Russian version

First report on media coverage of the 2 December State Duma elections

1 – 26 October 2007

Moscow, 8 November - CJES, the informational and analytical center of the Russian Union of Journalists, has been systematically monitoring the media coverage of the 2 December State Duma elections. CJES seeks to evaluate the mass media’s performance in providing objective and balanced coverage of the contestants and their platforms so the citizens of Russia can make well-informed choices at the ballot box. The project’s findings are determined through a well-defined and rigorous methodology which was already implemented by CJES during its previous media monitoring project in 2006. The project’s results are not intended to support any one candidate or political party, but the integrity of the media environment as a whole during the campaign season.

Media monitoring has been carried out since October 1 using qualitative and quantitative methods of analysis. Quantitative analysis measures the total amount of time devoted to political and elections-related coverage on three state-funded TV channels and two main private TV networks. The qualitative analysis evaluates whether the information about candidates is positive, negative, or neutral in its content.

Over the course of two months and with the help of approximately 10 monitors and analysts, CJES will hold press conferences and release the results of the monitoring to the general public, the media, political parties, governmental bodies, international organizations, embassies, non-governmental organizations, and others.

Mass media’s crucial role of offering citizens information they need to make well-informed choices in their lives is most clearly demonstrated during elections. People often decide their vote on what they learn from the mass media. What the media reports, then, is an important part of the electoral landscape. Balance and fairness of media coverage of political parties, candidates, and issues is an important part of the level playing field required for genuinely free elections. While all media should offer responsible and fair coverage, it is especially incumbent upon state media, which is financed by all of a country’s citizens, to provide unbiased coverage.

Following is the first of periodic reports that CJES will issue through the December election.

HIGHLIGHTS

• President Putin, the government and the ruling party United Russia dominated the coverage on the nationwide TV channels.
• Of the five monitored TV channels, four gave the ruling powers more than 82 percent of their prime time news coverage.
• The coverage of President Putin on all the monitored media was exclusively positive or neutral in tone.
• The monitored media neglected to offer opposition any significant airtime and opportunities to challenge the political opinions of the ruling powers.
• Contrary to their public mandate, the state-funded media have so far failed to offer a balanced and objective coverage of the relevant political subjects and parties necessary to enable voters to make an informed choice at the ballot box.

State-funded broadcasters

Contrary to their public mandate, state-funded broadcasters demonstrated a clear bias towards the ruling powers and devoted the bulk of their coverage to President Putin (who also heads the United Russia ticket), the government and the ruling party United Russia, largely ignoring opposing views and opinions.

In the four weeks of the monitoring, the state-funded First Channel provided 93 percent of its political and election news coverage to the activities of Mr. Putin (41 percent), the government (35 percent) and United Russia (17 percent). This coverage was overwhelmingly neutral or positive in tone. By contrast, the opponents of the current establishment (Union of Right Forces [SPS], and Yabloko) received a combined total of only 0.5 per cent of mostly neutral coverage.

The other two state-funded TV channels, Rossia Channel and TV Centre, adopted a similar approach. Rossia Channel (Kanal Rossia) is another state-controlled broadcaster which broadcasts all over Russia and reaches 99 percent of the population. Unlike First Channel, which is not fully owned by the state (51 percent of the shares), Rossia Channel is 100 percent state-owned. The channel devoted altogether 85 percent of its political prime time news coverage to activities of President Putin (36 percent), the government (32 percent) and the ruling United Russia (17 percent). 93 percent of the coverage for President Putin was assessed by the monitoring team to be positive and 7 percent to be neutral in tone. Similarly, the government and United Russia were presented exclusively in a positive or neutral tone. By comparison, the Union of Right Forces and Yabloko accounted for some 3 percent of mainly neutral or positive coverage. The Fair Russia Party received some 3 percent of the coverage which was also mainly neutral or positive in tone.

TV Centre is a television with the Moscow City Administration holding the controlling stake and its potential audience comprising approximately 57 percent of Russia` population. In the four weeks of monitoring, TV Centre devoted 37 percent of its political and election prime time news coverage to activities of President Putin, which were reported in an overwhelmingly positive or neutral tone. The government received more than 17 percent of the coverage, which was also primarily positive or neutral. Regarding political parties, most coverage was devoted to the United Russia at 27 percent and the LDPR at 6 percent. While the coverage of United Russia and LDPR was mainly positive and neutral in tone, Union of Right Forces, which accounted for some 1 percent of the coverage, was presented exclusively in a negative or neutral light.

Nationwide private broadcasters

In the four weeks of monitoring, the Center for Journalism in Extreme Situations found discernable differences between the monitored private broadcasters` portrayal of the political subjects, the president and the government. While NTV (the State company Gazprom is a majority stakeholder) generally adopted a similar approach to that of the State-funded broadcasters, Ren TV gave less airtime to the ruling powers and at times provided some critical coverage of the government and also some political parties.

Of the five monitored channels, NTV, which covers approximately 85 percent of the country, allocated the biggest portion of the prime time news coverage to the current establishment – 94 percent. From 1 October till 5 November, NTV devoted 47 percent of the coverage to President Putin, 28 percent to the government, 1 percent to the presidential administration and 18 percent to the United Russia. This coverage was overwhelmingly positive and neutral in tone. The next most covered political parties were LDPR and Fair Russia - each receiving respectively 2 percent of the coverage. The channel largely ignored opponents of the ruling powers.

In comparison with the other four monitored TV channels, the second monitored private TV channel, Ren TV (70 percent owned by the pro-government Severstal and Surgutneftegaz companies and 30 per cent by the RTL Group), provided its viewers with a slightly more balanced coverage of the political subjects. While the channel devoted the bulk of its prime time news coverage to activities of President Putin (13 percent), the government (26 percent) and United Russia (26 percent), it was less then the other four nationwide TV channels. The qualitative analysis also shows that this broadcaster was more balanced in its coverage of the government and United Russia. For example, the monitoring assessed that while 3 percent of the prime time news coverage of the government was assessed as positive in tone, as much as 2 was assessed as negative. The political opponents of the ruling powers, Yabloko and Union of Right Forces, received a combined total of some 5 per cent of the coverage which was mainly neutral in tone.

Conclusion

This is the first of reports that Center for Journalism in Extreme Situations will be issuing periodically throughout the elections. Data from the first month of monitoring by CJES reveals that there are wide differences in the amount of time and the way political subjects are portrayed.

The data also shows that majority of the monitored media frequently neglects to offer Russian citizens opposing views on particular stories. It is also apparent that several disturbing trends in the way the Russian mainstream media covers political parties, the incumbent President and the government (unveiled by the CJES during the 2006 monitoring project period) were not the result of short-term anomalies, but genuine trends in the Russian media that continue in the run-up to the State Duma elections. These trends include the fact that the monitored media neglected to offer opposition any significant airtime and opportunities to challenge the political opinions of the current establishment.

As recipients of public resources, state-funded media have an enhanced duty to ensure balanced and fair treatment of contestants. Contrary to their public mandate, however, the state-funded media have so far failed to grant opposition parties any meaningful opportunity to express their political views. The results indicate that media does not serve as a forum for the exchange of opinions, public debate, confrontation, investigation and commentary that would offer the public objective, analyzed and assessed views of persons seeking elected office.

* * *

Since 1 October, the Center for Journalism in Extreme Situations monitored five TV stations. The media unit analyzed the prime time news programs assessing and producing findings on the time allocated to all candidates and parties running in the State Duma elections, as well as the time/space allocation given to all the relevant political entities. The tone of the coverage was also evaluated.

Quantitative analysis measures the total amount of time devoted to election contestants on news programs. Qualitative analysis evaluates the tone in which the relevant political subjects have been portrayed - positive, neutral or negative. The monitoring focused on the coverage of relevant political subjects in the prime time news programs. The enclosed charts show the results of the monitoring from 1 till 26 October.[1]

Monitored Media Outlets

Television: State-controlled First Channel, Russia TV and TV Center; Private NTV and Ren TV;

Diagramms

National Channels

First Channel
Russia TV
TV Center
NTV
Ren TV

Explanation of the charts

• The pie charts show the total percentage of airtime or space allocated to relevant political subjects for each media outlet in the defined period.
• The bar charts show the total number of hours and minutes of positive (green), neutral (white) and negative (orange) airtime devoted to relevant political subjects by each media outlet in the defined period.

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[1] Due to technical problems, CJES was unable to include into its monitoring prime time news on TV Centre (22 and 23 October) and NTV (20 October).