The role of the media
Elections anywhere in the world attract media attention. In many countries national elections will
dominate the media for weeks before polling. Other electoral activities such as voter registration
or voter education do not tend to attract the same level of media interest. The media will largely
decide their own role and many electoral campaigns are fought largely in the media and
particularly on radio and television - political parties pay far more attention and put more
resources into getting media cover than other areas. The media are an important consideration to
the electoral manager but the demands of the media should not take precedence over the
organisation of the election. The amount of information the media ask for and inquiries from the
media particularly if there are particular problems with any aspect of the election can be very
distracting for electoral staff.
An officer of the National Electoral Commission or equivalent body should be responsible for
supplying the media with information throughout the process and particularly on polling day.
Specialist Public Relations Staff.
Dealing with the media is a specialist skill - some elections may be low key and the interest of
the media will be minimal unless there is a particular candidate issue or problem. In the United
Kingdom (GB) many electoral managers will deal with elections throughout their career without
having any major demands on them from the media - they will then be faced with a
parliamentary casual vacancy and find that their constituency suddenly becomes the focus of
national interest and they will be overwhelmed by the media - the count will be covered by
over 100 press, television and radio reporters instead of the usual 6 to 10. The first piece of
advice is to use specialist Public Relations staff to deal with the media - they can take a lot of
pressure off the electoral manager at a crucial time and in the event of a major problem or
incident it is a considerable benefit to have quality PR staff between the electoral manager and
the media. There is a cost implication but often hiring PR staff is less expensive than hiring
specialist election staff.
Information for the media
The media will expect information about the electoral process - good quality briefing packs and
press releases will help the media to report the election accurately and will also (hopefully)
reflect well on the electoral manager. Background and statistical information included in packs
will be used by the media in the run up to the elections and helps inform the public about what is
going on and what is involved in the organisation of the election. Elections Canada issue a
background briefing pack to the media - see Media Pack - Elections Canada - which details every aspect of the
electoral process. It explains the districting provisions, numbers of vacancies, the voting process,
who is responsible at local level, the absentee voting provisions and so on. Often the media's
requirements at local level are much less sophisticated and only basic information about the
forthcoming election is requested. The standard media sheet distributed at constituency level for
a United Kingdom Parliamentary Election may consist of only one sheet of paper - see
Media Information - United Kingdom.
Results
What the media want more than anything else is information about the results of the elections.
Sometimes the media have access to more results than the national electoral commission or
national government - in contrast in some emerging democracies there are very few media
representatives in rural areas and only Electoral Officials are allowed to fgive out results. The
scale of news coverage of a national election in the United States of America (US) or in Europe
means that results at local level are transmitted to the national centres of the media and are
published within seconds of them being announced at local level.
Where detailed results have to be collated nationwide then the national results centre is likely to
be the place where the emerging picture of results is first known. The national results centre is
the place where local results are first sent to and then collated to give the national picture - as
well as the collection of results it is often the place where the parties and candidates gather and
where as well as results there are interview facilities and general facilities for the media to use. It
is very difficult and usually not necessary to constrain the issue of election results but in Canada
and the United States of America where there are multiple time zones the risk of results in the
east influencing voting in the west is the subject of continued debate and attempts to prohibit
publication of results in the east of Canada until voting is complete in the west have not been
entirely successful.
Conduct of the Media
The conduct of the media may be regulated in the electoral law although in the terms of a media
results centre the legal provisions are rarely relevant. Codes of Conduct are however of
assistance to both the Electoral Manager and the Media and if these have some force in the law
that is an added advantage. The Electoral Law for Bosnia / Herzegovina (BA) contains
regulations concerning the obligations to the Media and standards of professional conduct for the
media - see 'emx-l006' Articles 125 to 136. This is an excellent way of setting out in advance of
the election what will be given and what is required.
Media Centre
Where there is considerable interest from the media in the results information obtained by the
Electoral Manager then consideration should be given to establishing a media centre. This can
range in scale from a centre which is the primary source of supply of results and background
information for national elections through to a centre established at local level dealing with the
results for one council or region.
An example of the former is the media centre established by the Hungarian Electoral
Commission to give out results and information on the 1994 elections. The polls closed at
7.00pm and immediately counts were complete results and statistical information was passed to
the media centre. This was in central Budapest and there were many large rooms and a small
theatre plus excellent refreshment facilities. There were areas reserved for the various parties,
areas for journalists and areas for television and radio personnel who had all the communications
facilities they needed. Entry was strictly controlled with excellent security - bar coded entry
passes were supplied so the Commission knew who was in the premises and who was not. There
were ample interview and briefing facilities which could be used by the parties, candidates,
media and observers both local and international. The briefing material available about Hungary,
the Electoral System, the results documentation and in fact everything anyone could want to
know about the process was excellent and as results were available there was constant updating
of the overall position in graphic and hard copy form. The Election Commission Officials were
available to answer questions and generally the facilities were excellent for everyone involved in
the election and the speed of the results and the quality of administration gave everyone present
confidence in the transparency of the process and the competence of the Election Commission.
The Internet is increasingly being used by electoral officials to give instant access to electoral
results and information. In the United Kingdom (GB) there would be no equivalent centre for
national elections. The media would collate the results nationally and the news service would be
run from their studios and not from the Count centres although there would be live coverage of
many of these. At local level the media interest is likely to be much lower but local news
organisations still want to know the results and background information. The media centre
usually also becomes the place where the candidates and party representatives gather to see the
overall picture. See Results Information - United Kingdom for typical results and statistics for a United Kingdom (GB)
Local Council. The information is basic but supplies the media with what they need to know
namely
- who was elected and the votes cast for the unsuccessful candidates
- the turnout
both in average form and for individual elections
- party gains and losses
- political composition of the Council
Preparation of this material is simple and inexpensive if proper advance planning is used - but it
gives to participants prompt and clear information about what is happening and increases
confidence - inability to supply information often leads to concerns about process.
