Syndicate: flawed media coverage Serbian elections

[Snoepje <EIM_Forum@CompuServe.COM> (by way of Andreas Broeckmann)]

Press release
The European Institute for the Media,
East-West Cooperation Programme
Kaistrasse 13, D-40221 Duesseldorf
100443.1706@compuserve.com


Sunday 21 September 1997.

Media coverage of the elections in Serbia


With the support of the European Commission, the European Institute for the
Media, which has monitored Serbian media coverage of the election campaign
with the support of the European Commission, today (Sunday) described the
coverage on Serbian state television RTS as "fundamentally flawed".

The Institute has carried out quantitative analysis of newspaper and
television coverage, in accordance with a methodology developed over 20
elections elsewhere -- including Bosnia, Croatia, Georgia, Romania, Russia
and Ukraine.

Yasha Lange, coordinator of the mission, emphasised that Serbian state
television (RTS) is the main source of information for many Serbs. "It is
thus doubly dismaying to find that RTS makes no attempt to provide fair
coverage in its news and current affairs programmes. RTS has clearly failed
to provide the impartial and balanced coverage that is supposed to be
guaranteed under the regulations."

Although some municipal and local privately owned TV channels did provide
alternative coverage of the election campaign, this could not sufficiently
redress the RTS wall-to-wall reporting about the ruling coalition and the
government achievements, the monitoring team concluded.

The coverage on state-controlled radio, the only station with nation-wide
penetration, was "even more blatantly pro-government", Yasha Lange said.
Independent stations like Index or B-92 (which operates a network of 28
local stations), did allow access to both government and opposition.

The EIM team concluded that a high variety of print media allowed both pro-
government and opposition voices to be heard, though it noted a
polarisation between the two sides. The report concluded: "While
pro-government media propagate the official line, some other newspapers
seem hesitant to criticise the opposition".

For further information, the preliminary report (including selected data)
and requests for the final report on the monitoring mission (to be
published within six weeks after the second round of polling), please
contact Yasha Lange at the Media Centre on +381 11 632 872, 634537.


ends