28. 06. 2004

Media Council reports on election campaign

BELGRADE, June 28, 2004 – Most media showed a degree of bias towards Democratic Party leader Boris Tadic during the last week of the presidential election campaign in Serbia, members of the Media Council said yesterday. However, said weekly Vreme editor Dragoljub Zarkovic, the basic standards of journalism had not been violated and no damage was caused to Tadic’s opponent, Radical Party candidate Tomislav Nikolic. Zarkovic emphasised that Nikolic’s platform and campaign activities were accurately interpreted and regulations were not violated. At a press conference yesterday, Media Council members issued a statement in which they said that, in formal terms, both candidates were given equal representation in the media. However articles and features on the effect a victory by Tadic would have on the fate of the Serbian Government gave the impression that Tadic was more visible in the media. Also contributing to this were reports on statements by officials of international institutions which hinted at their preferences for Serbia’s political future. Radio B92 journalist Svetlana Lukic noted that, as opposed to electronic media which were more or less biased towards Tadic, a greater number of print media openly supported Tomislav Nikolic. Lukic claimed that some papers expressed this support by discrediting Tadic in ways not permitted under regulations. Such reporting was particularly evident in daily Nacional, she added. The Media Council noted that Nacional had published a headline which read “Tadic a fake tenant” and also, on its front page on June 24, published a photograph of Tadic beside the logo of the Croatian Democratic Union which called on its supporters to vote for Tadic. Lukic described this as a blatant attempt to suggest to readers that Tadic was “some kind of national traitor”. Beta news agency editor-in-chief Dragan Janjic, monitoring Nacional’s reports during the last week of the campaign, noted open support for Nikolic, and added that most of the daily’s articles were below professional quality in that they reported unsupported information. Another daily, Vecernje Novosti, was praised by the council for what Janjic described as a balanced attitude to both candidates. He described the daily as giving absolutely equal representation to the platforms of both candidates. Politika had taken a similar approach, added Janjic. Janjic commented on the approach of journalists which, he said, allowed election campaign publicists to manipulate the media. It is important, he said, that in the future elections journalists take their own stand rather than work as though they are witnessing the signing of a car sale contract. Zarkovic also commented that there is no journalistic genius or state television director who could trigger a debate by asking just two questions, as was attempted in the much-publicised television debate between the two candidates at the end of the campaign. Media Council members described the result as a bad, boring and pointless program. Svetlana Lukic, commenting on the debate, said that the four journalists present on camera during the candidates’ monologues were more or less unnecessary décor. This, she said, raised the question of whether journalists should take part at all in such a rigidly defined and limited scenario. Council members did not discuss the selection of the journalists taking part in the televised debated during yesterday’s press conference. However, daily Danas reports that even some Media Council members, including Lila Radonjic and Dragoljub Zarkovic, had been invited – and declined – to participate in this event, from which many people expected “rather more information”. Those journalists who were present were, obviously, those who had accepted an invitation. However there is also no doubt that some were chosen on the basis of some offer and that some accepted or rejected this, weekly NIN journalist Stevan Niksic told Danas, adding that he believes the selection of journalists for the television debate would be a very interesting topic for research.