The IJC Launches the Fourth Monitoring Report on Ten TV Channels during the Electoral Campaign. Statements from October 11-18, 2024, the Days Preceding the Elections

On Tuesday, October 22, 2024, the Independent Journalism Center (IJC) launched the fourth media monitoring report regarding the electoral campaign for the presidential elections and the republican constitutional referendum to be held on October 20. The IJC monitored ten TV channels: Cinema 1, Exclusiv TV, Gagauziya Radio Televizionu (GRT), Jurnal TV, Moldova 1, N4, Pro TV Chisinau, TV 8, TVC 21, and TVR Moldova.

The fourth monitoring report covers October 11-18, 2024, the days preceding the two polls: the presidential elections and the republican constitutional referendum. During this term, the IJC checked 405 directly and indirectly electoral materials, including 342 news items, 32 programs, and 31 debates.

“Maia Sandu, the PAS candidate, had the largest number of negative appearances (29), as well as seven positive ones. Sandu was also disadvantaged by the negative materials regarding the activity of the central public administration and the PAS (85 in total) and favored by the positive materials about these institutions (35 in total). The other candidates appeared predominantly in a neutral context. As to the parties participating in the referendum, the PAS had the largest number of negative appearances (30 times), and the tone of coverage of the other parties was predominantly neutral,” Nadine Gogu, IJC Executive Director, explained.

According to the conclusions regarding each channel, Cinema 1 provided direct access to the newscasts to all the registered candidates for the position of president of the Republic of Moldova. The tone of covering the election stakeholders was mostly neutral and positive. Maia Sandu, the PAS candidate, was presented neutrally, positively, and negatively; she was equally advantaged and disadvantaged by the positive and negative tone of the appearances of the CPA representatives.

Exclusiv TV covered electoral topics in the newscasts, programs, and debates, offering direct access to most election stakeholders. The candidates participating in the elections were presented mostly neutrally and positively. Maia Sandu was presented mostly negatively, especially in the programs. Most of the political parties participating in the campaign for the referendum were covered neutrally, except the governing party which had negative appearances; it also disadvantaged Maia Sandu as the PAS candidate.

The GRT regional public TV channel briefly covered the campaign in the newscasts, and electoral topics were mostly presented in the programs and debates. The tone of presenting most election stakeholders was neutral and positive; only Maia Sandu, the PAS candidate, was presented in a negative context. The political parties were presented mostly neutrally, except the governing party which was covered exclusively in a negative manner; due to negative image transfer, it disadvantaged the PAS candidate.

Jurnal TV provided direct access to the newscasts to all the election candidates without favoring or disfavoring any of them. The tone it used for presenting them was neutral in most cases. The parties participating in the referendum were predominantly presented neutrally, as well as the central public administration representatives.

Moldova 1 continued covering the election campaign both in the newscasts and in the debates organized for both the referendum and the presidential elections. All the election candidates had access to the materials of the public TV channel. In most cases, the candidates were presented neutrally. The Government had an equal number of positive (in the newscasts) and negative appearances (in the debates), respectively. Due to image transfer, these appearances could advantage or disadvantage Maia Sandu as a governing party candidate.

N4 covered the election campaign in the newscasts and programs. In the case of Maia Sandu, an obvious disadvantage was observed: she was presented negatively in more than half of the total number of mentions as a candidate/current president. In addition, she was disadvantaged by a relatively large number of mentions of the PAS and the CPAs in a negative context. Most of these mentions were included in the programs.

Pro TV Chisinau provided information on conducting the election campaign in the newscasts and debates. During the reporting period, no obvious favoring or disfavoring any candidate for the position of head of state could be registered. Most of the situations in which the candidates were disadvantaged took place in the context of the debates. The same tendency could be observed in the case of the central public administration.

TV8 covered the election in the newscasts, programs, and debates, providing direct access to the newscasts for the majority of the candidates for the position of head of state. Most of the election stakeholders were presented neutrally, and some of them had negative appearances in the debates or programs. The tone of presenting the political parties and the CPA representatives was mostly neutral.

TVC21 covered the election campaign in the News Digest newscasts, programs, and debates. Maia Sandu was disadvantaged as an election candidate in most of the cases in which she was mentioned. She was also disfavored by most mentions of the Government and the PAS in a negative context. In most cases, these mentions took place in the programs and debates.

TVR Moldova covered the election campaign in the newscasts and offered access to the debates to the candidates. During the reporting period, no obvious favoring or disfavoring candidates was registered. Sporadically, Maia Sandu, the PAS, and the Government were disadvantaged during the debates. In the news items, the executive authority was presented positively in most situations, which could advantage Maia Sandu as the governing party candidate due to image transfer.

The monitoring takes place within the framework of the Civic Coalition for Free and Fair Elections, of which the IJC is also a member. The next report covering the second round of the presidential elections will be released on November 5.

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.