WASHINGTON (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 08th November, 2018) Candidates in the US midterm elections had equal access to media coverage ahead of the vote, but some of the ads that they played repeatedly were hostile, Head of the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) limited election observation mission Tana de Zulueta told Sputnik.
"We note that there are no restrictions and there are no impositions on equal access so candidates obtained time and measured with their resources," de Zulueta said. "We noted unlimited advertising that occupied a lot of air time and some of it was hostile and critical."
De Zulueta said the negativity was mostly confined to paid advertisements, though some news networks also made negative statements during the campaign.
"These statements reflected with political sympathies of the news outlets so we had one large cable company very critical of the president and one other very supportive and very critical of the opposition," she said.
De Zulueta pointed out that cable channels were polarizing, and quite strongly partisan. She noted that although public service channels were balanced in their coverage, they were limited in their reach, with radio increasingly popular.
"I think American citizens have a possibility of extremely complete information if they want," she stressed.
De Zulueta went on to say that the observers did not see much coverage about foreign interference during their observation period from October 7 through November 6.
"It was not a subject which was very much discussed except for at the time of an indictment which was issued against the treasurer of the internet Research Agency by a prosecutor. That episode was noted, but it did not lead to much discussion. That is what our observation is, it is not a theme which occupied much attention," she noted.
De Zulueta noted that 18 teams of observers are currently deployed in that United States and will stay in the country for one more week in order to finalize their observation of the count, consolidation of results, and any complaints that about the process.
The United States held its midterm elections on Tuesday. According to the latest official returns, Democrats retook control of the House, while Republicans retained their majority in the Senate.
