International observers assess the coverage of the Public TV and Public
Radio as the most balanced
ArmRadio.am
14.05.2007 14:35
The International Election Observation Mission (IEOM) for the 12 May
parliamentary elections in Armenia, which is a joint undertaking of
the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights
(OSCE/ODIHR), the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly (OSCE PA), the
Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) and the
European Parliament (EP) turned to the media coverage of the elections
in its statement of preliminary findings and conclusions.
The report says, in part: `The Election Code provides for airtime to
all candidates based on `equal conditions.’ Each registered party/bloc
in the proportional contest was entitled to a maximum 60 and 120
minutes of free airtime and no more than 120 and 180 minutes of paid
airtime on public television and radio respectively. The CEC allotted
the sequence of appearances in free and paid airtime by
lottery. Public media adhered to their obligations in a somewhat
formalistic manner: public TV H1 decided that all free campaign slots
could be broadcast daily as a bloc, in the time period set by the CEC
but outside primetime viewing.
Political and electoral events were extensively reflected in newscasts
and current affairs programmes inthe broadcast media.7 Many media
outlets tried to cover a broad range of political subjects, and thus
to
The two public broadcasters (H1 television and Public Radio) mostly
guaranteed access to the media for contestants. Public Radio offered
balanced political coverage (both in time and tone).