Everything that has been said about the Journalists' Right of Access to Election Events and the process of Accreditation applies with equal force to any foreign media who are present. It is important to stress that this is a matter of principle. The fundamental sources of the right to freedom of expression - the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights - explicitly define this right as entailing the communication and receipt of information 'regardless of frontier'.
In most instances there will be foreign correspondents resident in - or at least accredited to - the country on a long-term basis. Since these journalists will invariably have some form of accreditation as a condition of their residence in the country, their further accreditation to cover the election presents little problem in principle or practice. A problem is more likely to arise if the election is a matter of some international interest (as elections do tend to be), with the attendant possibility that large numbers of foreign media staff will arrive at the last minute expecting to be able to cover it.
Precise arrangements will need to be coordinated between the body ordinarily responsible for accrediting foreign media and the organizers of the election. For immigration reasons all foreign journalists will need to be accredited, but as with domestic media personnel neither the government nor the electoral administrators have any discretion to decide who may or may not come to report the election. Accreditation is an administrative measure, not a means of keeping people out.
Common sense suggests that a measure of prior planning is needed, with an assessment of how many foreign media staff are likely to want to cover the elections. Not only can accreditation be planned in advance, but also other facilities such as the necessary telephone links from the media centre.
A measure of mutual patience and understanding is required. Elections are organized for the benefit of the electorate, not the international media (a fact that the latter sometimes need reminding of). International media do not directly benefit the electorate by scrutinizing the process and the politicians (although the growth of international broadcasting stations and Internet news outlets is changing this). But international accountability is part of the process of organizing free and fair elections and, to this extent, foreign media play a similar role to that of external election observers. It is therefore in the interests of democracy and the election process itself that they are allowed and enabled to do their job.
