ZAGREB, Jan 3 (Hina) - It is known that money is not enough to be successful in elections, the best proof being the Croatian Pensioners Party (HSU) - the biggest surprise of the November 23 parliamentary elections, which won three
seats in parliament without any paid TV advertisement.
ZAGREB, Jan 3 (Hina) - It is known that money is not enough to be
successful in elections, the best proof being the Croatian Pensioners
Party (HSU) - the biggest surprise of the November 23 parliamentary
elections, which won three seats in parliament without any paid TV
advertisement.#L#
Croatian Television (HTV) did not broadcast any report on the party's
activities in any of its news programmes, reads a report by the
Croatian Helsinki Committee on the results of the "Media and Elections
2003" survey.
The situation is similar with the Croatian Democratic Peasant Party
(HDSS), whose candidate Ivo Loncar entered the parliament. The
difference between the two parties is that HDSS candidate Loncar was a
deputy in the previous parliament, where he had the chance to promote
himself.
Of the parties which did not enter the parliament, the coalition of
the Croatian Bloc and the Croatian True Revival (HB-HIP) spent the
most money on electoral promotion, with 100 paid TV advertisements.
As regards the press, the number of reports on the HSU and the HDSS
was four times less than in the case of the HB-HIP coalition, led by
Ivic Pasalic and Miroslav Tudjman.
Of independent candidates, a Croat emigrant from the United States,
Boris Miksic, and former Social Democrat Zdravko Tomac spent the most
money on the election campaign, but they did not enter the parliament,
reads the report on the survey, which the HHO conducted with the help
of the OSCE Mission to Croatia.
The survey, conducted before and during the official election
campaign, included two national television stations (HTV and Nova TV),
Croatian Radio, Obiteljski Radio, and six dailies. In the monitored
period, 1,622 programs were aired, which is more than 32 hours of TV
airing time.
The election winner - the Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) - spent 5.1
million kuna on TV advertisements, which is 1.6 million more than
announced. The Social Democrats (SDP), one of the formerly ruling
parties and now the strongest opposition party, spent 2.1 million kuna
on election promotion.
The most TV airing time was bought by the HDZ (37 percent), followed
by the SDP and its coalition partners (16 percent), the Croatian
People's Party (HNS) and its coalition partners (10 percent), the
Peasant Party (HSS) (eight percent), the coalition of the Social
Liberal Party and the Democratic Centre - HSLS-DC (six percent), and
the Croatian Party of Rights - HSP (2.7 percent).
Most editorials on Nova TV and HTV referred to the SDP and its
coalition partners due to reports on the work of government officials.
Of the 43 HTV reports on the coalition, 29 referred to government
activities. Forty of 78 reports on Nova TV referred to the activities
of coalition ministers.
Both TV stations dedicated most reports to economy and electoral
competition.
The SDP and its coalition partners enjoyed the most coverage on
Croatian Radio and Obiteljski Radio, but according to the total airing
time, the SDP and the HDZ were equal.
The HHO says that the election campaign was covered by the press and
national electronic media in a fair and neutral manner in most cases.
The election competition was fair, but it was also unattractive
because of the rules on the media coverage of the election campaign
set by the parliament. Nova TV did not abide by those rules, although
the State Election Commission established that it was obliged to do
so.
Dailies covered the election campaign in a fair manner. During the
official election campaign, the ruling coalition parties and the
opposition were equally treated by the press, but the HDZ and the SDP
enjoyed the most coverage.
However, the HDZ was given twice as much space as the SDP.
The largest number of negative reports about the former coalition's
work was published by Glas Slavonije and Vecernji List dailies, while
most negative reports about the HDZ were published by Novi List,
Slobodna Dalmacija and Vjesnik.
Elections were the main topic in the press, followed by economy, party
relations, internal and foreign affairs, education system, culture and
science. The least covered topics in the election period were the
Homeland War and the UN war crimes tribunal in The Hague.
(Hina) rml