A
thorough understanding of the laws governing elections is a precondition for reporting
elections.
Senior
editors and executives involved in planning coverage will need to know what
their legal obligations are. What, for example, are the laws or regulations
relating to content of either direct access programming or news coverage, and
systems can a media house put in place to meet its obligations? Media personnel will also want to know
reporting or access restrictions in place for the various stages of an
electoral process. For example, will journalists have access to the count and will
there be restrictions on reporting results prior to an official results
announcement? More information about regulations can be found in Legal Framework for Media and
Elections.
Editors
and journalists and will also need to be well versed in an EMB’s operational
and procedural plan for the elections.
For example, staff will want to know what provisional precautions exist
to safeguard the security of ballot boxes and ballots, including sourcing of
seals, boxes and ballots; the existence of databases for tracking ballot stub
serial numbers; plans for ballot box transportation; and provision of storage
facilities.
If
journalists are to report accurately – and hold election administrators to
account – they should also become familiarized with the electoral system
employed in an election. If this seems obvious, the reality is that all too
often reporters simply do not understand how the system works. For example, they
are unable to analyse the criteria for delimitation of electoral boundaries to
determine if delimitation has been carried out fairly. Furthermore, journalists
often do not understand how an election result is reached, particularly in
elections involving more complicated formulae than “first past the post”
systems.
Most
of these areas of knowledge can be addressed through journalist training as
well as other vital elements of media development such as incorporation of
electoral law into university degree programs, advocacy for electoral legal
frameworks that encourage media access to electoral events (thereby also
encouraging learning and skill building), building electoral law literacy
within the general public, and so forth.
