TV DEBATES IN SERBIA AFTER 2012: DEMOCRATIC ’FACADE’ OR PLATFORM FOR DIALOGUE?
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.18485/Keywords:
elections, election campaigns, media, political parties, TV debatesAbstract
The paper analyses whether TV debates after 2012 elections enhanced political dialogue and offered a credible platform for equal political treatment of political parties in the context of an unequal political competition and biased media (towards the ruling party). The subject of the paper is a detailed analysis of 22 ‘Word on Word’ election debates in terms of their issue framework, equality of participants, influence (through a case study of the 2022 election), the difference between parliamentary and presidential debates and the role of debates in the wider media environment. The author examines whether the debates encouraged changes in the media environment and whether they led to the improvement of media environment. Specifically, the purpose was to determine whether these debates could provide a credible platform for political dialogue or whether they are a democratic `façade`, as described by a part of the critically oriented public. The analysis takes into account the context that the opposition exists and that there are no systematic obstructions to its work and participation in the elections. On the other hand, the dominance of the ruling parties in terms of resources and the ability to influence the disintegrating processes in the opposition has led to unequal treatment and unfair political competition.
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