Media
professionalism is the conduct of media coverage and activities according to
high standards of ethics, accountability, legality and credibility, while
exercising rights such as freedom of expression and information.
An
important element in a media environment is the degree of professionalism and
experience of journalists and other media practitioners. It is common that
journalists in a country that has only recently emerged from a highly restrictive
political system will lack many of the skills and professional standards of
their counterparts in a country with a long history of media freedom. However, the experience of an authoritarian
regime may not be entirely negative. In many cases, courageous independent
journalism has played an important part in pressuring dictatorships to open up
the political space. Journalists who have successfully investigated and
published sensitive stories in such a media environment will have developed
professional skills that are unmatched by their colleagues in friendlier
circumstances. In the context of an election, the professional challenge will
be to bring these skills to bear on a new and unfamiliar set of stories to be
reported.
Most
of the ethical and professional issues that journalists encounter in covering
elections are variants of what they confront in their everyday working lives.
However, these issues and dilemmas may present themselves in particular ways
during elections.
Examples
of such professional dilemmas might include:
- Newsworthiness v. balanced
and thorough coverage: News coverage is typically driven by considerations of
what is unique or remarkable and therefore of particular interest in an
event. Yet electors require fair and balanced presentation of the
manifestoes and agendas of the different parties (which may be far from
distinct or interesting). How can the media reconcile their news function
with their public service function?
- Transparency v. integrity
of the election process: One of the reasons that the media play an essential
role in democracies is that they are able to scrutinise and expose
malpractice in elections. However, proper administration of an election
also depends on security and confidentiality. Balancing these two elements
is an issue for lawmakers and those responsible for drawing up electoral
regulations. However it is also a day-to-day practical issue for
journalists themselves.
- Reporting inflammatory
speech: Politicians are more likely to express
extreme and inflammatory sentiments during election campaigns – with the
intention of impacting large audiences. Yet, it is perhaps paradoxical
that while election campaigns are occasions where these sentiments
frequently have negative impact or consequences, campaigns are also
occasions when freedom to express differing political views is of utmost
important. The regulatory implications of this dilemma are for
policymakers to resolve. For journalists the challenge is to report
inflammatory political speech in a manner that is both accurate and least
likely to provoke violence.
- Resourcing elections
coverage:
In the developing world in particular, media outlets often operate with
minimal resources, and journalists are often poorly paid. This provides a
number of ethical problems for editors. For example, what should a media
outlet do if there are not enough journalists (or supporting communication
equipment and funding) to cover an election? For some, one answer has been
to allow journalists to receive ‘per diem’ or ‘honoraria’ or other
material reward for covering a story, sometimes by a candidate or
contestant, a practice which although widespread is in fact bribery and
detrimental to independent reporting.
The following
pages explore the following elements of media professionalism:
- Codes
of conduct
- Legal
issues in election reporting
- Accuracy
in election reporting
- Impartiality
in election reporting
- Responsibility
in election reporting
