In its coverage of the forthcoming Serbian elections, BETA also presented a pre-election media survey.
The state-run and the government-affiliated media in Serbia and the independent media show diametrically opposed approaches in covering presidential and parliamentary elections in Serbia, scheduled for September 21. The former media group applies one and the same pattern by which it favors the ruling parties and highlights the regularity of the pending elections, while the independent media demonstrate a variety of approaches ranging from even-handedly representing the election participants, to either giving priority to the ruling, or to the anti-election bloc. This was shown by a survey of the pre-election activities carried in the period from August 29 to September 4. It is the first part of the poll executed on behalf of the European Commission by the European Institute for the Media (EIM) and BETA agency. The survey applies the institute's methodology, which has already been tested in 25 similar polls taken in 16 countries.The poll, led by Jovanka Matic and Snjezana Milivojevic, will last until October 5. The first surveyed week has shown that the independent media differ from their state-run counterparts also in their view on the election situation in Serbia, describing it a whole specter ranging from negative to catastrophic.
According to the first findings, the participants in the elections are treated in the most balanced way by the Belgrade-based Danas daily, while Vecernje Novosti are the only daily paper which devotes equal attention to the Socialists of Slobodan Milosevic and the Radicals of Vojislav Seselj. In Danas, 15.1 percent of the articles concerned the activities of the ruling Socialist Party of Serbia and 13 percent of the opposition advocating the election boycott, while 12.5 percent of the articles in the week surveyed were devoted to the Serbian Renewal Movement of Vuk Draskovic. The central government bodies played a main role in 5.2 percent of the election section reports in this paper, while 5.6 percent were devoted to the local authorities' activities.
For the state-run and the government-affiliated media the elections were the most important event in the society, while for them the election boycott and the parties which opted for abstention simply do not exist. The independent media are divided over this subject. For one group of them the elections are the dominant event, while the other group does not find the polls of such a high importance.
For the Serbian Broadcasting Corporation (SBC), Radio Belgrade, and the Politika daily, the elections are the social event of the foremost importance which, according to an image offered by them, will be held in a stable economic situation, and in the economy which is recovering owing to successful efforts of the reform - oriented Serbian government. The pattern employed by this media group, represents the ruling coalition and the government as acting in harmony, and portrays both of them exclusively in positive terms.
The state-run television, Radio Belgrade, and Politika insist that the elections are regular. For them, the election boycott or the objections to unfair election conditions do not exist as topics, while the parties advocating the boycott are either completely ignored, or are criticized. In the state run television's prime time news - Dnevnik 2 (at 7:30 p.m.) - the ruling coalition and the government accounted for 73.2 percent of airtime, while all other relevant election participants, including the Republican Electoral Commission and the elections' Supervisory Board, were allotted 26.8 percent of the total information airtime.
Of the time total set aside for the parties and presidential candidates, in the week surveyed the Serbian Broadcasting Corporation devoted 65.8 percent to the activities of the leftist coalition (the Socialist Party of Serbia, the Yugoslav Left, and the New Democracy) and its presidential nominee, Zoran Lilic, followed by 18.3 percent of airtime dedicated to the Serbian Radical Party and its leader and nominee Vojislav Seselj. The Serbian Renewal Movement and its Vuk Draskovic were allotted 8.8 percent of the state-run television's attention, whereas all the other parties and candidates accounted for 7.7 percent of the prime time news show contents. In Radio Belgrade's prime time "News of the Day" (at 3 p.m.) almost five times less airtime was given to the Serbian Renewal Movement and Vuk Draskovic (9.8 percent) and to the Serbian Radical Party and Vojislav Seselj (7.9 percent) than to the ruling party in Serbia and its partners (46.3 percent). Of all the time devoted to the election activities on the state-run radio, 73.1 percent was taken by the activities of the leftist coalition and Serbia's political officials. In this show Draskovic and Seselj were not once broadcast live, as opposed to Zoran Lilic, who had a chance to speak directly for 5.07 minutes on the occasion of his two public appearances. In the period August 29-September 4, the daily Politika devoted 60.1 percent of its election section to statements and activities of the state and the ruling coalition officials, while all the other election participants had to settle for 39.9 percent of the election coverage total. Reports on the Serbian Renewal Movement and the Serbian Radical Party are five, that is, six times shorter (9.5 percent, and 6.7 percent respectively) from the reports dealing with the ruling coalition. In the week surveyed, Politika devoted only 0.8 percent of its election section to the parties boycotting the elections.
In this week, the government and the ruling coalition were not once portrayed in a negative light by the SBC, Radio Belgrade, or Politika, nor were they once criticized. A negative role was exclusively reserved for other political actors - for the opposition as a whole, or for individual opposition political parties.
The airtime devoted to the opposition parties' activities by the SBC was almost as long as the time in which they were represented in negative terms - 26.25, compared to 21.18 minutes.
The survey has shown that there are differences in the approach to the election issues by the independent media. Some of them stress the election boycott, but represent the elections as an event viewed in a different way by different participants, and which includes three groups of actors - the ruling coalition, the opposition parties running in the polls, and the parties favoring the election boycott.
The other group of the independent media represent the elections as an event including only two participants, and presents the political situation through a government-opposition confrontation. These media do not deal with the parties boycotting the elections and ascribe no importance to the boycott, but, as opposed to the state-run media, do not deal with the elections in a manner indicating that the winner is known in advance.
As opposed to the state media, the independent media describe the situation in the country as unfavorable on the whole, while the results of the socialist rule, in their reports and broadcasts, range from the negative to catastrophic.
The election boycott is the central theme of Studio B television station, Radio B-92, and the dailies Nasa Borba and Demokratija. In the week surveyed, Studio B devoted 19.7 percent of its prime time news to the anti-election campaign, 19.1 percent to the leftist activities and their nominee Zoran Lilic, and 16.6 percent to the Serbian Renewal Movement. The participants in the elections were represented both in negative and positive terms, but more frequently in positive: the leftist bloc was portrayed in a positive light in 13.1 percent of cases and the Serbian Renewal Movement in 10.8 percent, while they were criticized in 3.8 percent and 2.5 percent of cases respectively. Only the election boycott was not questioned or criticized by this Belgrade-based television station. Nasa Borba devoted to the boycott supporters 18.7 percent of its election activities' weekly coverage. The leftist candidates had 12.1 percent of the paper's attention, and the Serbian Renewal Movement two times less - 7. 7 percent.
The election boycott was the central theme of the Demokratija daily. To the opposition parties advocating non-participation in the pending elections Demokratija gave two times more space than to the leftist coalition - 15 percent compared to 7.4 percent - or to the Serbian Renewal Movement - 15 percent compared to 6.7 percent.
In its election broadcasts, Radio B-92 devoted 17.4 percent of airime to the parties boycotting the elections and to their questioning the regularity of the polls. The Serbian Renewal Party and the Serbian Radical Party were given almost equal airtime on this Belgrade independent radio station - 10.5 percent and 9.4 percent respectively.
In this media group (Studio B, Nasa Borba, Demokratija, and B-92) the opposing political options are presented through the treatment given to the republican and local authorities.
On Studio B the Serbian republican authorities were portrayed in a negative light in 19.7 percent of cases, and in a positive light in 0.7 percent of the airtime devoted to the elections.
In the Radio B-92 broadcasts the central government was represented in negative terms in 26.4 percent of the election section, and in positive terms in 2.1 percent of the election broadcasts.
In the above-mentioned media in the week surveyed the Belgrade city authorities had an entirely opposite treatment. During this week, the main subject was the blocking of the busses given as a gift by Berlin to Belgrade, which took place at the Hungarian - Yugoslav border. This case was not mentioned at all by the pro-government media.
The other group of the independent media - BK Television and the dailies Blic and Dnevni Telegraf - has a similar approach to the pending elections in Serbia. The anti-election campaign was not ignored, but the emphasis was on the election race which was presented as a three-rivals competition - of Lilic, Draskovic, and Seselj and their respective parties. In their reporting, all the media from this group gave priority to the ruling coalition.
On BK Television the leftist coalition is represented with 20.6 percent of the election airtime, compared to the Serbian Renewal Movement and the Serbian Radical Party which had 9.7 and 4.5 percent of airtime respectively. In BK TV broadcasts, the Socialist-Yugoslav Left-New Democracy coalition was most frequently presented in neutral, seldom in positive, and never in negative terms. The Serbian Renewal Movement and the parties boycotting the elections were more frequently represented in a neutral light, and never in positive terms.
The daily Blic devoted to the parties boycotting the elections and to the Serbian Renewal Movement 10.4 percent of all the election-related reports, and 21.7 percent to the members of the ruling coalition.
In Dnevni Telegraf the boycott was represented as deserving more attention than the Radicals' political option, while the Socialist Party of Serbia, in the week surveyed, was awarded two times more coverage than the Serbian Renewal Movement - 16.1 percent compared to 7.5 percent.
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