21. 03. 2012

NO CONTROL OF POLITICAL CAMPAIGN ON INTERNET

Belgrade, March 21, 2012 (Dnevnik) - New rules for broadcasters' conduct in pre-election campaign have limited political parties to 90 minutes of TV advertising in total. Print media has no restrictions, while internet has remained completely unregulated, even in the area of internet-portals of either print or electronic media.

This is the area that will continue to cause many dilemmas, especially in control of internet portals and official websites of political parties to which, much like social networks, the rule of pre-election silence does not apply.

Executive director of the Bureau for Social Researches (BIRODI) Pavle Dimitrijevic told Tanjug that, as far as he was aware, there was no regulation that applied explicitly to internet media and portals, where news were being updated 27/7 and where portal visitors were allowed to leave comments.

Although this area has no precise rulebook for control of internet portals' content, BIRODI will, according to Dimitrijevic, analyze the objectivity of reporting of several electronic and print media, but also certain websites, during the pre-election campaign.

5 internet portals are already under their magnifying glass: B92, "Pres", "Kurir", "Mondo" and "S Media". They will also focus on following possible cases of violation of journalistic code of conduct, media and election laws, election silence.

Another vague area is official websites of political parties, which will remain open for political advertising even during the elections. However, it is believed that these portals will have no serious impact on voters, as designers of these sites have invested little effort in providing anything more than mere information on parties' activities, which has a serious effect on the number of visits recorded.

Social networks, on the other hand, will have much more effect on voters than political parties' websites, as their communication options are vast. However, it is important to point out that even social networks do not fall under the media laws therefore the campaigning is allowed without restrictions.