A thorough understanding of the laws governing elections is a precondition for reporting elections.
Senior editors and executives involved in planning coverage will need to know what their legal obligations are. What, for example, are the laws or regulations relating to content of either direct access programming or news coverage, and systems can a media house put in place to meet its obligations? Media personnel will also want to know reporting or access restrictions in place for the various stages of an electoral process. For example, will journalists have access to the count and will there be restrictions on reporting results prior to an official results announcement? More information about regulations can be found in Legal Framework for Media and Elections.
Editors and journalists and will also need to be well versed in an EMB’s operational and procedural plan for the elections. For example, staff will want to know what provisional precautions exist to safeguard the security of ballot boxes and ballots, including sourcing of seals, boxes and ballots; the existence of databases for tracking ballot stub serial numbers; plans for ballot box transportation; and provision of storage facilities.
If journalists are to report accurately – and hold election administrators to account – they should also become familiarized with the electoral system employed in an election. If this seems obvious, the reality is that all too often reporters simply do not understand how the system works. For example, they are unable to analyse the criteria for delimitation of electoral boundaries to determine if delimitation has been carried out fairly. Furthermore, journalists often do not understand how an election result is reached, particularly in elections involving more complicated formulae than “first past the post” systems.
Most of these areas of knowledge can be addressed through journalist training as well as other vital elements of media development such as incorporation of electoral law into university degree programs, advocacy for electoral legal frameworks that encourage media access to electoral events (thereby also encouraging learning and skill building), building electoral law literacy within the general public, and so forth.
