Information presented in TV channels after official registration about presidential candidates will be represented as a negative, positive and neutral assessment. Meanwhile, the monitoring also reflects international opinion, declarations and thoughts of the representatives of foreign states and international organizations.
TV channels
According to the results of the primary stage, the information of electron MM informs of the activity of the president and other members of the ruling New Azerbaijan Party (YAP).
Materials on the activity of president and ruling party members, as well as opinions of the international organizations on election process dominate in AZTV and Leader TV. ANS TV and Public TV (PTV) have partially guarded the balance during the interpretation of events and presentation of information, while other TV channels, especially AZTV haven’t followed this criterion. By the way, the materials devoted to the activity of NAP members and president prevailed over the information about alternative political parties. So, 92% of the information on election process presented on AZTV news programs revolves around the activity of the president and 8% is shared by government members. However, the situation in ATV differs slightly. 79% of the information on election process is about the activity of NAP members and the president, and 21% is devoted to the alternative party members. 5% of it is shared by Musavat Party. “Space” TV and “Xazar” TV haven’t broadcast the activity of any other persons except the President and his surroundings. It’s interesting that, Leader TV has slightly changed its direction in comparison with former elections, and tries to follow the principle of political pluralism in news and political programs. So, Leader TV made room not only for NAP (62), but also for other parties (20%), independent politicians (16%), Azerbaijan Popular Front Party (2%). But unlike other electron MM, Leader TV presents some critical comments about opposition leaders. Now let’s pay attention to the number and volume of the materials on election process in TV channels.
TV channels
№ TV channels:
Number of the information Volume of the information, sec.
1. ANS 15 22 min. 55 sec.
2. AzTV 16 19 min.40 sec.
3. ATV 12 24 min.40 sec.
4. Space 16 29 min. 53 sec.
5. Leader 15 18 min.43 sec.
6. PTV 18 34 min. 32 sec.
Newspapaers
As mentioned above, 8 newspapers have been involved to the monitoring : “Azadlıq”, “Bakı-xabar”, “Zerkalo”, “Exo”, “Yeni Musavat”, “Express” and “525-ci qazet”. Unlike electron MM, the information concerning presidential elections presented in newspapers is rich in content. So, “Yeni Musavat” and “Azadliq” newspapers mainly present information about those who have chosen boycotting and the information about the president and NAP members are of negative character. “Baku-xabar” newspaper tries to follow the principle of pluralism. However, it’s difficult to say the same about “Yeni Azerbaijan” newspaper which especially writes (97%) about the president and NAP members. The materials about alternative persons are 3% in this newspaper and they are of critical character. “525-ci qazet” follows the principle of pluralism as usual and represents the position of persons differing in opinion. Newspapers “Zerkalo”, “Exo” and “Express” writes about preparation works for election process, general information about different candidates and the opinion of international organizations concerning boycotting and election process. Now let’s pay attention to the number and volume of the materials on election process in papers.
№
Newspapers Number of the materials Space, sq.c
1. «Azadlıq» 94 25012
2. «Baku-xəbər» 129 402452
3. «Zerkalo» 17 5831
4. «Exo» 37 11701
5. «Yeni Azerbaijan» 46 53272
6. «Yeni Musavat» 107 29727
7. «Express» 45 11501
8. «525-ci qazet» 43 8034
As it seems in the table above, “Baku-xabar” and “Yeni Musavat” newspapers pay more attention to the election process. By the way, the newspapers “Express” and “Zerkalo” completely followed the criteria of objectivity, equality and difference of opinion. The lowest indication in this category is observed in “Yeni Musavat” and “Yeni Azerbaijan” newspapers.
The monitoring is underway and the next results will be announced after 15 days.
Lala Gafarli,
The coordinator of the ACSDA Monitoring Group
