of the candidates in elections, which were mostly covered correctly and objectively. The tone was most of the times neutral, except for the Shor Party that was favored in three news items. There was ensured relative pluralism of opinions that was primarily balanced in the case of controversial news articles.
Publika TV ensured most of the contenders’ access to news items, covering the runners primarily correctly and objectively. The tone was mainly neutral, with the EBCS being the only contender that was favored, while the PAS appeared in a negative light most often. The TV channel ensured relative pluralism of opinions that in controversial news items were primarily balanced.
Most of the relevant news items on Jurnal TV were objective and impartial without favoring or disfavoring any of the election contenders. The noncontroversial electoral subjects were usually based on one source and most of the conflict news items respected the right of reply.
NTV Moldova didn’t ensure equal access for all the runners. The EBCS was favored massively, while the PAS was presented primarily tendentiously, in a negative context. The channel used a discriminatory language against the LGBT community, which can incite intolerance.
Primul în Moldova didn’t offer equal access to all the election runners, covering the electoral subjects tendentiously and impartially. It had a biased attitude to the EBCS, which was favored considerably by the frequency and airtime allotted for direct and indirect appearances and by the positive tone. The PAS was evidently disfavored, being mentioned only in a negative context. It didn’t ensure the gender equality and used a discriminatory language.
RTR Moldova offered access to its news items to most of the election contenders, without favoring or disfavoring any of them, except for the Shor Party that was presented in a positive context in two news items. It correctly covered the activities carried out by election runners and the facts were separated from opinions. The controversial subjects in most of the cases were balanced, offering the right of reply to those concerned.
Pro TV ensured access for most of the runners without favoring or disfavoring any of them. Most of the electoral news items were correct and impartial. The electoral subjects were based mainly on primary sources, without ensuring the diversity of sources. Most of the conflict news items ensured the right of reply.
In the report period, TV 8 offered access to its news items to most of the election contenders, without favoring or disfavoring any of them. Most of the news items were objective and impartial. There were ensured varied sources and relative pluralism of opinion. The controversial news items were balanced.
TV 6 offered access to most of the election runners, while the electoral subjects were based primarily on one source. A part of the controversial news items were balanced. The activity of election contenders was covered correctly and fairly, except for the Shor Parry, which was favored, and the PAS, which was slightly disfavored.
According to Nadine Gogu, the monitoring report was transmitted to the Audiovisual Council and there were submitted petitions referring to concrete deviations from the Audiovisual Code and the Electoral Code and they expect the Audiovisual Council will discuss them.
