17. 11. 09. - 09:00

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17. 11. 09. - 09:00

OSCE raps media over presidential coverage

Mediafax

The Romanian media has been rapped over its coverage of presidential candidates.

The Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) said yesterday (Mon) in a report: "Media coverage of the campaign is gathering momentum and focusing on the candidates of the main parliamentary parties. However, the media are focusing less on candidates' platforms than on the incumbent President and his management of the current political crisis as well as his talks with the International Monetary Fund."

"Two of the candidates (Constantin Ninel Potirca and Gheorghe-Eduard Manole) filed complaints with the Constitutional Court with regard to their access to free airtime on public television and radio. In both cases, the Constitutional Court accepted the complaints and ordered corrective measures and airtime to be granted to the candidates," the interim report said.

It added: "TV is the main source of political information. Private Pro TV and Antena 1, and the first channel of public Romanian Television, TVR 1, are the most popular channels; however, private information channels Realitatea TV and Antena 3 usually increase their ratings during election campaigns. "

The OSCE began media monitoring on  29 October and covered the prime-time period (18:00-24:00 hours) on five television channels and five newspapers.

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