The volumes of broadcasting time on major national TV channels during the period of September 24 – October 21, 2012, provided for the explanation and expression of the viewpoint of the “opposition” representatives exceeded the broadcasting time used by the state authorities and the Party of Regions by 53 percent.

 

1. The “opposition” placed 1.76 times more direct political advertising than the Party of Regions (83 hours 30 min 46 sec vs. 47 hours 40 min 20 sec). The Communist Party of Ukraine placed 19 hours 43 min 56 sec of direct political advertising.

2. News coverage of the “opposition” activities exceeds that of the Party of Regions: by runtime – 3.1 times (9 hours 35 min 14 sec vs. 3 hours 9 min 13 sec), by the number of the news items – 4.1 times (415 vs. 101). The Communist Party of Ukraine was covered in the news for 1 hour 27 min 34 sec.

3. Speaking time of the “opposition” representatives in the most popular talk shows was 3.77 times longer than that of the Party of Regions representatives (17 hours 34 min 7 sec vs. 4 hours 59 min 0 sec). Representatives of the Communist Party of Ukraine spoke for 2 hours 14 min 40 sec.

4. The number of news items covering activities of the state authorities reached 559 with the total runtime of 16 hours 43 min 15 sec.

 

Thus, taking into consideration the duration of air time on major TV stations, used by the representatives of the Party of Regions and “opposition” representatives participating in the election process, it becomes clear that the “opposition” was presented 2 times more than the Party of Regions (110 hours 40 min 7 sec vs. 55 hours 48 min 33 sec).

The total TV airtime of the Communist Party of Ukraine amounted to 23 hours 26 min 10 sec.

 

In case the runtime presence of the Communist Party of Ukraine is added to that of the Party of Regions, then the “opposition” will have a 1.39 times more extended representation (110 hours 40 min 7 sec vs. 79 hours 14 min 43 sec).

 

Adding up the airtime covering the activities of the state authorities to that of the Party of Regions is not correct, however, if it is added up then the airtime presence of the “opposition” would still be approximately 53 percent higher (110 hours 40 mins 7 sec vs. 72 hours 31 min 48 sec).

 

The study involves monitoring of the following TV channels: Inter, 1+1, ICTV, Novy Channel, STB, TV Channel “Ukraina”, First National TV Channel, 5 Channel.

 

Monitoring criteria:

1. number of news items and duration (runtime) of airtime of the elections participants during prime time;

2. volume of presence (runtime) of elections participants on the most popular TV shows (“Big Politics with Evgeniy Kiselyov”, “Pozaochi”, “Shuster Live”, “Republic with Hanna Bezulyk”, “Freedom of Speech on ICTV”, “One on One”, “Pro Holovne”);

3. number of news items and duration (runtime) of airtime dedicated to the news coverage of the state authorities’ activities.

 

 Monitoring offers the ratio between the total runtime of news items, talk show speaking time of the “opposition” (Batkivshchyna, UDAR, “Ukraina Vpered”, “Svoboda”, “Our Ukraine”, Radical Party) and Party of Regions.