The media play an indispensable role in the proper functioning of a democracy.  Discussion of the media's functions within electoral contexts, often focuses on their "watchdog" role: by unfettered scrutiny and discussion of the successes and failures of candidates, governments, and electoral management bodies, the media can inform the public of how effectively they have performed and help to hold them to account. Yet the media also have other roles in enabling full public participation in elections:

• by educating voters on how to exercise their democratic rights;
• by reporting on the development of an election campaign;
• by providing a platform for the political parties and candidates to communicate their message to the electorate;
• by providing a platform for the public to communicate their concerns, opinions, and needs, to the parties/candidates, the EMB, the government, and to other voters, and to interact on these issues;
• by allowing the parties and candidates to debate with each other;
• by reporting results and monitoring vote counting;
• by scrutinizing the electoral process itself, including electoral management, in order to evaluate the fairness of the process, its efficiency, and its probity;
• by providing information that, as far as possible, avoids inflammatory language, helping to prevent election-related violence.

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 countries.  A report by the Cairo Institute for Human Rights Studies put it this way:

The media plays a major role in keeping the citizenry abreast of current events and raising awareness of various issues in any society. It also has an extremely significant impact on the public’s views and way of thinking. The media is the primary means through which public opinion is shaped and at times manipulated. If this is the media’s role then in normal course of events, it becomes even more vital in exceptional periods, one of which is electoral junctures, when the media becomes a primary player. Elections constitute a basic challenge to the media, putting its impartiality and objectivity to the test. The task of the media, especially national media outlets, is not and should not be to function as a mouthpiece for any government body or particular candidate. Its basic role is to enlighten and educate the public and act as a neutral, objective platform for the free debate of all points of view.[i]

It is for this reason that election observation teams, for example, routinely comment upon media access and coverage of elections as a criterion for judging whether elections are fair. 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 media’s role in an election.

The numerous ways in which media ensure democratic electoral processes generally fall into one of the following categories:

• Media as transparency/watchdog

• Media as a campaign platform

• Media as open forum for debate and discussion/public voice

• Media as public educator

Each of these categories is explored in separate sections.