THE STRATEGY OF FAVOURING AND IGNORING

The Media and the Elections

AIM, BELGRADE, September 25, 1997

Just before the election silence the SPO presidential candidate, Vuk Draskovic said that the greatest problems in his campaign were not caused by the state media, but by the "so called independent media", which according to Draskovic, did not follow his campaign but rather "made it harder by publicizing all sorts of lies". "In comparison to these, the state media are more fair", concluded Draskovic forgetting how he showered the TV Bastille with eggs during protests last winter. He is probably the only one who knows what brought about this sudden change of heart. Admitting that the state media still unequally treated political parties and favoured the left coalition, Vuk Draskovic expressed his conviction that this fact was "beneficial for the opposition also, as the people are irritated by the abuse of power".

Something more than sporadic impressions as to what, how and for whom the media "worked" in the pre-election campaign showed a three-week survey of the European Media Institute on the way in which the most important media in Serbia followed the election campaign. Jasa Lang, chief coordinator of the research, assessed that, although brimming with electoral programmes, the state television "did not provide unbiased and balanced information as prescribed by the regulations".

The survey showed that each of the media (seven dailies, three TV stations and the state radio) presented the elections differently, from the way they treated the elections to the way of showing the participants.

"The elections were accorded the most favoured media treatment - both absolutely and relatively - by the state media and those close to the authorities. The RTS, Radio Belgrade and the daily "Politika" defined the elections as a first-class social event. The importance attached to the elections was shown by the increase of time and space allocated to the electoral subjects and participants, as well as by the change in the usual form of prime-time information programmes", says Jovanka Matic, project leader.

Thus, according to the findings of this research, in the last week of the election campaign the number of elections-related slots doubled on the RTS prime time news in comparison to their number at the beginning of the campaign (from 12 to 26), while their duration tripled. As far as the "Politika" is concerned, each issue carried 36 texts about the elections, and in the last week as much as 44 texts a day, which was three times more than what other dailies carried, like the "Vecernje Novosti", the "Blic" and the "Danas", with an average of 13-14 texts in three weeks.

The importance of the elections was also emphasized in information programmes of the Television Studio B and dailies the "Nasa Borba" and the "Demokratija", more favourably inclined to the opposition, although their election reports were smaller in volume than those of the media close to the authorities. In the analysed period the "Demokratija and the "Nasa Borba" dedicated 24 and 27 texts to the election candidates a day, respectively, keeping that average almost balanced throughout the three-week period. On Studio B reports on the campaign grew in intensity with each week: at the beginning of the campaign there were 13 slots, increasing to 22 in the finish.

Analysed information programmes of the BK Television in the first and second week of September dedicated to election themes seven minutes each day which grew to 12 minutes only in the last stages. In contrast to the BK Television, Studio B allotted to the elections twice and the RTS thrice as much attention. The election block, both as regards the number of information as well as the allocated time, was the shortest on Radio B92. In information programmes of this station the election events were totally overshadowed by events in the Republic of Srpska and Montenegro.

An important difference between the media was also manifest in the definition of the basic electoral theme and context in which the elections were being organized. In this respect, absolutely the same pattern was used by all the media close to the authorities - the RTS, Radio Belgrade and the "Politika", while the independent media demonstrated greater diversity in their treatment of the elections.

"For the state media the elections are a normal event to be expected in the parliamentary life of a democratic state. The majority of reports concern news on the electoral procedure, organization of campaign, behaviour of the media - all in tones befitting a regular, orderly and legitimate event. The campaign is shown as tolerant and positive, with the emphasis on the democratic nature of election conditions which are, as it is frequently pointed out, "better than ever before". In the three analysed weeks, the RTS, for example, did not broadcast a single piece about the parties which define the elections as unfair and non-democratic and call the voters to boycott", says Jovanka Matic.

Studio B, the dailies the "Nasa Borba" and the "Demokratija" have defined the election events in quite a different way. The emphasis in the election reports was on the irregularity of the elections, incidents accompanying the campaign, impossibility of implementing the control and on the texts which remind of the last year's experiences with the electoral manipulations. Boycott was a dominating electoral event, while the campaign was interpreted negatively, criticised and as a denial of the authorities.

The second group of the independent media represented those which showed the elections as a two-actors game with a dominating polarization between the authorities and the opposition. The boycott was not central for them, but in contrast to the state media, they did not see the elections as an event with a certain winner. This goes for Radio B92, BK and the dailies the "Danas", the "Blic", the "Telegraf" and the "Vecernje novosti", with the last ones being rather close to the state media pattern of reporting.

The way the media pictured the social context in which the elections were being held also differed and could be divided into two groups. For the RTS, Radio Belgrade and the "Politika" it was "Serbia on the Move" - a stable economic situation and economy on the rise initiated by the successful and reform-oriented republican government. Positive achievements of the current authorities were visible in all aspects of social life. As far as the Studio B, the "Nasa Borba", the "Demokratija" and B92 are concerned the elections are commented on with pictures of "Serbia in Ruins" which is also reflected in all aspects of social life.

In the period under research, the successes of the authorities accounted for 27.1 percent of the programmes of Radio Belgrade relating to the elections, 23.5 percent of the RTS programmes and 16.3 percent of the "Politika's" texts. The results of the activities of the current authorities have never been negatively shown by these media, nor criticized.

On the other hand, Studio B, the "Nasa Borba" and the "Demokratija" were not open to information on the successes of the central authorities. In the period covered by the survey, Studio B broadcast three programmes showing the current authorities positively and 61 treating them negatively, while the "Nasa Borba" carried 40 negative and two positive and the "Demokratija" 42 negative and five positive texts.

"Between the ruling coalition SPS-JUL-ND and the ruling authorities there was a programme and personnel union on the RTS, Radio Belgrade and in the "Politika" and the campaign was conducted accordingly", underlines Jovanka Matic pointing out that these media did not make an effort to separate the state from party marketing. According to her, the ruling coalition conducted its campaign of merits and promises which are already being fulfilled. Its electoral platform of revival was already present in the government's programme of reforms. The government' successes represented a recognition of the SPS policy and its president Slobodan Milosevic. The connections between the state and the party were complete - the protagonists of the promotional SPS-JUL-ND camp appeared alternately as state officials or managers or party candidates. These media spoke of them in praising tones only. The positive images of ones were followed by the positive pictures of others. The domination of the "left coalition" and the government of the national unity is absolute.

Other participants in the elections were unequally treated by the state media in two ways. First as regards the time and space dedicated to them, and second by the way in which they were introduced. While the main electoral option was never shown in negative terms, the opposition, which was anyhow less present, was often shown as a "destructive" factor in general. The negative treatment of the opposition parties was, among other things, evident in the broadcasting of their negative opinions about other participants in the elections.

As far as the presidential candidates were concerned, the research has shown that not a single media has treated them equally. Each one, by the form of its reporting, combining the strategy of favouring and ignoring, and less of disputing - suggested a desirable electoral winner to its audience.

Vesna Bjekic (AIM)