While candidate and party campaigns are of course a form of debate, there are also other voices that are to be heard within public forums. As enshrined in the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, all people have the right to express opposing ideas and opinions.[i]
The role of media in providing this platform for debate and discussion is therefore vital. Media provide a mechanism for regular citizens to be heard and to therefore influence political agendas and campaign platforms, and sometimes garnering support and influencing fellow voters. Forms can include:
- Members of the public, lobby groups, experts with different perspectives, and candidates being interviewed by the media for their views on certain policies;
- Talkback radio and television in which the public air their opinions;
- Contestants’ websites, social media networks, and so on, where the public can interact with them directly;
- News reports on press conferences, protests and other events held by interest groups;
- Media surveys of public opinion;
- Citizen journalism;
- Debates on blogs, Twitter, and social media sites;
- Letters to the editor.
This role as a forum for public debate is a complex one in post-conflict situations, as the line between debate and conflict needs to be carefully managed by professional media, which is not always present. As one report on media in the context of elections and political violence in East Africa states:
The media serve as a forum for competing political actors to vie for power and to offer alternatives to the national project. This is both a strength and weakness.
It is a strength because it means that the media, and the press in particular, can be a valuable space for reconciliation and dialogue between competing political perspectives. When perspectives are engaged effectively this can help to reduce polarization, and further define and consolidate the state‐ and nation‐building agenda.
But the media’s ability to serve as a forum is a weakness for fragile states that may not have the institutions to manage this kind of discussion.[ii]
[ii] Nicole Stremlau and Monroe E. Price, Media, Eelections and Political Violence in Eastern Africa: Towards a Comparative Framework, An Annenberg-Oxford Occasional Paper in Communications Policy Research (Annenberg-Oxford, 2009), 28
