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