The pre-election lens of the public broadcaster - Monitoring of the news programme of TVCG during the campaign for parliamentary elections (2016) and local elections in Andrijevica, Budva, Gusinje and Kotor (2016)
The pre-election lens of the public broadcaster - Monitoring of the news programme of TVCG during the campaign for parliamentary elections (2016) and local elections in Andrijevica, Budva, Gusinje and Kotor (2016)

Author(s): Damir Nikočević, Svetlana Pešić
Contributor(s): Daliborka Uljarević (Editor)
Subject(s): Politics, Media studies, Communication studies, Electoral systems
Published by: Centar za građansko obrazovanje (CGO)
Keywords: Montenegro; TVCG; public broadcasting; media; pre-election period; local elections; Andrijevica; Budva; Gusinje; Kotor; 2016;
Summary/Abstract: The report “Pre-election lens of the Public broadcaster” by the Centre for Civic Education (CCE) was written as part of the programme Media and democracy. The CCE monitored the reporting of RTCG from the submission of the last candidacy for the 2016 parliamentary election (20 September 2016) until the end of the pre-election silence (16 October 2016). The main objective of this analysis is to inform the public about TVCG’s reporting during the campaign and initiate discussion about the impartiality and quality of its work as a public service of all citizens of Montenegro. The monitoring report provides an overview of the representation of different political actors in the public service, specifically on TVCG, during the analysed period, as well as of the way these actors were represented in the key news programmes before and during the election silence. As RTCG is a public broadcaster with national coverage whose purpose is to inform and educate citizens, and satisfy their needs for timely and accurate information, objective reporting is a key precondition for development of a democratically aware public and a culture of free electoral choice. The Interim report of the OSCE/EDIHR observatory mission to the 2016 parliamentary elections in Montenegro (08 - 28 September 2016) notes: “The country has a diverse media environment with media outlets divided along political lines. The legal framework provides for general requirements of the election campaign coverage in media, mainly focusing on the requirements related to the allocation of free air time by the public broadcasters. The Agency for Electronic Media is the regulatory body that oversees the compliance of the broadcast media with the legal framework. A parliamentary committee has been established to monitor implementation of the laws related to the media”. The report further states: “As required by the election law, the National Public Broadcaster RTCG is providing contestants with 200 seconds of free time daily for campaign advertisements. In addition, each contestant receives tenminutes to broadcast their opening and closing rallies and three three-minute blocks to show footage of three rallies of the party’s choice.” The acting editor of the First channel of RTCG, Aleksandar Mirković, told the public in September of 2016 that RTCG went even further and hired an expert from the public broadcaster of one of the EU member states “to assist us, so that this election campaign on RTCG could be ran as well as possible”. Earlier, on his visit to Montenegro in February 2016 to speak at the conference «Freedom of expression and responsibility of the media», president of the Venice Commission Gianni Buquicchio said that the media had a fundamental role to play ahead of the elections, especially during the election campaign. He added that the most important thing was to leave the citizens the freedom to form their own opinion. “A biased media will try to manipulate that opinion, but the impartiality of the public media is essential for the free expression and right to vote”, he stressed.

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