The Independent Media Commission (IMC) is responsible for the implementation of Chapter VIII of Law No. 03 / L-073 on General Elections, which specifically sets out the provisions for "Media during the Election Campaign". The election campaign for the second round of mayoral elections lasted from 8 to 12 November 2021, while the elections were held on 14 November 2021.

For the implementation of this legal obligation, the IMC has monitored the program contents of the media service providers for the period November 8, 2021 to November 14, 2021, in order to evaluate the performance of the media service provider in accordance with Chapter VIII of the Law on Elections, entitled " Media during the Election Campaign ”, as well as the Law and bylaws of the IMC. This report was conducted by the Monitoring and Analysis Department (DMA) of the Executive Office and presents the findings from the monitoring of the media outlets during the coverage of the election campaign and the period of election silence until the official closing of polling stations.

Twenty-two (22) media outlets were involved in the monitoring, of which:

Twenty-two (22) media outlets were involved in the monitoring, of which:

• Three (3) with national terrestrial coverage (RTK1, KTV and TV21);

• Fourteen (14) with local / regional land coverage (TV Liria, TV Festina, TV Prizreni, TV Besa, TV Mitrovica, TV Puls, TV Tema, TV Vali, TV Mir, TV Dukagjini, TV Syri, TV Herc, TV Most , TV Iliria); AND

• Five (5) with general program that are transmitted through distribution operators (RTK2, Kanal 10, ATV, Klan Kosova and TE7).

Two local / regional terrestrial media outlets (TV Zoom and TV Opinion) are not included in the monitoring, as they were not broadcast for technical reasons.

During the monitoring process, the focus was on all forms of media presentation of the election campaign such as: news editions, political advertising points, election chronicles and interviews and debates broadcast from 16:00 to 24:00. Officers of the Department of Monitoring and Analysis (DMA) during the monitoring period assessed: impartiality in reporting, space provided for SCPs, language used and, in general, compliance with the IMC Guide to Media Conduct during Elections and other relevant bylaws of the IMC. The monitoring findings show that the presentation of the election campaign by the media service providers was mainly objective and impartial, in accordance with the provisions of the media in the Election Law and the Code of Ethics for Audio-Visual Media Service Providers. No complaints were addressed to the IMC during the election period, unlike the first round during which four (4) complaints were addressed.

The full report can be found here.

Independent Media Commission