The IJC Launches the Second Monitoring Report on Ten TV Channels during the Electoral Campaign. Statements from September 27 to October 3
On Tuesday, October 8, 2024, the Independent Journalism Center (IJC) launched the second monitoring report regarding the electoral campaign for the presidential elections and the republican constitutional referendum to be held on October 20, where citizens are invited to answer the question whether they support the integration of the Republic of Moldova in the European Union. The IJC monitored ten TV channels: Cinema 1, Exclusiv TV, Gagauziya Radio Televizionu (GRT), Jurnal TV, Moldova 1, N4, Pro TV Chisinau, TV8, TVC 21, and TVR Moldova.
During the monitoring, the IJC focused on the main newscasts, electoral programs, and the debates on N4.
The second monitoring report covers September 27 – October 3, 2024. During this period of time, the ten monitored TV channels broadcast a total of 312 directly or indirectly electoral materials: 276 news items, 34 programs, and two debates.
“In most cases, the election candidates were covered neutrally. Maia Sandu, the PAS candidate, had the largest number of negative appearances, as well as positive ones; in the rest of the cases, the tone was neutral. At the same time, she had an advantage due to the positive materials regarding the activity of the central public administration and the PAS and was equally disadvantaged by the negative materials about these institutions”, Nadine Gogu, IJC Executive Director, explains.
According to the conclusions regarding each channel, Cinema 1 covered the election campaign actively, providing direct access to all the registered election candidates for the position of president of the Republic of Moldova. The tone of mentioning the election stakeholders was mostly neutral and positive. Maia Sandu, the PAS candidate, was mentioned both neutrally and positively; she was also favored by the high frequency and positive tone of the news items with the presence of the Government and the PAS representatives.
Exclusiv TV covered electoral issues in the newscasts and programs, offering direct access to most election stakeholders. The candidates participating in the election were presented mostly in a positive manner, and sometimes neutrally and negatively. Maia Sandu, the PAS candidate, was mentioned neutrally and negatively. Most of the political parties were presented neutrally, except the governing party which was presented negatively; it was also a disadvantage to Maia Sandu.
The GRT regional public TV channel mostly covered the CEC’s activity in the newscasts, and directly or indirectly electoral topics were mostly presented in the programs. The tone of presenting most election stakeholders in the newscasts was neutral. Maia Sandu, the PAS candidate, was equally presented in neutral and negative contexts, especially in the programs. The CPAs and the governing party were mostly presented negatively, which disadvantaged the PAS candidate due to negative image transfer.
Jurnal TV actively covered the campaign in the newscasts and programs, providing direct access to the newscasts for all the election candidates, without any large discrepancies regarding the airtime. The tone of coverage in the newscasts was mostly neutral. Maia Sandu, the PAS candidate, and Alexandr Stoianoglo, the PSRM candidate, had only positive appearances. The PAS as the governing party and the Government representatives were presented mostly positively, which was favorable to Maia Sandu.
Moldova 1 public TV channel kept covering the election campaign only in its newscasts. During the reporting period, seven candidates had access to the informative programs, and were mentioned neutrally. Maia Sandu, the PAS candidate, did not appear on the screen during the reporting period, but had an advantage due to the positive tone of the relatively large number of materials about the activity of the executive authorities.
N4 covered the election campaign both in the newscasts and in the programs/debates, providing access to the newscasts to most of the candidates registered for the elections. In the newscasts and the programs/debates, N4 used a different tone when mentioning the candidates, the state institutions, and the governing party. Maia Sandu, the PAS candidate, the executive authorities, and the governing party were presented negatively in all the programs and debates aired during the reporting period. In the newscasts, the Government’s activity was mostly presented positively. Due to image transfer, these appearances/mentions favored and disfavored Maia Sandu, respectively. The candidates invited to the programs and debates benefited from the appearances which presented them positively.
Pro TV Chisinau offered access to the newscasts to all the 11 election candidates. During the reporting period, no favoring or disfavoring any candidate for the position of head of state was obvious. The TV channel presented seven of them neutrally, whereas Tudor Ulianovschi, Andrei Nastase, Victoria Furtuna, and Renato Usatii each had an appearance that disfavored them. The state institutions were presented neutrally.
TV 8 covered the elections in the newscasts and directly and indirectly electoral programs, offering direct access to the newscasts for most candidates for the position of head of state. Most election stakeholders were presented neutrally. Alexandru Stoianoglo, Renato Usatii, and Irina Vlah were also presented negatively. The tone of presenting the political parties was both neutral and negative, and the Government representatives were presented predominantly positively.
TVC 21 continued briefly covering the campaign activities in the News Digest newscasts. In the programs, the political context was extensively analyzed with three of the 11 election candidates who were presented positively. Among the candidates, Maia Sandu was disadvantaged by the largest number of negative appearances; she was also disadvantaged by the relatively large number of negative appearances/mentions of the central public authorities and the PAS.
TVR Moldova continued covering the campaign in the newscasts and programs, providing access to all the registered election candidates. With the exception of Alexandr Stoianoglo, Victoria Furtuna, and Irina Vlah, who were disfavored in two and three appearances each, and Maia Sandu, who was favored in one news item, the other candidates were presented neutrally. Due to image transfer, Maia Sandu was also benefited by most of the materials concerning the Government’s activity and two positive appearances of the PAS.
The first monitoring report which covered September 20-26, 2024, was released on October 1. The monitoring takes place within the framework of the Civic Coalition for Free and Fair Elections, of which the IJC is also a member. Two other reports will be presented in the context of the first round of the presidential elections. The fifth report will be launched if the second round of the elections takes place.
This monitoring report was made possible by the generous support of the American and British people through the intermediary of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and the British Embassy in Chisinau. The content is the responsibility of the Independent Journalism Center and does not necessarily reflect the views of the United Kingdom, USAID, or the Government of the United States.
