In the campaign prior to the recent elections, television stations paid significant attention to key topics, such as the organization of the electoral process and the phenomenon of voter corruption. Citizens were presented with information about the extent of these illegalities that were identified by investigative journalists and authorities. Out of 10 monitored TV stations, only Gagauziya Radio Television (GRT) omitted this topic from the news bulletins and broadcasts. GRT did not refer to voter corruption or foreign interference in the election campaign, members of the Civic Coalition for Free and Fair Elections said in the context of the presentation of the fifth monitoring report prepared by the Independent Journalism Center.
In a news conference at IPN, ICJ executive director Nadine Gogu said that throughout the entire campaign, it was noticed that GRT rarely focused on the candidates or these were only listed. The candidates did not have direct access to the news programs, as it was in the case of other television stations. The monitoring also showed that GRT preferred to inform only about the work of the Central Election Commission, not yet about the electoral process or other things that might be of interest.
In the shows, GRT invited various experts or representatives of some of the parties to talk mostly about the ruling party and its presidential candidate, about the things that were not done or were not done well from their perspective. According to Nadine Gogu, it is a kind of very critical filter in which the ruling party and its candidate were presented, while the others less so.
Polina Panainte, secretary of the Civic Coalition for Free and Fair Elections, considered that this case illustrates very well the importance and impact that the media has on voter behavior. But namely in Gagauzia, there was a very large discrepancy between the support for one candidate and the other candidate. "So, only one candidate was massively supported. And this is also due to the fact that the media outlets supported or presented in a positive light one candidate and very negatively the other candidate," stated Polina Panainte.
Note: IPN Agency offers the right of reply to persons who consider that they were targeted in the news articles produced based on the statements of the organizers of this press conference, including by facilitating the organization of another press conference under similar conditions.
