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An Elections Reporting Handbook MEDIA + ELECTIONS An Elections Reporting Handbook by IMPACS Associate Ross Howard IMPACS Media + Elections National Library of Canada Cataloguing in Publication Howard, Ross, 1946Media and Elections: An Elections Reporting Handbook / Ross Howard; edited by Amanda Gibbs. Includes bibliographical references. ISBN 0-9733391-1-X 1. Elections--Press coverage. 2. Reporters and reporting. 3. Journalism--Political aspects. 4. Mass media--Political aspects. 5. Press and politics. I. Gibbs, Amanda, 1970- II. Institute for Media, Policy and Civil Society. III. Title. P95.8.H68 200 070.4'49324 C2004-902794-8 © 2004 IMPACS – Institute for Media, Policy and Civil Society Design and Production by Metaform Printing by Thunderbird Press 2 Preface 3 Introduction 4 Democracy and the media Four essential conditions No free press = no democracy 7 Three elements of an election Parties and candidates Issues The voting process 8 Good journalism in election reporting Accuracy, impartiality and responsibility Reliable journalism and democracy 11 The election process The election laws The election commission The media as election watchdog What to watch for 14 Campaign strategies Party strategies: Core votes and undecided voters Media strategies: Handling soft news and avoiding manipulation 17 Covering campaigns The speech Popularity and opinion polls 20 A new way: voters-voice reporting Thinking like a voter Other communities, other voices Examples of voters-voice reporting 23 Interviewing politicians The questions to ask: what, how and why? The preparation 25 Monitoring election reporting Media accountability 27 Campaign safety 28 Is my election story complete? 29 Resources photo credits Contents IMPACS Media + Elections Preface IMPACS’ Media and Elections Handbook, produced by the Media and Elections Response Centre, is the result of ongoing thinking about the seminal role that professional training for media organizations and reporters can play in emerging democracies. There is an underlying assumption present in newsrooms in both northern and southern societies that if journalists have general reporting skills, then reporting elections is much like reporting anything else. We have come to believe that this is simply not the case. There are issues particular to the reporting of elections. Elections are a flashpoint for media issues. This is when the relationships between reporters, governments and civil society actors come into sharper focus, and potentially, conflict. There are specific tools and information that can aid reporters and elections management bodies in providing citizens with the best information possible to make informed decisions at the polls. This guide, the work of many hands, is a clearinghouse of some of these tools. It is intended for new reporters in all societies, as well as experienced reporters looking to brush up on their elections reporting skills. It is written in plain language to aid readers with English as a second language and to increase the ease of translation. IMPACS would like to acknowledge the Human Security Program of the Canadian Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade for the support received in the ongoing implementation of the Media and Elections Response Centre. The contribution of International Media Support (IMS) to the production of this handbook, as well as to the continued refinement and practical realization of media and conflict activities, are also acknowledged. Experience clearly shows that elections can be both a key point in conflict resolution and trigger for conflict escalation. In this regard, it is crucial that elections are free and fair if they are to strengthen democratic processes and negate the causes and consequences of conflict. IMS, with its mandate to enhance peace, stability and democracy in conflict and conflict-threatened areas through rapid assistance to the media, has therefore sought to actively address the role of the media in contributing to free and fair election processes. 2 Additional thanks are also given to our numerous readers, our author -Ross Howard, editor -Amanda Gibbs, and proofreader -Sarah McPherson, as well as to the many trainers and staff who have contributed their thinking and expertise to our Centre. Shauna Sylvester Executive Director IMPACS Jesper Højberg Executive Director International Media Support An Elections Reporting Handbook For many people, an election is a crucial decision about the future. If the election goes well, the country can continue towards democracy and peace. But if the election goes badly, it can undermine democracy and turn the country back towards conflict. In this modern age, the media is one of the most powerful influences on how an election runs inside the country, and how it is perceived from outside. INTRODUCTION For an election to go well, it must be free and fair. There must be free speech so all citizens and all political candidates can speak without fear. The media must be free to tell everyone what was said without pressure to twist the truth. That is the job of professional journalists – to fully inform citizens of the issues and their choices so they can decide for themselves for whom to vote. Also, the election must be fair. There must be rules to ensure every citizen has a secret vote. All candidates must have equal rights and opportunities to campaign without interference. The rules must be enforced fairly and everyone must respect the results of the vote. Elections are a great challenge for the media. Journalists need to know the election rules. They must report fairly on all candidates, parties and issues. The media should be the voice of the voters. Journalists must adhere to professional standards of accuracy, impartiality and responsibility. And they have to work amidst great excitement, under pressure from powerful interests, and with very little time. This handbook offers journalists basic preparation for meeting these challenges. It is designed for countries where democracy is fragile or a new idea. Every country has different election rules and campaign issues, but there are some worldwide standards for an election to be considered free and fair. There are rights and responsibilities every professional journalist should know. There are also skills journalists can use to help voters become better informed. That is the intention of this handbook – to help journalists enable the people to decide. This handbook owes much to the following resources: Ian Porter’s IMPACS curriculum for election reporting in Cambodia; the report of the 2001 IMPACS Media and Election Roundtable; Lisa Schnellinger’s Free & Fair: A Journalist’s Guide to Improved Election Reporting in Emerging Democracies for the International Centre for Journalists; the International Federation of Journalists’ Election Reporting Handbook; the Administration and Cost of Elections (ACE) Project; the Institute of War and Peace Reporting; and the pioneering work of IMPACS and International Media Support. Great thanks are also due to Richard Carver of Oxford Media Research, Kim Kierans of King’s College School of Journalism, Ian Porter, and Chris Waddell of Carleton University School of Journalism, for their wise advice. Thanks to editor Amanda Gibbs for shepherding this project. Thanks are also due to the journalists of Cambodia and Rwanda who asked the right questions and offered new insights into reporting on elections. Any errors or omissions will be corrected in future editions. Ross Howard is a Canadian journalist specializing in media and conflict, democratization and elections. An Associate of the Institute for Media, Policy and Civil Society and a journalism faculty member of Langara College, he has trained journalists in countries including Sri Lanka, Cambodia, Nepal, Rwanda, Burundi and Canada. He is a former Senior Correspondent for The Globe and Mail newspaper and lives in Vancouver. 3 IMPACS Media + Elections DEMOCRACY AND THE MEDIA Four Essential Conditions 4 government isisnot notperfect. perfect.But Buttotomost most peoDemocratic government people ple who a democratic government seems who havehave it, a it, democratic government seems betterbetter than thanalternatives. the alternatives. Democracy is popular because it . the Democracy is popular because it means the people make the important decisions through elections that are free and fair, and the government respects those decisions. In a free and fair election the people can choose political representatives who best stand for the voters’ needs. Through the election process, the people choose which politician and political party they trust to speak up for them, and to deliver what the people want if the party becomes the government. In a democratic election, everyone has an equal right to elect or reject the government. This right is reflected in Article 21 of the United Nations’ Universal Declaration of Human Rights. It states everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression without interference, including the right to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media, regardless of frontiers. An Elections Reporting Handbook But for an election to be democratic, and to represent the true wishes of the people, it must meet certain conditions. Some of the most important features are1: 1 There must be a real choice for voters among the political parties and candidates. If there is only one significant party seeking election, there will be no debate or exchange of ideas and competing visions for the country. And when the party is elected it will have no reason to listen to the people because the people will have nowhere else to turn. 2 The competing political parties must have freedom to campaign in the election, which means freedom to hold meetings and to communicate with voters (whether by meetings, pamphlets, or advertising) about their policies. If parties and candidates cannot speak, then new ideas and solutions will never be heard, even if they are better than the existing ones of the government in power. 3 There must be rules in place that govern the election. These rules must be known and respected by all participants and available to everyone. There should be a respected individual or organization to administer the rules. The rules and administration of the election should be supervised by the courts to ensure complaints are handled fairly. The rules should include strong legal procedures to protect against corruption or violence that may occur when people register to vote, go to a political meeting or cast their votes on election day. No one should be able to tell voters who to vote for. If the people do not have these protections, then the election result may be dishonest and people will feel cheated. People may express their dissatisfaction in protest or try to establish a different kind of government. But if the people can see that the election is honest, it will have transparency, and there will be more trust in the elected government. 4 Most important of all, the people must know about their choices of who to vote for, how to vote and why it is important. The voters must have the opportunity to become well-informed and interested in the election through the provision of non-partisan information, or they can be deceived by special interests who win the election and do what they want with the resources of the country. If these four requirements are met, then the elected government may be said to have legitimacy. It means that the people accept that the winning party has the right to be the government and to make decisions affecting everyone. It also means other countries of the world will recognize the government’s power. 7 5 IMPACS Media + Elections No Free Press = No Democracy It is very difficult to achieve these four requirements of a democratic election without a free press that operates with professionalism. The media is usually the most important way people find out about the election and the political choices. The media needs to be free to report fairly on the campaigns of all the political parties so people can determine if there are differences between them. The media needs to provide all the people with the same information on how to vote. And the media needs the freedom to ask questions and get answers about the transparency of the election, and to tell voters if there is something wrong so that it can be fixed. 8 6 The media needs to hold both the government and opposition parties to account for how they have acted in the previous term. The people need to know how well the government has run the country since the last election, and what alternatives the opposition parties presented during that time. Did the government build all the bridges and schools it promised? Did rural communities get the clean drinking water they needed? Did the government listen to good ideas from the opposition parties, from women, and minorities? And when we say government, we also mean the elected politicians and all hired or appointed officials: the police, the army, the people who run the cities and provinces, schools and hospitals. Journalists need to ask these questions, and to report how the political parties answer them. For all of these reasons, it can be said that democracy and a free media have a special relationship. They need each other. A free media will help keep the election honest and democratic. And a democratically elected government will protect the media’s freedoms. Freedom is when the people can speak. Democracy is when the government listens. The media is the messenger. An Elections Reporting Handbook THREE ELEMENTS OF AN ELECTION During the campaign period preceding the voting day, the media has at least three important subjects to report on, including: 1 The political parties and candidates Most candidates who share the same ideas about how to serve the people, and are loyal to a particular leader, will belong to one political party. If elected by a majority of all the voters in the country, the party leader becomes the government leader, or president. Or the party that wins the most votes and members becomes the government and its leader becomes the prime minister or government leader. There can be several or even a large number of political parties trying to win the election. Some parties will not have candidates in every part of the country. But the media should provide voters with some information about every party. Some candidates will not belong to any party but they still want to be elected to serve the people. These are called Independent Candidates. 2 3 The issues Each political party will have its own views about what is most important, what the party promises to do and why voters should elect that party. These views are called the party policies or party platform or party manifesto. There may also be issues that the people believe are important but that some politicians do not want to talk about. Or there could be statements some political candidates make that create controversy. A professional media will report these issues and ask the political parties to respond. The voting process Information about the election rules and processes are necessary to assist people in participating. This information includes defining how voters can register; the length of the campaign; who will count the votes; how much money parties can spend on their campaigns; rules on advertising and media coverage; and who will impose penalties on parties or the media who violate the rules. The media must watch the process to see how well or if the rules are followed without corruption or favourtism to any one party, or abuse of any group of voters. But before we consider how to tell the people about the election campaign, we have to confirm our skills as professional journalists. 7 IMPACS Media + Elections GOOD JOURNALISM IN ELECTION REPORTING 8 For citizens to make well-informed decisions in an election there must be a free media. But the media must be more than free. It must be reliable. It must be trusted. It must have opportunity to form independent and diverse views. Around the world, journalists have developed principles and standards to show how they will provide news people can trust. Unfortunately, there are places where journalists have to work under standards that are imposed by governments or powerful interests that interfere with professionalism. But wherever journalists come together freely to consider what they do, and how to guide themselves, they refer to their professional standards. There are more than 150 professional journalists’ associations and media organizations in countries around the world with codes of conduct or standards for good journalism. Most of them are similar, and can be found at www.uta.fi/ethicnet. Every journalist should read the section on ethics on the website of the International Federation of Journalists. Consult http://www.ifj.org and see Quality in Journalism.