State media outlets ignored local elections, Belarusian Association of Journalists says

2007-01-31

By Sergei Pulsha, BelaPAN
Minsk, 31 January. State media outlets ignored this month's local elections, says a report prepared by the Belarusian Association of Journalists (BAJ).
The report was unveiled at the BAJ office on Wednesday.
The group studied coverage that 28 national and local media outlets gave to each stage of the January 9-14 poll, including the registration of candidates and campaigning, as well as to the results of the elections.
According to BAJ expert Ales Antipenko, the state media's coverage represented "the elections as devoid of such important democratic elements like the spirit of competition and the possibility of an open choice between different political positions."
The expert noted that candidates' limited access to government-controlled media outlets prevented them from advertising their political platforms and gave voters few opportunities to get more information about contenders on the ballot in their district.
The First Channel's prime-time news show "Panarama" devoted only four percent of its coverage to the elections and cut back on election-related segments during the campaigning stage.
Election observers were mentioned only once by Belarusian Television (First Channel), during an eight-second piece, the report suggests.
Election coverage by the First Radio Channel reportedly accounted for three percent of the network's broadcast time.
Aleksandr Lukashenko dominated election coverage in the government-controlled Sovetskaya Belorussiya, which devoted 84 percent of all poll-related materials to the Belarusian leader. Nine percent of the coverage was devoted to the central election commission and seven percent to local authorities. Other political entities got no mention in the newspaper. Apart from this, the publication failed to give any coverage to candidates' campaigns, Mr. Antipenko said.
"By ignoring certain important aspects of the election process, as well as its major participants, state newspapers did not help voters to make an informed and competent choice on the election day," the report concludes.