A survey of news sites conducted by Metamorphosis found that Republka was leading in terms of published articles on the 2024 elections.

The survey was conducted on 30 selected informational Internet portals, which is over 10 percent of the total number of websites reported (251) to the State Election Commission for paid political advertising. In the period from April 15 to May 10, 2024, a total of 13,645 articles about the elections were subject to monitoring. Of the portals, 22 are in the Macedonian language and 8 in Albanian, and among the monitored portals there are also two news aggregators (Time.mk and Grid.mk), regarding the analysis of advertising banners related to the elections.

We tried to do something that is a pioneering step, in order to inform citizens how their money is spent. Since it is our money, it must be spent transparently and responsibly. Funding of the media is key to the public interest, and from there, the research contains information on how the internet portals covered the elections and whether they impartially informed the citizens, said Filip Stojanovski, program coordinator at the Metamorphosis Foundation, at the presentation. “A key priority was to ensure reliable coding, particularly in the analysis of reporting tone. Consistent behavior by developers is essential to obtain meaningful and reliable results,” said Giovanna Maiola, international media monitoring expert.

According to the survey results, there is a significant increase in reporting related to party activities during the election campaign, compared to regular reporting on political activities. For example, the number of published articles increased by 58.8% just three days before the official start of the campaign compared to the previous day.

Coverage peaked on May 8, election day, with news portals publishing 1,762 election-related articles, including reporting on the voting process and preliminary election results. The portal Republika.mk had the largest share in the election coverage (7.6%), while Kumanovonews.mk reported with the smallest volume (0.2%). “Of the analyzed articles, 82.5% focused on party campaigns and activities, while 17.5% included general information about the elections and their organization, the analysis states.

Furthermore, the research shows that the majority of the monitored portals concentrated on the major parliamentary parties/coalitions, and reporting on the smaller parties was limited.

The most represented in the report were VMRO-DPMNE and SDSM in the Macedonian block, together with DUI and VLEN in the Albanian block. Other parties, such as ZNAM and Levica, received minimal attention, while other parties such as Avaja, New Alternative, Desna and Tvoja Partija were significantly absent from the election coverage, the analysis states.
VMRO-DPMNE dominated the coverage of the elections, with 51% of the articles (7,007 in total), while 42.2% of the reporting had a positive tone and 20% had a negative tone. Republika.mk, Kurir.mk, Vecer.press and Lider.mk were among the portals that reported the most positively about VMRO-DPMNE. DUI was represented by 40.6% of the election coverage (5,551 articles), of which 42.6% were negative and 20% positive articles.

Namely, most of the negative reporting on DUI was on Republika.mk, Express.mk, Kurir.mk and several Albanian-language portals such as TV21.mk, Tetovasot.com and Zhurnal.mk (which reported positively on VMRO -DPMNE). This indicates that some information portals reported negatively on DUI and more positively on VMRO-DPMNE,” the monitoring report reads.
SDSM was represented in 40% of the analyzed articles. The reporting on SDSM was mostly neutral (39.1%), while in 34.2% of the articles it was reported in a negative tone, often with highlighted allegations of corruption and the dominance of DUI in the government.

The negative reporting was mainly on Republika.mk, Kurir.mk and Express.mk. VLEN, the opposition coalition of ethnic Albanians, received less coverage than DUI, and was represented in 22% of the articles, of which 14% were negative and 35% positive. Tetovasot.com and TVKlan.mk published most of the negative articles, while TV21.tv and Zhurnal.mk reported with a more positive tone, the monitoring indicates.

In terms of professional standards, most articles did not credit the author, largely using only one source of information, often by reproducing party press releases without further analysis or research. In addition, the analysis also showed that through biased reporting, specific candidates or parties were often promoted, and the rest were placed in a secondary role.
The articles sometimes contained inflammatory statements without editorial moderation, further inflaming political polarization.”
In terms of gender representation, however, only 2.4% of the articles covered topics related to gender issues, despite the fact that 42.9% of the candidates were women (753 out of 1,755).

The media has largely sidelined gender issues, reviving traditional stereotypes by portraying women candidates in family roles rather than political actors. “The media failed to analyze the election programs of the coalitions and political parties from the perspective of gender equality, and the lack of comparative content for the candidates’ proposals for different groups of women and girls was noticeable,” the document says.

VMRO-DPMNE, according to the analysis, was the most active party, with a total of 1,069 advertising banners on the Internet. In contrast, smaller parties, such as AVAJA, were minimally represented in terms of advertising. Regarding the two leading coalitions, DUI and VLEN/VREDI from the Albanian bloc, news portals mostly sold advertising space to one or the other coalition.

The largest number of advertising banners was published by A1on.mk, i.e. 11.1%, followed by Telegrafi.mk with 8.9%, Grid.mk with 8.4%, 360stepeni.mk with 7%, Faktor.mk with 6.3%, MKD.mk with 5.1%, Vecer.mk with 4.9%, Slobodenpecat.mk with 4.5%, Zhurnal.mk with 4.5%, Time.mk with 4.5%, etc. The number of IIP banner ads starts to increase on April 19, the second day of the election campaign, and peaks between April 24 and May 5, 2024.

The distribution of advertising banners turned out to be politically motivated, and in certain cases the parties gave preference to news portals that offered positive editorial coverage of the campaign. It indicates a strategic approach of the parties in the direction of improving their visibility and influence on public perception through favorable media articles. As a result, informational Internet portals were stimulated to report more favorably to strengthen their ties with specific political participants,” the research indicates. The conclusions of the research indicate that the system of direct state funding of information internet portals can be reconsidered or, if it is retained, clear and objective criteria should be introduced in the legislation to ensure transparency and accountability, as in determining the eligibility of information internet portals, as well as in the use of state funds for paid political advertising.

Furthermore, one of the recommendations is that in order to improve the overall quality and diversity of the media landscape, some alternative methods of financing online media/internet portals can be considered.

It should be implemented within a safe, inclusive and transparent process that fosters trust and accountability. Critical to this process are inclusive consultations with all relevant stakeholders, including media professionals, supervisory and regulatory bodies, government officials and civil society organizations,” the document states.

The research also recommends strengthening professional standards for journalists through dedicated support for investigative and analytical reporting, i.e. specialized training programs for journalists for advanced investigative skills, ethical guidelines and best practices in investigative reporting.

The recommendations are also to strengthen the focus on gender equality, increase the supervision of paid political advertisements, language inclusiveness in advertising and attention to the needs of vulnerable groups. Vladimir Georgiev, a former member of the Anti-Corruption Commission, says that from the research it can be concluded that larger financial engagements usually correlate with more positive announcements and coverage, but there are also exceptions.

Some media, regardless of the size of the financial support, maintain neutrality. But maybe the political coalitions are willing to hire a certain portal that is not in favor of them in the pre-election period, because they hope that way (with advertising from the state budget) they will change something in the sentiment of the announcements during the election campaign, says Georgiev and adds: The number of internet portals registering just before the elections has increased significantly, indicating that many of them are registering in order to obtain financial resources during the election campaign and later possibly establish clientelistic relations with political parties/coalitions “. Georgiev also raised the issue of expediency, that is, whether the funds from the state budget for party advertisements, instead of promoting ideas, projects and commitments, are spent on defaming political dissenters.

Sam Power, an international expert on political and party funding, said the study by the Metamorphosis Foundation showed two main problems: that the allocation criteria are too strict and that they are not respected on online platforms. Comparatively, Power said, in many areas Macedonia is in line with EU norms, but this is not the case with indirect state funding through paid political advertising.

As a case study, he cited the UK in terms of testing artificial intelligence when it comes to election financing, where it applies optical character recognition and document conversion so that documents become machine-readable. Of course, he says, there are also numerous challenges here because not all invoices look the same.

Protective mechanisms are also needed, because the more you digitize, the less secure you are. Man is needed in this whole cycle, emphasizes Power.

The monitoring of the coverage of the parliamentary elections in 2024 on the informational internet portals in Macedonia can be undertaken in Macedonian, Albanian and English.