The way in which media monitoring findings are reported is a crucial aspect of media monitoring methodology. Exactly how this is approached will vary depending on the type of monitoring exercise and who is conducting it.

For example, international election observation missions usually do not report their findings until the election is over (or at least the campaign is complete) except perhaps for a single interim report. An electoral management body or a national non-governmental organisation is more likely to want to report their findings on a regular basis – as often as once a week, or even daily in the later stages of an election campaign. The reason is that their purpose in reporting is to have an impact on media coverage, either as a regulatory authority or as a pressure group.

All reports – even short weekly reports – will need to contain certain standard elements, even if they may be very brief in a shorter report:

• A summary of findings.
• A description of the project and methodology.
• A presentation of data and findings.
• Conclusions and recommendations.

Longer reports will all also include information about the overall media landscape (including such elements as any violations of media freedom).

All serious media monitoring reports will have certain common elements in their style and presentation. The language used should always be neutral and politically non-partisan. Conclusions and observations will be presented clearly and substantiated by the statistical data and other evidence presented. The limitations and possible weaknesses of the data should also be explained.

Data will be more clearly comprehensible if it is presented graphically – for example as bar or pie charts. However, care should be taken with this. Absolute data should also be shown as percentages to help readers understand their significance. But percentages should also be qualified by showing the absolute data on which they are based. It is all to easy to write something like: “There was 100 per cent more coverage of Party A than of Party B.” But perhaps there were just two stories about one party and one about the other.

Recommendations are also important. If the report is a reflective one covering the whole election period, these will be aimed at future changes in media practice and perhaps also the law and regulations governing the media in election periods. For interim reports, recommendations are likely to be more specifically focused in order to encourage the media to report more fairly.

Distributing reports

In most cases it is now easiest to distribute regular media monitoring reports by email. But in doing so, do not ignore the important audiences that may not be readily accessible by this medium. Here is a quick check-list of the possible audiences for media monitoring reports. They will vary, of course, depending on local circumstances as well as the nature of the monitoring exercise.

• Media houses.
• The electoral management body.
• Political parties.
• Media regulatory bodies.
• Relevant non-governmental organisations.
• Professional media bodies (such as journalists’ unions, voluntary media council etc).
• Civic and community organisations.
• Observer and monitoring groups and missions.
• Diplomatic and donor bodies.