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Main trends in June - beginning of July 2019:
During the early parliamentary campaign, Detector Media has resumed preparation of an operational analytical report "Election Detector", which reflects the main tendencies of information space related to the elections. A more detailed analysis can be viewed in the monitoring of television news, television weekly news, political talk shows and information TV channels. The methodology of this monitoring is based on the principles outlined in the General methodology of Detector Media.
Parliamentary elections in the television space seem to be a lot like the third round of presidential elections (after all, this is how they were characterized by the head of the Servants of the People headquarters). The main players have remained the same - albeit with a slightly different alignment of forces and the addition of several new ones, in particular Holos (Voice) - and the same messages are repeated. The same basic manipulations that media resorted to in the interests of their investors, political patrons and customers remained the same. At the same time, in addition to the struggle to overcome the five per cent barrier and the largest possible representation in the parliament, the competition continues for the status of the main pro-Russian opposition (between Opposition Platform - For Life and Opposition Bloc) in the information space, the right to form a coalition with Servant of the People (Batkivshchyna, Strength and Honor, Ukrainian Strategy, Samopomich (Self-Reliance) and Civic Position), and the parade of those who want to become a prime minister (Volodymyr Groysman, Yulia Tymoshenko, Yuriy Boyko, Oleksandr Danylyuk, and others).
TV channels’ sympathies (end of June - early July trends)
Ukraine - Radical Party and personally Oleh Lyashko; Opposition Bloc and personally Oleksandr Vilkul, Yevgeniy Muraev, Vadim Novinsky and Boris Kolesnikov; Ihor Smeshko (Strength and Honor); Batkivshchyna and personally Yulia Tymoshenko; Holos (Voice) and Svyatoslav Vakarchuk; European Solidarity; Servant of the People. They do not invite OPFL and mention it only in a negative context.
Inter - Opposition Platform - For Life (Yuriy Boyko, Viktor Medvedchuk, Vadim Rabinovich, Nestor Shufrych, Natalia Korolevska, Yuriy Pavlenko, Mykola Skoryk and others), Ukrainian Strategy and personally Volodymyr Groysman, Agrarian Party, majoritarian Serhii Rudyk and Serhii Kaplin. The channel mentions Opposition Bloc only in a negative context.
ICTV and STB - Batkivshchyna, Opposition Bloc, Servant of the People, Holos (Voice), Ukrainian Strategy and personally Volodymyr Groysman, Radical Party and personally Oleh Lyashko, European Solidarity. They do not invite or mention OPFL.
1+1 - in the news, there is only Servant of the People, including majoritarians, among whom are the channel’s hosts Olha Vasylevska-Smahlyuk, Serhii Shvets and Oleksandr Dubinsky. Another candidate from the party - Bohdan Yaremenko - comments on current events in the channel news in the status of an expert on international relations. Representatives of the Servants of the People and the most ranking parties participating in the election, with the exception of OPFL, are invited to talk shows.
5th Channel and Pryamiy Channel - European Solidarity. Pryamiy is the only TV channel, except for Medvedchuk’s holding, inviting the OPFL representatives to talk shows.
112 - Opposition Platform - For Life. In talk shows of three TV channels of Medvedchuk’s holding, there are always candidates from OPFL, in most cases - representatives of Svoboda, Batkivshchyna, European Solidarity and Servants of the People. They never invite representatives of Opposition Bloc and Strength and Honor; Holos (Voice) has decided not to go to these channels.
UA: First - in the news of the public broadcaster, the monitoring has not revealed materials with signs of PR or hidden propaganda.
In general, it can be concluded that voters had access to election messages of various political forces unevenly distributed across different channels. Unfortunately, it is about PR and hidden advertising, not about adequate information about the programs, political and personal background of candidates, their views and intentions. In fact, the voter received the same information from the news as from billboards and promotional leaflets.
Representation of the participants in the elections on separate TV channels was neither equal nor proportional to the level of electoral support. For example, Opposition Bloc, supported by 2-3%, is presented in the news, talk shows and weeklies much more than Servant of the People with support of more than 40%. Most central TV channels ignore the Opposition Platform - For Life, where the level of support reaches 13-14%. At the same time, on Inter channel, this party is discussed more than all the others taken together. Some political forces generally do not appear in the news and do not receive invitations to talk shows. One can confidently say that TV channel managers and editors, in choosing what politicians to give a floor or whom to mention, are guided in many cases not by public interest but by political interests and instructions of investors and their political patrons.
Rest on laurels of Servants of the People
In the first month of the election campaign, the party, with support of almost half of voters, behaved in the television space in a passive way. The headquarters obviously relied on Volodymyr Zelenskiy as a "locomotive", which would pull the rating of the party, but did not promote other faces except for the party chair Dmytro Razumkov. Only in early July, after some polls began to show a decline in the party rating, the Servant of the People began to resort to PR in TV news, broadened the pool of talk show participants, spoke on TV about one of its main problems - "clones" that use its symbols, stylistics and name. In addition, the representatives of Opposition Platform - For Life, which until recently behaved as potential allies, suddenly became critics and opponents of Zelenskiy and his party.
At the same time, the candidates from the Servant of the People adhere to the principle that worked well in the case of Volodymyr Zelenskiy in the presidential election: not to give concrete promises like "reduction of tariffs" or "release of prisoners", speak only about what can be done in case of popular support. Such initiatives are easily canceled, and their non-implementation can be ignored. The most recognizable face, speaking on behalf of the party, is its chair Dmytro Razumkov. Much less often on the air, there are other candidates - Danylo Hetmantsev, Andriy Gerus, Halyna Yanchenko and others. Interesting is the case of the candidate from the Servant of the People Iryna Vereschuk, who visits almost every broadcast of the talk show on Medvedchuk’s TV channels, where she is titled as an international expert. Television operators often do not distinguish between candidates from the Servant of the People and those representatives of the president's team who already have positions or do not run for the VR, uniting them in the abstract "Zelenskiy’s".
Volodymyr Zelenskiy and other representatives of his team who do not run for the Verkhovna Rada are not engaged in direct campaigning for the Servant of the People (or at least we have not seen such examples on television). At the same time, there are many examples of criticism on their part directed against "predecessors", "old politicians" and specific participants in the election process, more often European Solidarity (and personally Petro Poroshenko) and Opposition Platform - For Life (and personally Viktor Medvedchuk).
The results of the polls indicate that Servant of the People is guaranteed to bring to the Verkhovna Rada more than a hundred people's deputies according to the list and a certain number of majoritarians. However, TV news and weeklies did not have an analysis of biographies, political and business background of candidates. Journalists only occasionally picked up information about dubious moments in the biographies of candidates voiced by activists and political opponents of the Servants of the People, and also reported the exclusion of candidates as a result of so-called “post-primaries”. The same applies to other lists of "new faces" - parties Holos (Voice) and partly Strength and Honor.
Opposition competition
The trend that has become especially noticeable since the beginning of July is the radicalization of the pro-Russian rhetoric of Opposition Platform - For Life in parallel with the expansion (purchase by Taras Kozak, close to Viktor Medvedchuk, of ZIK TV channel) and increased use of its media resource. The news of Inter TV channel covers campaigning trips and statements of candidates from OPFL in the press-service mode. During the week, on Inter and TV channels of Kozak’s holding (112, NewsOne and ZIK), there were news about the participation of Viktor Medvedchuk and his wife at the Italian film festival, where they presented Oliver Stone's "Revealing Ukraine" propaganda film. In the talk shows of these TV channels, representatives of OPFL occupy a prominent place and receive the most of time for speeches, which sometimes turn into outright campaigning. The main theses of these speeches are the denial of Russian aggression in the Donbas, the transfer of responsibility for resolving the "civil conflict" and the occupation of the Crimea to the "Maidan authorities", the stirring of the language issue, appeals to peace at any cost, praising Viktor Medvedchuk's agreements on the release of prisoners and direct purchases of gas, promises to reduce tariffs for housing and communal services, etc. A lot of efforts are being made by the OPFL representatives to discredit the Opposition Bloc, which is called "controlled by power" and unable to negotiate with Russia. Black PR is used (including on Russian state television), as well as false sociological ratings that lower the support of Oppobloc, and the party representatives are ignored by all TV channels controlled by OPFL.
In turn, Oppobloc launched a symmetrical, very intensive activity as well, both on agitation and discrediting OPFL. Speakers of Oppobloc (most often - Evgeniy Muraev and Oleksandr Vilkul) oppose their party to OPFL as "pro-Ukrainian" to "pro-Russian", criticizing its competitors for "Poroshenko’s people" and "radical nationalist Kiva" in the list. In "Opposition" talk show, a joint project of the channels Ukraine and Nash (Our), the debate was staged between Evgeniy Muraev and Yuriy Boyko who expectedly ignored the invitation. In addition to the daily PR of the party representatives, Ukraine announces the results of the survey of the little-known company Edison Research, which (in comparison with other surveys) always lowers the results of OPFL and overestimates the Oppobloc’s figures. In addition to Ukraine, the floor is given to Oppobloc by Victor Pinchuk’s TV channels (ICTV and STB) and 1+1. They also consistently ignore OPFL, mentioning this political force only in the negative context, and 1+1 even resorted to a black PR against the party of "little putins". The remains of the former Oppobloc are safely isolated from each other - during the election campaign, we did not record any airs to which both parties would be invited at the same time.
Opposition rhetoric in addition to his traditional populist one was chosen by Oleh Lyashko in this campaign too. In the broadcasts (mostly on Ukraine TV channel, which promotes Lyashko daily - others show him in the news occasionally, and invite to the talk show studio even less often), he positions the Radical Party as the only true opposition to Volodymyr Zelenskiy. At the same time, his social-populist rhetoric in the TV broadcast almost literally repeats Yulia Tymoshenko’s theses, who is positioned as a potential ally, who can add experience to Zelenskiy’s young team. Since sociological polls do not give Lyashko’s party hope to overcome the five percent barrier, Ukraine has replaced the figures with estimates – weekly, there are some comments from political experts who highly appreciate the leader of the Radical Party and say that such people are needed in the Verkhovna Rada. In particular, they hint to the audience that Lyashko could become a speaker.
The niche of the pro-European opposition has been fully given to European Solidarity. Petro Poroshenko has successfully used the fact that television journalists still perceive him as a counterpart to Volodymyr Zelenskiy, commenting on the foreign policy failures of the new president and the danger of pro-Russian revenge. At the same time, only Pryamiy TV channel, the most marginal media out of the orbit of European Solidarity, allows itself aggressive rhetoric about Zelenskiy and Servant of the People. In TV news and talk shows of other channels, the party representatives mostly voice patriotic appeals, promises to defend the European choice, and so on.
Casting of Zelenskiy’s friends and assistants
Among the parties not declaring their intention to be an opposition or ready to enter the coalition at the next VR convocation, there is Holos (Voice). This party has declared the refusal of "old methods" of campaigning, in particular, the ordered materials, and its headquarters asserts that it has no agreements with oligarchs on the use of media resources. Despite this, the materials on Holos appear in the news digests of ICTV, STB and Ukraine, and Svyatoslav Vakarchuk and other party representatives are on the airs of these channels and 1+1 every week. The key theses of their speeches are the dichotomy "old-new" and the general promise of "changing everything" without any specifics, for which the Holos representatives are successfully criticized by their rivals – Batkivshchyna and ES. However, the campaign of black PR against Holos unfolded in regional mass media mainly in Western Ukraine did not touch the central TV channels.
Yulia Tymoshenko and Batkivshchyna are abundantly present in news and TV weeklies, as well as in political talk shows on all TV channels. The pre-election rhetoric of the party and leader remains paradoxically opposed to the abstract "power" and its decisions and policies ("tariff genocide", abolition of the pension and medical reforms, raising pensions, protecting the gas transmission system from "privatization"). At the same time, party speakers constantly repeat that they are ready to help the "new faces" from Servant of the People with their political experience, by creating a "coalition of actions" with this party, and Yulia Tymoshenko openly declares the desire to lead the government. Particularly fierce was the debate between Yulia Tymoshenko and Svyatoslav Vakarchuk in the program "The Main Topic. Choice" on Ukraine (one of the few debatable formats): the leader of Batkivshchyna clearly demonstrated the unpreparedness of the leader of Holos to discuss on her hallmark topics.
Volodymyr Groysman's campaign began long before the official election campaign (billboards and videos with the words "The Government of Groysman", and later "Ukraine is not just a place on the map"). In June and July, the Prime Minister actively used his position in order to appear in the news daily: statements on increasing pensions and lowering tariffs, showing the road construction inspection, appeals to enhance decentralization, etc. It looks rather like a personal PR, and not a promotion of political power, because the new and still not quite recognizable brand of Ukrainian Strategy appears infrequently on TV, while other party candidates almost do not appear on the air. In the rhetoric of the Prime Minister's speeches in talk shows and interviews, one of the main leitmotifs is the criticism of Petro Poroshenko and an attempt to position himself as an independent player who was only a temporary ally of the ex-president. At the beginning of July, Groysman began to openly voice his desire to remain on the post of prime minister in the government created by the future coalition.
Anatoliy Hrytsenko clearly demonstrated his readiness to cooperate with the new president and help his political force with a promotional film in which an experienced leader of the Civic Position suggests Zelenskiy a winning move in the chess party with Putin. At the same time, on TV, Hrytsenko, although confirming his willingness to become prime minister, prefers to concentrate on his hallmark topics: fighting corruption, moral values of the authorities, etc. In the news in June and early July there were only separate references to the party, mainly connected with the murder of its activist in Vinnytsia.
The meeting of Volodymyr Zelenskiy in Lviv with the leader of Samopomich Andrii Sadovyy, who had previously expressed readiness to become prime minister, did not become the news for national TV channels. Despite the fact that during the presentation of the chairman of Lviv Oblast State Administration Zelenskiy made an important statement about the readiness to investigate the "trash blockade" with a hint that it was organized on the order of Petro Poroshenko. In propaganda rhetoric, Samopomich avoids both support and criticism of Zelenskiy and his political force.
Dark horses and forgotten heroes
Less than a month before the election, two political forces, which until now were virtually not mentioned: the Agrarian Party and Shariy’s Party, became more active in the television space. Inter is actively promoting the first one, inviting its representatives to the air and announcing in news of the start of the election tour with Oleh Vynnyk and the success of the party in the elections in the united territorial communities. The second one broke into the news in the context of the struggle for registration of the leader of the party, blogger Anatoliy Shariy who has lived abroad for seven years. Also, the street actions of Shariy’s Party are mentioned in materials that have signs of black PR against Petro Poroshenko and European Solidarity. It is noteworthy that they call Shariy pro-Russian and scandalous in the news, but do not give any example of his support of the Kremlin, nor his position as to why he considers his withdrawal from registration illegitimate.
"Mikhail Saakashvili’s Movement of New Forces" more than once became a newsmaker in June and July because of the struggle for participation in the elections and the possibility of re-drawing seats in the ballot, but there is no news about the program and the party's list in the news. It seems that the party is viewed not as a full participant in the electoral process, but as a technology of influence on it.
Ihor Smeshko’s party Strength and Honor and Anatoliy Hrytsenko’s party "Civic Position", despite the relatively high rating and a chance to hold on to the threshold, are mentioned in the news occasionally. However, the leaders of these parties are invited to political talk shows on ICTV, 1+1 and Ukraine. The talk show on 1+1 also shows the leader of Samopomich Andriy Sadovyy, but other party speakers are not involved in the discussion formats, and the political force is not mentioned in the news of the channels analyzed by the Detector Media.
The following parties practically do not appear in the news and talk shows of these channels: the Patriot Party (some mentions in PR format are recorded in June on ZIK channel), Fakel, Green Party, Social Justice, The Power of Law, and Independence (with the exception of the invitation of the leader of the party Anatoliy Mogilev on air of TV channels 112 and NewsOne).
The main trends in the broadcast of information channels
During the parliamentary campaign, Detector Media continues the monitoring of primetime (19:00 - 23:00) of five information channels: Pryamiy, 112, NewsOne, ZIK and 24. Watch the results of the monitoring during the presidential campaign here.
Before the election, information channels turned into overt campaigning tools for their official and unofficial owners. Both guests (mostly from close parties) and hosts work “towards a result” on air. In general, during the election campaign, the following trends were noticeable:
Illustration:nslovo.com
