April 1, 2017
Research conducted by several independent organisations monitoring media coverage during the presidential election campaign in Serbia shows that the current Prime Minister and presidential candidate Aleksandar Vučić has absolute domination when it comes to media coverage in Serbia.
According to the results of the Bureau for Social Research (BIRODI), from 3rd to 23rd March Vučić was present in the central news broadcasts of Radio-Television Serbia, but also on the channels of private TV companies Pink, Prva, B92, Happy and N1, for 250 minutes more than all the others candidates combined (Vučić received around 632 minutes of coverage on these television channels, with all others combined receiving 382 minutes).
Research conducted by the Novi Sad School of Journalism also shows that the media gave the most space to Vučić during the period from 9th to 20th March. This uneven representation is led by the most watched commercial television channel in the country, TV Pink, which devoted 11,747 seconds to coverage of Vučić, followed by 65 seconds for Vojislav Šešelj and 23 seconds for opposition candidate Saša Janković, while the rest received even less coverage than that.
The most balanced approach is that of TV N1, which devoted 851 seconds to Vučić and 442 seconds to second-placed Saša Janković.
Otherwise, the Regulatory body for the electronic media – the state organ that is legally obliged to monitor media reporting and ensure that it is balanced – announced that it will not carry out monitoring of coverage during this year’s campaign, a move they justified by stating that they do not have adequate software.
Photo: FoNet / Nenad Djordjevic
