Professor Preobrazhensky from Bulgakov's The Heart of a Dog was advising not to read the soviet newspapers before the lunch. Nowadays, this advise can be expanded and may include not to read political news in newspapers and on the Internet, not to watch political programs and news on the TV and not to listen to them on the radio. The probability that they contain objective information in very low. And it is better to make up your mind about political leanings in advance, because there is no guarantee that in your choice you will not be led by the information inserted into your subconscious mind by the skillful political technologists.
The closer we are to the Election Day, the more often the politicians try to appear in the newspaper columns, TV screens and computers. The easiest way to get closer to the voters through the mass media is to buy the sponsored material in the form of editorial material. Put it in simple words - to publish paid-for hidden advertising.
Probably everyone knows what this media slang means. Its synonym is "hidden advertising".
How to discern "hidden political advertizing"?
Article 1 of the Law of Ukraine On the Advertising gives a precise definition of this term. "Hidden advertising means information about a person or goods in a program, broadcasting, publication which serves advertising targets and may mislead persons as for the real purpose of such programs, broadcastings, publications."
It is both easy and complicated to discern political hidden advertizing. The press services of politicians thoroughly mask the sponsored material and present it as news and articles of the high social importance. We advise you to consider all the materials containing emotionally colored references to political parties and deputy candidates as paid-for hidden advertising.
The references may be both positive and negative. Ask yourself: Would the TV channel, newspaper, radio station or Internet web-site produce the material about this event and this person, if they did not get paid for that?
Ask yourself: Would the TV channel, newspaper, radio station or Internet web-site produce the material about this event and this person, if they did not get paid for that?
Striking example: Television and radio broadcasting company (TRC) Vidikon prepares a spot about Oleksandr Volov (All-Ukrainian Union Fatherland), who made a present to the community of Bilopillia city in form of certificate for the building of the children's playground. The spot was included in the news set without the tag "advertising".
Now answer a simple question: Would the TV channel spend money on the trip of its ENG crew to Bilopillia on Ivan Kupala Day on its own initiative? And was the certificate distribution the most interesting event of that day?
Neither the representatives of the government nor the forces of opposition omit the use of sponsored materials. Surely, access to a big number of media (e.g. municipal media) is closed for the opposition. However, they actively use commercial media to implement this method of electioneering.
We have analyzed the hot off the press publications of the most popular newspapers inSumyoblast. They included Panorama, Your chance (Vash shans), and Dankor newspapers, which contained material conceived of as political hidden advertizing. The newspapers used hidden advertising of the United opposition, the People's Deputy Oleh Liashko, the Fund of possible candidate from the Party of Regions in the voting district #158 Oleksandr Kostenko, Nataliia Korolevska and her project Ukraine-Ahead!, and the Communist Party of Ukraine.
Usually paid-for hidden advertising is different from the editorial material. And to be able to see this difference is another way to spot paid-for hidden advertizing. For example, if the newspaper is totally in Russian and suddenly (in the column "Politics") appears an article about the party's activity in Ukrainian, then it is 100% hidden political advertizing material.
If the newspaper is totally in Russian and suddenly (in the column "Politics") appears an article about the party's activity in Ukrainian, then it is 100% hidden political advertizing material
Sometimes the press services have no time or are too lazy to write different material for different media. As a result all the newspapers publish the same "editorial" message.
Also, one of the features of sponsored material can be "public appeals", "letters to the editor", etc. And usually the authors' names are not indicated.Striking example: on July 18, Your chance (Vash shans) newspaper published an article titled "Social activists have their own candidate". It reported that "the parties start to announce their candidates. However, the social activists, veterans, sportsmen, and people with reduced capabilities chose and nominate their own candidates - those who help and support them in practice. InSumymore than 30 NGOs asked Anatolii Yepifanov in written form to representSumyregion in the Ukrainian Parliament." However, the exact names of "social activists", who want to see the President of Ukrainian Academy of Banking, Honored citizen ofSumycity and member of the faction of the Party of Regions in Sumy Oblast Council, are not mentioned.
When paid-for hidden advertizing interweaves with administrative resource
The municipal media are in the strongest dependence: on the one hand, there is a pressure of the co-founders - rayon state administrations and councils; on the other hand, they can not earn money by publishing the hidden political advertizing materials from the opposition.
Thus, we see that the closer are the elections, the more frequent the dependent media become a megaphone of the governing powers. And if earlier they were talking about the government's achievements in general, today they talk more about the governing party. For example, Nedryhailiv rayon newspaper Golos Posullia (Voice of Posullia) introduced a new special column called "Political Life". On July 18, under the title "They run for elections to win" were published the details of the conference of Nedryhailiv rayon organization of the Party of Regions. The report form the conference is a good showcase because it does not only violate the ethical standards for journalists but it is also a striking demonstration of media administrative resource. And the phrase"Oleksii Kurniev is sure that today people has no one to vote for except of the Party of Regions" can be considered as a direct agitation.
The newspaper Krolevetskyi Visnyk went even further. On July 20, the detailed description of the conference of the Party of Regions rayon organization was published on the front page using the logo of the party. On the second page, in the column called "On the initiative of the Party of Regions" was published the information about the distribution of TV tuners for the digital television by the employees of Ukrainian post service among the citizens of Krolevets. But how it is connected to the Party of Regions? The answer to this question can be found in the text: "The organization of the distribution in Krolevets region is always under control of the authorities, the Party of Regions and village councils."
The election race has officially started and we can say with confidence that the amount of hidden political advertizing in media will increase. Be attentive and do not let anyone to mislead you!
The Civil Network OPORA is a non-governmental, non-political and financially independent nationwide network of public activists. We have teamed up to enhance public participation in the political process by developing and implementing models of citizens’ influence on the activities of state and local government in Ukraine.