It is a truism that the media play an indispensable role in the proper functioning of a democracy. Discussion of the media's functions usually focuses on their "watchdog" role: by unfettered scrutiny and discussion of the successes and failures of governments, the media can inform the public of how effectively its representatives have performed and help to hold them to account. Yet the media can also play a more specific part in enabling full public participation in elections, not only by reporting on the performance of government, but also in a number of other ways:

• by educating the voters on how to exercise their democratic rights.
• by reporting on the development of the election campaign.
• by providing a platform for the political parties to communicate their message to the electorate.
• by allowing the parties to debate with each other.
• by reporting results and monitoring vote counting.
• by scrutinizing the electoral process itself in order to evaluate its fairness, efficiency, and probity.

The media are not the sole source of information for voters, but in a world dominated by mass communications, it is increasingly the media that determine the political agenda, even in less technologically developed corners of the globe. Thus, election observation teams, for example, now routinely comment upon media access and coverage of elections as a criterion for judging whether elections are fair. In parallel, monitoring the media during election periods has become an increasingly common practice, using a combination of statistical analysis and the techniques of media studies and discourse analysis to measure whether coverage has been fair.

There are, broadly speaking, three areas of media election coverage. Each operates according to different principles and requires a different role of the electoral supervisory body.

Editorial Coverage

This broadly refers to all aspects of news, features, current affairs, and opinion coverage that are under the editorial control of the media themselves. Aside from some limited areas - such as the reporting of results, or a restriction on reporting opinion polls shortly before voting - the role of the supervisory body is to do no more than facilitate the free operation of the media.

Direct Access Coverage

There is a bewildering variety of possible systems for regulating political advertising or free direct access coverage. This refers to that portion of election coverage that is under the editorial control of the parties or candidates themselves. There may be obligations on some sections of the media to carry such material, and there will almost certainly be conditions that they must abide by if they do.

Candidate debates and panel interviews, which are increasingly common in election broadcast coverage, fall somewhere between these first two categories and may sometimes be subject to a degree of regulation that would not apply to ordinary editorial material.

Voter Education

This topic area does not deal in detail with voter education, which is covered in detail elsewhere. However, especially in a new democracy, the mass media may be a vital tool not only for keeping voters informed about the issues and candidates, but also for imparting basic information about how to vote and what the vote is for. Voter education, like direct access, will be subject to strict standards that ensure its impartiality.

This topic area is primarily concerned with the responsibility of election administrators and legislators to develop a regulatory framework for media activities during election periods and to facilitate media freedom. However, much of it may also be of value to others, such as media practitioners themselves and political parties.

It begins by looking at overarching principles: the role of the media in a democracy and the development of international and comparative jurisprudence on media and elections. It also discusses how the different levels of economic development and pluralism of the media and differing professional standards will affect the nature and quality of media coverage of elections.

The central part of this topic area is a discussion of the different models for a regulatory framework for the media in elections, ranging from an independent electoral commission to a specialized media regulator, such as a broadcasting commission or a voluntary media council or press complaints body. It looks at the different obligations of the print media and broadcasters, as well as those of media that are privately owned and those that are funded out of public money.

The topic area goes on to look at the ways in which electoral management bodies can develop their own communications strategies to enable them to get their messages across, through the media among other channels. It looks at how to define messages and audiences and then to identify suitable media techniques to convey these messages. It examines the tasks of the EMB at different stages of the election process, from the pre-campaign period of voter education, through the campaign itself, to voting day, the count, and the announcement of results.

The topic area explores the basic techniques and uses of media monitoring during an election campaign. It outlines quantitative and qualitative methodologies and looks at how media monitoring has been used by EMBs, non-governmental organizations, and international observer missions.

The final section of the topic area looks at the issue of campaign reporting from the perspective of the media themselves. It considers issues of planning and training for election coverage and then examines various ethical and practical questions arising in reporting the election process.