Second report on monitoring of media reporting on the work of the Parliament

In the period 1 – 31 October, newspapers and televisions dominantly mentioned the Assembly in the context of broader political events, the termination of the boycott by members of the Parliament from the Democratic Party of Albanians (DPA), and the ongoing boycott of the Assembly by the coalition led by the Social-Democratic Union for Macedonia (SDSM). The media also reported about the Assembly in the context of the beginning of the parliamentary procedure to revoke the mandates of the MPs who belong to the opposition. On the other hand, the media informed considerably less about the content of debates and the arguments brought about by MPs during plenary sessions and sessions of the parliamentary committees.

Therefore, the public was rarely informed about the events in the Assembly, topics on the agenda and the arguments brought about by the MPs in the discussion on the legislation.

In general, newspapers more than televisions published information referring to the Assembly.

The most frequent sources of information published in the media about the Assembly originated from the MPs. It is noticeable that, in October, in most of cases media information contained statements and standpoints of just one political option. In addition, the majority of pieces of information originated from active or elected MPs who belong to the opposition. In fewer cases the sources of information originated from MPs who belong to the majority.