The media contribute to monitoring the electoral process by keeping the public informed about electoral processes and the political campaign. The media also play an investigative role in helping to detect and expose electoral fraud and corruption.

Conditions Required for Media Effectiveness

Several conditions are generally recognized as being critical for the media to serve as an effective integrity mechanism. They must have access to the electoral process and its participants. They must have a safe environment enabling them to investigate and report news without intimidation or fear of retribution and be able to publish their reports without censorship. Specifically, the media require:

• Freedom of speech and of the press: The media must be free to cover and report on election events without restriction or censorship. Anti-defamation laws should not be used to threaten journalists and force them to limit their coverage.
• Protection from intimidation and violence: The media must be able to investigate and report stories without intimidation or fear of violence.

• Freedom of movement: Journalists must be able to travel freely throughout the country in order to follow candidates’ national campaigns and check how election administration is operating throughout the country, including in outlying areas.
• Access: Journalists must have access to election officers, electoral sites, candidates and voters. They must have access to government information in order to investigate and ensure that their work is accurate.
• Equal treatment: The media should be treated equally, whether they are privately owned or government-controlled, and without reference to whatever political inclination they may reflect. Equal treatment is needed in access to persons, electoral sites, information, access to publishing resources, as well as regarding State authorizations, including concerning licensing and broadcasting.

Media Protection and Oversight

The media have gained a degree of protection similar to national monitors. For example, the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) has appointed a Representative on Freedom of the Media. The Representative observes the state of media freedom in all 55 OSCE member countries, and promotes compliance with OSCE principles and commitments concerning freedom of expression and media freedom. Some NGOs also focus on protection of journalists.

National and international observers also monitor press freedom and the accuracy of election reporting. In the first and second rounds of the 2004 presidential election in Ukraine, for example, monitors found that government officials had limited the media’s ability to report certain issues and events. The result was biased media coverage favouring the presidential candidate of the ruling party. It was only in the second runoff election, after challenges before the Supreme Court regarding the validity of earlier election results, that according to the observers, censorship was discontinued and media coverage became more balanced.[1]

Impact on Election Integrity

Good media coverage of the electoral process is helpful in many ways:

• By increasing transparency, which helps deter fraud and abuse in the electoral process: Transparency also helps to improve the process itself, since inconsistencies, problems or other deficiencies are identified and publicized, causing electoral administrators and policy makers to address them. (In India, for instance, the media are encouraged to cover elections as a way of helping to ensure transparency. The Election Commission of India provides the media with the facilities needed to cover the electoral process, and distributes passes allowing journalists to enter polling stations and vote counting stations.)
• By making the public more knowledgeable and better informed about elections, candidates and current issues: Election coverage in the press and its commentary on candidate platforms helps provide voters with the information they need to make an informed choice on election day. Press coverage also informs voters about electoral matters, including the date of the election, voting hours and polling and registration locations. And,
• By exposing fraudulent or questionable conduct: The media act as an integrity watchdog, uncovering fraud and corruption. This helps to ensure that those responsible are held accountable for their actions. It also helps to deter those who might be tempted to behave in an unethical or illegal manner.