Election Media Monitoring

September 11 – October 1, 2012

During the period of September 11 – October 1, International Society for Fair Elections and Democracy (ISFED) conducted press monitoring within the frameworks of Election Media Monitoring. More than 500 articles of 10 print outlets were evaluated. Following findings were made based on the obtained data:

During the reporting period, the video materials taped at Gldani Prison #8 was covered, which was followed up by a big public response, and by the print media among others. As the result, it should be noted as an overall trend that the negative coverage of government subjects increased almost in all the outlets.

Among the political parties, the most frequently covered subject was again the Coalition Georgian Dream except the magazine Tbiliselebi, where the largest space was dedicated to the Christian-Democratic Movement.

The tone used in regards to the Georgian Dream is mostly neutral in the outlets except the Asaval-Dasavali, which published the statements expresseing support to this political movement.

Following monitoring subjects were covered during the monitoring period: the President, the government, the authorities, and as for the political parties – the United National Movement, the Christian-Democratic Movement, the Georgian Troupe, the National Democratic Party, the Free Georgia and the New Rights.

In some outlets, there were cases when the journalists used unethical expressions and hate speech, namely in the Alia, the Kviris Kronika and the Asaval-Dasavali.

Methodology and Analysis

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Election media monitoring of the press consists of qualitative and quantitative components. The quantitative component includes the space allocated to the subjects and the tone of coverage. Components of the qualitative monitoring are: balance, accuracy, fact-based coverage, language of the article/journalist.

Quantitative data are provided in the diagrams, which are attached to the report. The space allocated to the subjects is provided in the diagrams in percentage. 100 per cent is regarded to be the total space allocated to all the subjects in each outlet during the specific monitoring period, which is indicated in the title of each diagram. The diagrams show those subjects, which were most frequently covered at a particular media outlet. If any of the political parties, which represent a monitoring subject, is not represented, this means that no space was allocated to this party at all in this outlet during this period.

The coverage tone is assigned to a subject when the subject is mentioned in indirect speech and also when the subject’s quote is provided where the same subject is speaking about himself, about other subjects or about general issues. The diagrams show three categories of tones: positive (green), neutral (yellow) and negative (red). While counting the space allocated to the subject, the tone of the space is also assessed at the same time. Emphasis is laid on the text of a journalist or a respondent, also the whole context of the article.

Tone-based evaluation of space allocated to the subjects is presented two ways: evaluation of the total space allocated to the subjects in a specific outlet according to the tone and also the tone of coverage/mentioning of subjects by a journalist. Coverage tone is provided in percent. In the first case 100 per cent means the total area dedicated to the subject in the given outlet, and in the second case – the space of speaking/writing about this subject by a journalist.

During qualitative monitoring, the emphasis is laid on balance, i.e. at what extent the article provides several different opinions about the covered topic; also the accuracy, and for its evaluation the monitor observes how relevant the journalist’s opinion is to the materials used in the article, if there are mistakes in the names, figures and identities of respondents.

It is also evaluated if the article has been constructed based on the facts, which first of all means whether the information provided by one source has been double-checked, and if the reader has an opportunity after reading the article to know the accurate information about the happening.

During the monitoring, attached illustrations are also observed, if any of the monitoring subjects are reflected in them. Other than determining the space,

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tone of the illustration is also assessed based on what kind of disposition the photo is generating for the reader.

Another component of the qualitative analysis is the language of article, which at some extent is similar to the journalist’s tone assessed during the quantitative analysis, but the difference is that here more emphasis is laid on the journalist’s words and phraseology during the qualitative analysis not only in regards to the subjects of monitoring, but also in regards to the whole article. In some cases the journalist is not writing about the subject of monitoring, but the text is still notable and interesting for the qualitative analysis.

Based on these components, findings of the monitoring for the period of September 11 – October 1 are represented below, per outlets.

Daily Publications

The Resonance

The Resonance is distinguished with a big number and diversity of subjects, but among them the most active coverage was provided for the Coalition Georgian Dream. The journalists of this outlet try to provide a multifaceted and exhaustive coverage of current events and to observe the journalist’s standards as well.

The 24 Saati (24 Hours)

Like Resonance, the “24 Saati” is issued daily and provides intensive coverage of current events; however, this outlet is offering less analytical articles to its readers. The 24 Saati is distinguished with the lack of illustrations too. Neutral tone prevails towards the subjects.

Weekly newspapers

The Alia

The Alia is published twice a week and offers not only the news, but also interviews and analytical articles to its readers. Unlike previous reporting periods, the Alia allocated equal space to the President and the Coalition Georgian Dream during this period. However, the tone of

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their coverage is clearly different from each other. There is little positive coverage of the subjects in this outlet. Journalists of this newspaper use unethical expressions in some cases towards various subjects, mostly towards the authorities.

The Kviris Palitra

The Kviris Palitra is published weekly and, thus is more focused on a multifaceted coverage of events. However, there were cases identified during the monitoring, when there was no balance observed in the article and the facts were provided from one side only, without double-checking. Unlike other outlets, the largest area was dedicated to the President among the monitoring subjects, towards whom the negative tone prevailed. Out of the opposition political parties, the largest space was allocated to the Coalition Georgian Dream, towards which mostly the neutral tone was used.

The Kviris Kronika

The Kviris Kronika is a second outlet of Alia Holding, which provides summary and analysis of the whole week to its readers; however, most part of the newspaper is dedicated to the interviews. During this reporting period, same amount of space was dedicated to the Coalition Georgian Dream and the President in the pages of the newspaper, but the tone used towards them is different. There are frequent cases of violating the standards by the journalists such as balance and provision of fact-based information to the readers. Like the Alia, unethical expressions are often used towards various subjects in this outlet too.

The Asaval-Dasavali

While monitoring the Asaval-Dasavali, there is an eye-catching positive tone towards the Coalition Georgian Dream and a negative attitude towards the authorities. The Georgian Dream is the most frequently covered subject. There is no balance observed in many cases, and sometimes the articles do not have any source at all. There are many

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unethical expressions and photos of negative tone published in the newspaper Asaval-Dasavali.

Weekly Magazines

Tabula

The Coalition Georgian Dream is the most frequently covered subject in the magazine Tabula; however, there is a very little difference in the areas allocated to it and other subsequent subjects. The journalist’s tone towards the subjects is mostly neutral. The outlet tries to abide by the journalism standards and provide fact-based information to the reader. However, in some cases we observe the lack of a competent source when analyzing an issue.

Tbiliselebi

Similar to previous reports, the magazine Tbiliselebi is still distinguished as far as here the most frequently covered subject is the Christian-Democratic Movement, towards which the prevalence of positive tone catches the eye. However, there is no positive attitude of the journalist revealed towards any of the subjects.

Gza

The Magazine GZA contains quite scarce materials about politics and policians. Among the monitoring subjects, the magazine provided the most frequent coverage for the Coalition Georgian Dream. It is noteworthy that the most often covered top-three subjects are the political parties (Coalition Georgian Dream, the United National Movement and the New Rights), and there was neither President, nor the government among these three, although in case of other outlets, more space was allocated to them than to the election subject parties.

Sarke

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The magazine Sarke, like Gza and Tbiliselebi, contains a little number of articles on political topics. In this outlet the largest area was allocated to the Coalition Georgian Dream, to which equal share of positive and neutral tones are reported. The negative tone is observed in regards to the authorities (President, the United National Movement, local self-government and the authorities).

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Annex - Diagrams

Diagram - Space 1

Diagram - Space 2

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Diagram - Space 3

Diagram - Space 4

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Diagram - Space 5

Diagram - Space 6

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Diagram - Space 7

Diagram - Space 8

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Diagram - Space 9

Diagram - Space 10

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Diagram - Tone 1

Diagram - Tone J1

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Diagram - Tone 2

Diagram - Tone J2

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Diagram - Tone 3

Diagram - Tone J3

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Diagram - Tone 4

Diagram - Tone J4

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Diagram - Tone 5

Diagram - Tone J5

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Diagram - Tone 6

Diagram - Tone J6

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Diagram - Tone 7

Diagram - Tone J7

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Diagram - Tone 8

Diagram - Tone J8

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Diagram - Tone 9

Diagram - Tone J9

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Diagram - Tone 10

Diagram - Tone J10

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