Bureau for Social Research – BIRODI conducted monitoring of media service providers’ (PUM) reports in Serbia regarding the presidential elections in Montenegro, to be held on March 19, 2023.
The legal basis for conducting this monitoring is the Law on Electronic Media, Article 24, and the Law on the Ratification of the European Convention on Transfrontier Television. The monitoring included PUMs with national coverage: RTS, Pink, Happy, Prva and B92 in the period from the announcement of the elections on January 16, 2023 until the beginning of the election silence on March 17, 2023. The subject of PUM reporting monitoring were media reports and broadcasts in which the topic was the elections for the President of Montenegro and/or the presence of the candidate for the President of Montenegro. In this context, the following were analysed:
– Time representation of participants
– Tone of the media coverage on participants
– Topics of the analysed broadcasts
– Argumentation used by the participants in the analysed broadcasts
– Discourse of acting of participants in the analysed broadcasts
Findings
In the first round, observed PUMs reported on the presidential elections in Montenegro within the central informative shows (news), morning programmes, short news and political shows. Before the first round, TV Happy reported the most on the presidential elections in Montenegro. It also had the most actors from Montenegro included in the observed shows in the programme of this TV station. Public officials and party actors from Serbia were not participants in the observed broadcasts. Dominant actors in the observed broadcasts were analysts, mostly pro-government (according to the current Governments of Serbia and of Montenegro) and pro-right-oriented analysts. Some were directly engaged in candidates’ campaign in Montenegro, and that was not stated by presenters, which is a violation of the Articles 4 and 5 of the Rulebook on the protection of human rights in the field of media services. It should be emphasized that a certain number of analysts who commented on the electoral process in Montenegro do not have expertise in the field of electoral processes and are permanent analysts (Pink and Happy TV). This monitoring of media reporting also showed the issue of presenting of the analysts, i.e. who presents themselves as analysts and experts, because it often happens that people who present themselves as experts and analysts do not have an adequate level of education as prescribed by the National Occupational Classification Standards, i.e. they are not professionals/experts in the area they are commenting on which affects the integrity of PUM reporting.
In a large number of the analysed shows, public opinion surveys were cited as an argument on election chances of the presidential candidates. However, those who stated them, i.e. analysts and researchers, did not state data such as: who commissioned the research, who implemented the research, when and with what technique the data were collected, the scope and type of the sample, the method of weighting the sample. For a part of the mentioned data (who organized the research, who carried it out, on which sample, in which period and with which technique was the research material collected and with which sampling error), there is an obligation to present it according to the Rulebook on the Protection of Human Rights in the Field of Media Services, Article 16.
By viewing all the observed PUMs, the impression is that two candidates were presented more than the others.
The first is Milo Đukanović, in a negative way, by being associated with anti-Serb sentiment, a negative position towards the Serbian Orthodox Church, crime and corruption, a long and undemocratic government that was supported by the West. The second is Andrija Mandić, presented in a positive way as a “Serb candidate”. At the same time, in the analysed shows, Andrija Mandić is presented as a candidate who insists on reconciliation in Montenegro.
Other candidates were marginalized, including Jakov Milatović who, according to some studies, has a greater potential to win against Milo Đukanović in the second round, who, according to the same studies, is its certain participant. Milatović was accused of being uncooperative regarding the common candidate and unwilling to publicly state that he would support Mandić in the second round.
The general observed reporting of observed PUMs can be divided into:
– informative and analytical
– promotional and labelling
The first group of PUMs can be classified as those which in the first round of the presidential elections in Montenegro presented all presidential candidates in a relatively equal manner when it comes to time, i.e. equally positive, neutral and negative. In shows of these TV stations, presidential candidates are presented through their political biographies, their behaviour in the candidacy process in terms of their willingness to submit to the election result (this applies above all to the candidates who were against Milo Đukanović), election chances in the first and second round. In their reports, the journalists of these television stations pointed out the election conditions and on that occasion highlighted the incident in Cetinje when the candidate Jakov Milatović was attacked, i.e. the situation with the Constitutional Court. In the shows of RTS and Prva TV, the role of analysts was played by university professors who have expertise in the field of elections, i.e. analysts who deal with public opinion research.
It should be emphasized that TV B92 broadcasted the election duel between Milo Đukanović and Andrija Mandić. We emphasize this because in the previous election cycle during the presidential elections in Serbia, there were no duels between candidates for the presidency of the Republic of Serbia in which Aleksandar Vučić participated.
The closest to this type of reporting were Radio Television of Serbia, TV Prva and TV B92.
The second group of PUMs includes those which in their programme on one hand positively presented Andrija Mandić as a Serb candidate, and Milo Đukanović as an anti-Serb, an opponent of the Serbian Orthodox Church, the head of a corrupt-criminal regime headed by him and his family, as well as having the support of the West. In the broadcasts of these PUMs, the most represented actors were pro-government and pro-right analysts who in many cases did not have expertise in the field of elections. Some of them were actively involved in the campaigns of the presidential candidates in Montenegro without the journalists announcing it. With these statements, these analysts violated the provisions of the Rulebook on the Protection of Human Rights in the Field of Media Services (Articles 4 to 8 and 27 and 29). Journalists in these shows were in the function of promoting Andrija Mandić and negative portrayal of Milo Đukanović. Televisions, primarily Happy and Pink, had this type of reporting.
Recommendations
Based on the findings of the this report, i.e. the Law on Electronic Media, Articles 22 and 24, and the Law on the Ratification of the European Convention on Transfrontier Television, as well as the Rulebook on the Protection of Human Rights in the Field of the Provision of Media Services, we ask the Regulatory Authority of Electronic Media to establish monitoring of PUMs’ reporting in its competence on the territory of the Republic of Serbia in the period of the second round of presidential elections in Montenegro.
The same recommendation applies to the Agency for Electronic Media of Montenegro, as well as to use the rights that belong to it according to the European Convention on Transfrontier Television in order to contribute to the integrity of the electoral process in Montenegro.
- Complete report download HERE (PDF)
