Preliminary report on media coverage of the 27 October presidential election

Tbilisi, 26 September 2013 - The Charter of Journalistic Ethics, an independent, non-profit professional journalist association that promotes the values of freedom and democracy, has been systematically monitoring the media coverage of the 27 October presidential election. This project is conducted in cooperation with the Slovak media-monitoring organization MEMO 98 and with the support of the Open Society Foundation Georgia (OSFG).

Following is the summary of the main monitoring findings covering two weeks of the official campaign period (2 – 15 September):

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

• Most of monitored media have so far provided a generally balanced coverage of political parties and candidates in their political and election-related prime time news reporting.

• The media devoted the bulk of their news coverage to the activities of the government and the two main parties – the United National Movement and the Georgian Dream.

• News coverage of the campaign has so far focused primarily on campaign rallies. Voters would benefit from a more analytical and in-depth coverage that could help them to better analyze and assess the qualities and programmes of electoral contestants.

• While the media generally follow the principles outlined in the Code of Conduct for Elections, there were a few instances where these principles were violated.

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