Romania's National Public Television, TVR 1 covered the electoral campaign in a balanced manner, but its news programs did not cover elections so much. Realitatea TV, owned by media mogul Vantu, presented incumbent President Basescu on a negative light while his main opponent, PSD Mircea Geoana appeared in a positive light. Basescu's presence in the media was overwhelming, but from a negative perspective at Antena 1 news television and in national newspapers like Jurnalul National, Cotidianul and Gandul, a preliminary OSCE report reads, released on Monday.
On the other hand, the report reads that the media institutions offered, overall a varied array of information and political opinions, which contributed to an informed decision of the public.
A review of the main media outlets in Romania and their reflection of the electoral campaign
TVR 1
offered candidates equal access to electoral programsaired special programs dedicated to elections in prime time and all candidates could address citizens however, it covered the campaign less than normal in prime time, the channel offered incumbent President 26% of its informative
programs and used a neutral tone on 67% of its shows other candidates had a marginal cover
Pro TV
21% of the media coverage was dedicated to the President, on a neutral tone while coverage of elections and electoral topics was limited
Prima TV
it offered candidates more time: incumbent President Basescu 22%, PSD Mircea Geoana 10% and Liberal Antonescu 5% it had a balance perspective
Realitatea TV
offered more attention to elections both during news and other programsin prime time news, the news channel ofered 39% of its total time to the President (56% on a negative tone towards Basescu), 12% to Geoana (53% of the times on a positive tone) and 9% to Crin Antonescu (41% of
