Effective
coverage of an election is coverage that is planned. Whether planning entails
complex deployment of resources or skilful maximising of scarce ones, election
coverage will not work properly without it.
An
effective election plan addresses the following questions:
- What resources are available? Is there
a special budget for election coverage, or will it have to be met out of
the normal editorial budget? What staff are available – is there a budget
to hire additional staff or freelancers?
- What is the timetable of the election?
When are the crucial phases and to what extent will it be possible to
prepare coverage for these phases in advance?
- What are the particular issues in this
election and how far will these influence the way in which a particular
media outlet organises its coverage?
- What innovations in coverage will the
media outlet need to make? What will be distinct features of its coverage?
- What are the interests and needs of
the media outlet’s audiences and other key stakeholders, vis a vis
election coverage?
The
answers to these questions will differ enormously depending on whether the
media outlet concerned is, say, an international satellite television network
or a local newspaper. Scale of
operations will also vary, however planning issues remain essentially the same.
The
following checklist highlights issues that editors will need to address before
the start of an election campaign (this list is adapted from the International
Federation of Journalists’ Election reporting Handbook.[i]
- Key dates of the election
process: voter registration, candidate nomination, campaign period, voting
day, announcement of results etc.;
- Regulations and laws
affecting election coverage during each of these periods.
- Budgets for election
coverage and identification of more costly election phases;
- Teams who will cover the
election – as well as political staff, other specialised reporters tend to
cover particular aspects of the campaign;
- Election coverage management–
senior editors who will decide on any sensitive matters that emerge in the
course of the campaign;
- Technical and operational
arrangements;
- Any additional personnel;
- Resources such as election
experts and pundits, who can advise on election matters, training
material, or photo and video libraries;
- Reputable companies to run
opinion surveys;
- Angles, focuses and
priorities that are appropriate to our media outlet and audience;
- Reporting formats,
particularly when a media outlet is multi-media;
- Emergency and
journalist-safety planning.
As indicated in the checklist, journalists
covering an election require different knowledge and tool sets for each of the
electoral phases or periods of the election.
Not only will content of coverage differ, there will also be variations in
rules and regulations applicable to each period. Common electoral phases or periods that
journalists will need to contend with are:
- Candidate
nomination and pre-campaign
Each of these phases is explored in greater
detail on subsequent pages.
[i] Jean Paul
Marthoz, “An Editors Model for Election Coverage”, chapter three of Election Reporting Handbook,
(International Federation of Journalists, n.d.),19-24 http://ethicaljournalisminitiative.org/en/contents/a-editors-model-for-election-coverage
