Monitoring solely the output of the media will never provide
a complete picture regarding level of professionalism and degree to which the
electorate are being appropriately informed. Media monitoring should always be part of
a broader process of media analysis. Indeed, many monitoring findings will be
inexplicable without placing them in context. Without the context, quantitative and qualitative findings of
media monitoring will be meaningless.
Specifically, media analysis examines the following factors:
- Media
environment: Who owns the media? What are their political leanings? What is the
structure of any publicly funded media? How do the media make their money? What
is the audience for different media outlets? Does the public have good access
to a range of media?
- Media
law: What is the legal environment in which the media operate? Are there
generalised restrictions on media freedom? Does the law relating to media and
elections enable the media to report freely or does it restrict them? Are any
restrictive laws in regular use?
- Professional
standards and traditions: Does the country have a tradition of media freedom?
Is there a long history of independent professional journalism? Is there
professional regulation of the media (for example through a code of conduct and
a self-regulatory complaints procedure)? Have most journalists received
professional training? Are journalists paid decent salaries and to what extent
is ‘envelope journalism’ a problem?
- Attacks
on the media: Have journalists been allowed to go about their work unhampered?
Have there been attacks on journalists by government agents? By supporters of
different political parties? Have journalists been arrested and imprisoned?
- Informal
controls over the media: Do the government or important political figures
exercise informal political control over what appears in some media outlets?
Does this happen through bribes and inducements? Threats and penalties?
Self-censorship? Or a combination of all of these?
- Overall
impact of media on the elections: To what extent has the sum of these issues
impacted on the conduct of the elections, and their broader contribution to the
democratic process?
