This case study from Georgia
highlights the way observers can give recommendations during election periods
by using the results of media monitoring.
Media
Part of the Debate in Georgian Election
With
just over a week to go before Georgia's parliamentary vote, attention is
increasingly focusing on how the country's television reporters are affecting
voter sympathies.
"Journalists
cover press conferences and air politicians' statements, but that's all,"
said Maia Mikashavidze, dean of the Caucasus School of Journalism and Media
Management in Tbilisi. "There are no follow-up questions why it happened,
why he or she said this. ... in the end, the voters suffer because of it."
In
its April 2008 interim report on Georgia's election environment, the
Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe's observer mission took
issue with coverage of the election campaign. Observer mission media analyst
Rasto Kuzel said that monitoring of national broadcasters Rustavi-2 and Mze
(part of the same company as Rustavi-2) and local broadcasters Adjara and
Kavkasia "all show [a] lack of balance."
The
stations provide "overwhelmingly positive and neutral coverage" for
the governing United National Movement, while opposition coverage swings more
neutral than positive, he continued.
A
string of boycotts during April could have contributed to that imbalance. The
nine-party United Opposition Movement ran a nearly month-long boycott of
Rustavi-2 and Mze for allegedly biased coverage that was suspended on April 19.
In turn, Rustavi-2 announced that it was suspending coverage of the opposition
bloc for insults delivered by Movement leader Levan Gachechiladze and
supporters. The two sides finally resumed communications on April 28.
The
frequent intersection between official and campaign events could also play a
role. On May 7, Rustavi-2, Mze, Adjara TV and Georgian Public Broadcasting all
aired a 20-minute segment from a meeting between President Mikheil Saakashvili,
cabinet members and regional officials about plans to revive Kutaisi, Georgia's
second largest city. Promises of such social welfare projects have featured
prominently in the National Movement's campaign.
"The
media should not only be engaged in [the] positive description of projects
which are submitted by the government, but the media should also play a role to
question and also [to] offer a critical point of view whether the public money
is [used] properly or whether there are some problems," said Kuzel.
As
was mentioned in the OSCE's presidential election reports, Kuzel noted,
"there is still visibility of political influence on the main TV networks.
This, of course, could prevent the media outlet from offering more balanced
coverage."
Based
on its program lineup, however, Georgian television's interest in mixing up its
election coverage would appear to be running strong.
In
addition to its popular political talk show PrimeTime, Rustavi-2 has unveiled
two new talk shows (Answer the People and Triangle) that focus on political
debates and viewer Q&As.
Mze,
owned by Rustavi-2, has restricted its election programming to brief news
reports about the campaign. Although Imedi TV, once the most popular Georgian
TV outlet, has returned to the air, it will not be broadcasting news programs
until after the May 21 parliamentary vote.
Meanwhile,
Georgian Public Broadcasting, a key target for opposition criticism during the
January presidential elections, receives cautious kudos from the OSCE for
improving the balance of its campaign coverage.
The
station, now headed by a new president and board of trustees, airs election
debates twice per week, a political platform presentation show once per week,
and offers free airtime for party presentations three times per week. It has
also signed a memorandum with political parties to provide "balanced,
impartial and objective" coverage of their activities.
The
coverage has already won the approval of one debutante opposition politician.
"Public television's coverage is the most objective compared with the
others," said Magda Anikashvili, a former Imedi TV anchor now running for
parliament with the newly formed Christian-Democratic Movement.
Nonetheless,
as with Rustavi-2 and Mze, the OSCE observer mission found that public
television "devoted significant and favorable coverage to activities of
the authorities, outside the campaign context, thus benefiting candidates with
a pro-government orientation."
A
recent call by President Saakashvili for government ministers and regional
governors to refrain from taking part in the campaign has changed little, she
added.
The
predominance of United National Movement advertisements sparks much of that
frustration. The party dominates paid advertising on television spots can
cost anywhere from $16,000 for 30 seconds (Rustavi-2; evening PrimeTime talk
show) to $1,500 per 30 seconds (Mze; evening newscast). The United Opposition
Movement and the Christian-Democratic Movement are so far the only opposition
parties to have taken out fee-based TV ads.
Free
time slots ranging from 30
seconds per hour on private stations to 60 seconds per hour on Georgian Public
Broadcasting are available for
parties that received more than 4 percent of the vote in Georgia's 2004
parliamentary elections and 3 percent of the vote in its 2006 local elections.
Billboards
are also cause for some rancor.
In
an apparent bid to reduce the omnipresence of ruling party ads in Tbilisi
streets, Saakashvili recently called for the National Movement to hand over
billboard space to opposition parties "to let them introduce to society
what they want to do for the country." To date, no party has taken him up
on the offer.
One
opposition election campaign budget manager, however, says that money is not
the main issue. While ad placement companies may not openly refuse to sell ad
space to a party, reasons are usually found to block the deal, alleged the
Republican Party's election campaign fund manager, Gigla Agulashvili.
"They
say that conditions have changed, they delay signing the contract or use other
arguments and ways to avoid the deal with us as soon as they get to know who we
are," said Agulashvili. "It is hard to say whether it is businesses
being careful, trying to avoid possible
Editor's note:
Nina Akhmeteli is a freelance reporter based in Tbilisi. 12 May 2008, http://www.eurasianet.org/departments/insight/articles/eav051308b.shtml
