Covering Elections in Small States: Guidelines for Broadcasters

This handbook for media coverage of elections in small states gives journalistic guidelines written by the author of the Commonwealth Broadcasting Association (CBA) Editorial Guidelines. The publishers intend it to be particularly relevant to election coverage in the Pacific region. It was prepared for the CBA Regional Conference in the Pacific, February 2009.

Contents include:

• Election Coverage - "Election broadcasts are subject to the same broadcasting and journalistic rules as other programmes. That is to say they must reflect established journalistic principles.
  1. Accuracy – the information is correct and is not in any way misleading or false.
  2. Integrity – the information is truthful, not distorted to justify a conclusion.
  3. Objectivity – the information reports fairly all relevant facts and significant points. It deals fairly and ethically with persons, institutions, issues and events." This section details public entitlement to hear all points of view, and to broadcast credibility, balance, and impartiality.
• Preparing for an Election - Preparations include:
  1. "...set up a special elections unit, staffed by the station’s most talented journalists to draw up plans for the campaign.
  2. Train this election team during this pre-election period. See it is headed by an experienced senior journalist....
  3. Draw up guidelines for coverage which include how to achieve balance, monitoring that balance, resisting pressure to act undemocratically, and responding to complaints from the parties which will inevitably arrive....
  4. Secure acceptance for these guidelines by all concerned as the agreed basis for election broadcasting. This includes the Ministry of Information, the major political parties and the official body responsible for running the election....
  5. Publish these guidelines. This can be as a pamphlet, in newspapers or magazines, on a web-site on the Internet and of course on air....
  6. Establish an overall election programme plan which covers what programmes will be produced; their format, how the issues will be explained, what rules will apply to programmes where rival candidates are taking part. Communicate this plan to the electoral body, to the politicians and to the audience. Wherever possible get a consensus.
  7. Introduce a comprehensive system for monitoring the election output. Be able to judge at every point in the campaign the balance of the programmes up to that point and relate that balance to the output which will follow....
  8. You will need to set up a system to log coverage given to each party. A large wall-chart with basic details of every election story broadcast entered after each bulletin/news program is one effective way of doing this....
  9. Educate the audience. Responsibility for voter education rests largely with the broadcasters.
  10. Have a register of good speakers...."
• Reporting a Campaign - Strategies on balance include:
  1. "Equitable treatment is unlikely to be achieved in a single programme but can be achieved in a series of programmes. Audiences should be told opposing viewpoint(s) will be aired in the next programme in the series, and they should be told when it will be transmitted.... Single programmes should avoid individual editions getting badly out of balance....Daily programmes must maintain fair balance over the course of each week of the campaign..."
  2. "Each strand is responsible for reaching its own targets within the week and cannot rely on any other outlets at difference times of day...Every edition of the multi-item programmes which cover the campaign should refer in at least one item to each of the main parties."
  3. "Weekly programmes, or running series within daily sequence programmes, which focus on one party or another should trail both forwards and backwards so that it clear to the audience that balance is built in over time." This section also includes an example of South Africa's channel SABC's policies on fairness, demonstrating avoiding one-sidedness or favouring people or parties in power. It includes fact checking stories produced by the government or a Presidential Press Office: "Just because a story arrives via a government news agency does not mean it does not need checking."
• Party Election Broadcasts - This section advises on giving equal airtime to both the party in power and the opposing party. It describes a New Zealand system of time allocation based upon numbers of people, including party supporters, people who voted in prior elections, members sitting in government office, etc. It notes that time allocations need to be monitored for airtime in all of the country's official languages.
• The Right to Reply - The opportunity for parties or politicians to reply is often facilitated within 24 hours in a programme of similar weight and audience.
• Complaints Procedure - A Broadcasting Standards Authority can handle any complaints, giving urgent complaints priority - fast tracking to prevent tension and preserve public perception of fairness.
• Opinion Polls - As stated here these polls "must be treated with great caution..." because a party may want to attempt to swing voters by "creating a bandwagon effect. In reporting the findings of voter intention polls, say who or which organisation carried out the poll, how it was conducted (e.g. face-to-face interview, by telephone or via the Internet) who commissioned it, how many people took part, when was it carried out, over how many days? What is the margin of error? Had anything happened which might have a significant effect on public opinion since the poll was conducted."
• Polling Day - "The broadcasters must ensure that they do not put out anything which could be construed as influencing the poll. Obviously there needs to be some reporting but it has to be purely factual"... level of turnout, length of lines, etc.
• Exit Polls - Because they may be wrong, "[c]areful language must be used in reporting poll predictions."
• Reporting Referenda - Though circumstances under which referenda are held vary considerably, broadcasters must ensure that their coverage is: comprehensive; authoritative; impartial; and fair, reflecting balanced debate and giving the electorate an opportunity for informed choice.
• Implementing Guidelines - Develop journalistic codes and train journalists; ensure planning and resources for election coverage; familiarise staff with electoral law; and agree upon a code with the Ministry of Information, the political parties, and the Election Authority; then publish it.
• The Responsibilities of Authorities - Authorities need to ensure the rights and protection of broadcasters: "Broadcasters need to be able to operate in an environment free of violence and intimidation. They must be free from internal and external censorship..."and pressures in order to practice editorial independence. They must ensure fair and open voting registration, voting, and vote counting.