In order to report elections in a professional manner, journalists benefit from adequate training, support and practice.  Some additional areas of knowledge that journalists need for elections reporting include:

• An understanding of the political and electoral system
• An understanding of the overall electoral process
• Familiarity with electoral law, especially as it affects media reporting
• Understanding of the role of the media in covering elections
• Knowledge of the country’s election history
• Detailed knowledge of the mechanics of voter registration, boundary delimitation, the vote, the count and any other issues of relevance (such as the use of technology in voting or the use of postal votes, if these are potential matters of controversy)
• The contestants, their power-bases, relationships, leadership, and so on
• The differing roles of men and women in the elections, and actions being taken to ensure women’s participation
• Types of reporting that are fairly specific to elections (such as reporting opinion polls)
• Election coverage and safety
• New media in the context of election coverage, candidate campaigns, citizen journalism, etc . . .
• Investigative journalism in the context of elections
• Public attitudes to the candidates and the elections
• Audience needs for information on the elections

Journalists covering elections tend to come from a range of backgrounds. Some have joined media organisations as young cadets, with or without first obtaining a university degree; some are autodidacts who have written or broadcast their way into a professional journalism job. Some have university-level journalism education; others have received a number of on-the-job short courses; and some have received no formal training at all. Those with university education may have had exposure to elections-relevant course content, for example political science or public policy, while others may have degrees in less directly related subjects. In many countries, there are few educational institutions that offer specialised journalism courses.

Yet, despite the imbalance or the considerable variations between programs, the number of journalism education and training programs is growing around the world.  A survey conducted in 2008 by the University of Oklahoma and backed by the Knight Foundation had amassed information on 2850 programs. Roughly 21% of these programs were in Asia and the Pacific, surpassing the 19.3% in North America.[i] The World Journalism Education Council (WJEC) is currently compiling a database of journalism education programs worldwide.  At the date of this Media and Elections encyclopaedia update (2012) WJEC had amassed information regarding 2332 educational programs roughly 50% of which were in North America and Europe.[ii]

A statistic of educational programs does not indicate quality or nature of said programs, however. In some countries there is journalism training, however it may cater to an authoritarian establishment that does not encourage, or permit, democratic practices. Furthermore, where a wide range of quality long- and short-term courses are available in journalism, they may not specifically cover elections reporting.

A variety of institutions such as media development NGOs or EMBs, may provide election reporting training courses or workshops, thereby compensating for any lack thereof in formal education. These courses are usually a few days to a few weeks in duration and may take place in-country or internationally.  In-country training carries with it the advantage that more journalists can attend.  International training may provide journalists access to resources not available in-country, and provide them with diversity as a learning experience.  Training courses usually provide journalists a few key tools necessary for election reporting, but occasionally result in duplication of content between offered courses.  Furthermore, there may be few opportunities for journalists to attend more advanced courses that allow them to systematically increase their skill levels.  Ideally, election related training should be implemented over the course of entire electoral processes.  This ensures that trainees are able to fully grasp a variety of tools and challenges unique to each phase.

There are a number of potential questions to be addressed when institutions or organizations plan training courses:

• What is an affective and reasonable duration for a course?
• How can the training be made relevant and specific to the conditions (including degree of media literacy) of the country concerned?
• What security concerns have the potential to impact the training courses? 
• Will the security/political environment allow journalists to put new elections reporting skills to practice?
• How will participants be selected – will they have to sit an entrance test, be nominated by their institutions, etc.?
• Will it be possible to reach enough journalists to have an impact?
• Will female journalists be allowed to attend training, and what can be done to ensure that they are able to participate?
• When can journalists be trained to have the maximum benefit but not interfere with their actual reporting duties?
• What kind of follow-up activities can be carried out to ensure that training is part of a wider media development programme?

There are no simple answers to these questions. However, they can best be addressed if training is organized with close consultation with the most important stakeholders: the EMB, media regulators, media proprietors, and journalists’ professional bodies and trade unions. A media mapping exercise can also be useful as a precursor to training programmes, to ensure that media that have the greatest impact are invited to the training, and that a plurality of media participate.

There are a number of useful resources for journalists and trainers regarding tips and training for professional election coverage:

A recent publication released by the Center for International Media Assistance (CIMA) titled Covering Elections: The Challenges of Training the Watchdogs, provides an overview of election reporting training as well a substantial list of example courses in different countries.  It can be found here: http://cima.ned.org/publications/covering-elections-challenges-training-watchdogs

The International Federation of Journalists has produced a number of valuable resources for journalists to draw from for election reporting (and in general).  These include a code of ethics as well as an Election Reporting Handbook found here http://www.ifj.org/nc/en/news-single-view/category/meeting-1/article/election-reporting-handbook/

The Handbook for Journalists During Elections prepared by Reporters Without Borders, provides a comprehensive guide to election reporting including nuances of each step of an election as well as in depth guidance on campaign coverage. http://en.rsf.org/handbook-for-journalists-during-20-07-2012,43063.html

The Handbook for Journalists, also by Reporters Without Borders, provides advice on how journalists can stay safe in dangerous situations (http://en.rsf.org/handbook-for-journalists-17-04-2007,21744.html).

The Journalist Security Guide by the Committee to Protect Journalists is a handbook on covering news in dangerous situations and includes information on digital security: (cpj.org/security/guide.pdf)

Although the Institute for Media, Policy and Civil Society (IMPACs) is no longer in operation, their publications are still valuable resources for media personnel. Of particular importance to this discussion is their 2004 publication titled Media + Elections, An Elections Reporting Handbook found here.

The BRIDGE (Building Resources in Democracy, Governance and Elections) training modules are primarily aimed at election administration personnel, support providers, observers and other stakeholders.  These trainings are also valuable to members of media as they provide an in-depth look at the processes and mechanisms of each step of an electoral process.   This level of detailed knowledge will greatly aid any journalists endeavouring to cover an election.  Furthermore, one module is dedicated to Media and Elections, exploring the role of a Code of Conduct as well as working relationships between the EMB and the media.   More information can found at http://bridge-project.org/

Media and the Elections Process by the Reuters Foundation, provides useful and easy to read information on electoral processes such as voting systems, counting systems, issues pertaining to electoral boundaries or campaign financing, and so forth and  can be found here.