Media Coverage of USG-Financed Poll Follows Partisan

UNCLAS TIRANA 000350 SIPDIS SENSITIVE STATE FOR EUR/SCE E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: KMDR KDEM PREL AL SUBJECT: Media Coverage of USG-Financed Poll Follows Partisan Lines ¶1. (SBU) SUMMARY: As expected, media coverage of Sunday's release of a USAID-UK sponsored election poll broke heavily along partisan lines, with pro-GOA outlets touting the findings and pro-opposition outlets largely ignoring the poll altogether. (NOTE: The poll gives the ruling Democratic Party a 43-34 percent lead over the opposition Socialist Party. END NOTE) One majthe poll, telQQn TV gave heavy coverage to the poll results, along with the small circulation "Koha Jone" newspaper, which referred to the "U.S.-U.K. poll", ignoring altogether the two local NGOs and U.S. polling firm which actually released the poll. While on the Left Wing, Mainly Silence -------------- ¶3. (SBU) Pro-SP outlets such as Top Channel, Vizion-Plus TV, and print outlet Shqip, on the other hand, largely ignored the poll altogether, claiming (correctly) that they only provide coverage to polls they themselves sponsor. ¶4. (SBU) Finally, newspaper Panorama, which supports former PM Ilir Meta's Movement for Socialist Integration (LSI) provided the most straightforward coverage of the poll, describing it as "a U.S.-U.K. financed poll". (NOTE: It's no surprise that Panorama provided the most nuanced coverage of the poll results. Ilir Meta never misses an opportunity to take a dig at SP Leader Edi Rama. But at the same time, Meta and Panorama can't trumpet the results too much and risk offending LSI's left-wing base by seeming to favor PM Berisha's Democratic Party.) ¶5. (SBU) COMMENT: All in all, coverage of the poll turned out to be less than expected, with most of the coverage limited to a relatively small handful of pro-GOA media outlets. The GOA itself encouraged wide coverage of the poll, with the GOA Spokesperson sending out text messages on Sunday alerting the media to the poll release.