MONITORING REPORT NO. 3 ON THE MEDIA (TV STATIONS) DURING THE 2020 ELECTION CAMPAIGN: THREE OUT OF TEN TV STATIONS KEEP MASSIVELY FAVORING IGOR DODON

The Independent Journalism Center (CJI) has released its third monitoring report on the media during the election period and campaign for the presidential election of November 1, 2020. 

Three out of ten TV stations monitored by CJI during the campaign for the presidential election of November 1, 2020, keep massively favoring independent candidate Igor Dodon supported by PSRM. The same TV stations covered the other candidates only occasionally. These are the first findings of the third monitoring report.

According to the report, which covers the period of October 7 through 14, 2020, the public TV station Moldova 1 offered airtime to all presidential candidates who had being conducting campaigns, keeping mostly neutral tone in its reports. Independent candidate Igor Dodon supported by PSRM had most apparitions or mentions, enjoying mostly neutral—and on two occasions positive—coverage and taking advantage of four positive news reports about the government’s work.

Primul în Moldova, NTV Moldova, and Accent TV mostly followed the same approach, treating presidential candidates in a differentiated way. Thus, TV stations followed and covered the campaigns of some candidates extensively, presenting details from their election manifestos, and either completely ignored or presented negatively other candidates. Igor Dodon enjoyed massively favorable treatment from these stations, both by frequent apparitions and the airtime allotted for direct interventions and by the positive tone of the coverage. In addition, these TV stations transmitted over 50 positive materials about the government’s work, which were favorable for Igor Dodon. Candidate Maia Sandu for PAS was more frequently mentioned than cited on these TV stations, her coverage often being negative. The other candidates received sporadic, mainly neutral coverage.

Televiziunea Centrală offered more airtime to candidate Violeta Ivanov for the Șor Political Party, whose campaign was covered daily and in favorable light. The other candidates—except candidate Tudor Deliu for PLDM—were presented in one news report each, which explained their election manifestos in predominantly neutral tones.

Prime TV and Publika TV covered the campaign in their newscasts and debates, offering access to most election candidates, without clearly favoring or disfavoring any candidate or political party. The tone of reports about candidates, political parties, and state agencies was mostly neutral. Igor Dodon gained advantage due to the multitude of materials and the thematic of apparitions on both stations, and Violeta Ivanov was presented more favorably on Prime TV.

Jurnal TV engaged actively in campaign coverage, offering airtime to all presidential candidates, without clearly favoring or disfavoring any of them. The TV station treated candidates equally in its newscasts, informing about the electioneering meetings and election pledges of them all. The tone of coverage was mostly neutral. Igor Dodon had five negative appearances, especially during programs.

Pro TV Chișinău offered balanced coverage, without clear biases in favor or against any of the candidates. The television offered relatively equal airtime to all candidates, whom it presented mostly in neutral tones. Igor Dodon had three negative appearances.

TV8 allotted lots of airtime for news and programs directly or indirectly related to the election. In most cases, presidential candidates, political parties, and central government received neutral coverage. Igor Dodon had most negative apparitions or mentions, especially during programs.

By monitoring the media, CJI intended to inform the public about the behavior of the press during the election campaign and the access of election candidates to media coverage and to notify regulatory entities about the trends that could impact the performance of media outlets or compromise their capacity to offer trustworthy, detached, and pluralistic information.

CJI recommends the Broadcasters Council to use the monitoring reports to assess themselves and to see whether the monitored TV stations observed the right to full, objective, and trustworthy information.

All told, the monitoring covered ten TV stations: Moldova 1, Prime TV, Publika TV, Jurnal TV, NTV Moldova, Primul în Moldova, Accent TV, Pro TV, TV8, and Televiziunea Centrală. The broadcasters were selected by the following criteria: audience/impact (national, regional), type of media (broadcasting), ownership form (public, private), broadcasting language (Romanian, Russian).

This report was produced by the Independent Journalism Center as part of the project Media Enabling Democracy, Inclusion and Accountability in Moldova (MEDIA-M) implemented by Internews in Moldova with the support of the US Agency for International Development (USAID) and UKAID. The views expressed in it are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the position of the funders.