26. 02. 2014

ONLY SNS, SPS AND TADIC SATISFIED WITH MEDIA COVERAGE

Belgrade, 26.02.2014 (Danas, by Bojan Cvejic) - The Republic Broadcasting Agency (RBA) announced data on the representation of political parties during the election campaign in the programs of television stations with national coverage. According to the data, the Serbian Progressive Party (SNS) in covered the most, but not much more than others. However, independent analyses show significantly different results.

According to the media monitoring and analysis agency Kliping, SNS is more than twice as much represented in the media than the second-placed election list gathered around Boris Tadic. One agency has recorded the appearances of state officials, the other agency has not. In any case, the ruling party and Tadic's coalition say for "Danas" that they are satisfied with their media coverage, which is not the case with most of opposition parties.

WHERE IS THE DIFFERENCE

The RBA explained that they analyzed only the electoral slots within news programs. Deputy Chairman of the RBA Council Goran Karadzic explained to "Danas" that RBA also monitored the content outside of electoral slots and "marked the appearance of government officials," but did not include this data for publishing.

"We are not going to address this, the Serbian Parliament will debate this issue. RBA is not authorized to say whether something is an event or a quasi-event. The data that we published is to be used so broadcasters can see if they are providing balanced coverage and so that they may correct the coverage by the end of the campaign," said Karadzic, adding that so far there have been no violations "because the campaign is still ongoing."

The Kliping Agency, unlike RBA, does not view media coverage of election campaign activities exclusively within election slots, but records the appearance of representatives of both the ruling and the opposition parties in the main news programs.

"The Kliping reports include all news items that are not about protocol activities of government officials and reactions to current events in the country and the region. In the Kliping analysis the representatives of the ruling political parties have much more air time than the opposition because the total air time includes news items about, for example, visits by government officials to factories and companies operating in Serbia or announcements of government officials about government measures to be taken after upcoming elections," Ilija Vucevic from Kliping said for "Danas".

"IT COULD BE WORSE"

SNS official Zoran Babic said for "Danas" that campaign conditions apply equally to all, and that the caretaker government is functioning and has to perform its duties. "Life in Serbia cannot stop because of the campaign. Let me remind you that in the 2012 campaign SNS media coverage was measured in promilles", said Babic.

SPS Vice President Diana Vukomanovic pointed out the noticeably uneven media coverage of political parties, but said that the Socialist Party of Serbia (SPS) does not complain about their coverage. "We are happy and we have enough space to present our program," said Vukomanovic.

The New Democratic Party (NDS) of Boris Tadic claims that they are "not unsatisfied". "Given that we are a new political option, the third place is quite satisfactory," said Slobodan Homen, a NDS official.

"NOT GOOD AT ALL"

On the other hand, a spokeswoman for the Democratic Party (DS) Aleksandra Jerkov says that the method of measuring the media coverage of parties only in electoral slots is not relevant, and that the Democratic Party has the most negative media coverage.

The Democratic Party of Serbia (DSS) Vice President Donka Banovic said that this party is very unhappy with the media treatment and that she assumes the party has such treatment because "DSS is the only serious parliamentary party that is Euro-realistic" and that the media do not like to invite participants who oppose the Serbian entry into the EU.

The United Regions of Serbia (URS) spokesman Marko Selakovic notes that what is within television election slots is respected, but he contests equal participation in TV shows. "We do not control the media, nor do we want to," said Selakovic.

Member of the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) Presidency Mladen Basic does not want to say whether this party is satisfied or not with media coverage, but notes that the RBA data show how intertwined the relationships of former and current governments with the media are.