The role of the media throughout the electioneering period was under the spotlight recently at a two-day workshop organised by Media Scholars Network (MSN). At the event, the partisan role of the media was highlighted by scholars and professionals, Assistant Editor LEKE SALAUDEEN reports.
Media scholars and practitioners gathered recently to give an appraisal on the performance of the media before, during and after the presidential election. It was at the two-day workshop organised by the Media Scholar Network (MSN) in collaboration with the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC). It was held at the Conference Hall, University of Lagos, Akoka, Lagos, under the theme: “Fair Election Reporting: Sustaining Best Practices”.
Convener, Professor Ayo Olukotun, set the ball rolling when he said the role of the media in election coverage is an issue that has generated debate and controversy at scholarly and polemical levels. It is not for nothing that observer groups monitoring elections in developing democracies have constantly fingered the lack of media level playing-field at election seasons as an obstacle to free and fair elections as to democratic consolidation.
Olukotun, a lecturer at the Department of International Relations, Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU), Ile-Ife, noted that the international observer groups monitoring Nigerian elections such as the European Union (EU) have complained consistently of biased coverage of elections, as well as differential access of political parties to the media. Their complaint is corroborated by the Transition Monitoring Group (TMG), a coalition of domestic civil society groups which is engaged in election monitoring, he said.State-owned media are particularly guilty of this, according to the don. “They do not operate as public service media, but as more or less the mouthpieces of the political parties that control them. Also in the same category are privately-owned media where interests of the proprietor interfere with objective reporting,” he added.
Professor Lai Oso of the Department of Mass Communication, Lagos State University (LASU), also lamented that a lot of media organisations took sides and were biased in their reportage and coverage of different political parties and their activities. He said rather than give fair hearing to all candidates and their political parties, some media organisations decided to show solidarity to some candidates and to vilify others. This, he said, was a total deviation from the code of ethics that guides the media profession.
On ethical conduct, Oso said: “Good journalism requires decent conduct that conforms to acceptable social norms, values and ethical codes.” Oso was equally miffed by the role played by the management of some print and electronic media. He said they threw caution to the wind and behaved like politicians.
He said: “Editors dished out opinions as news, projected hate speeches, hate documentaries for selfish interest. Some newspapers editors could not apply their sense of judgment to turn down adverts that was intended to incite the public against opposition candidates or leaders? Why should an editor accept a death wish advert to be published in his paper? Why should editors be consulting for political parties campaign organisations? These are sad developments that must be addressed by regulatory agencies for the sake of the future of journalism in this country.”
According to him, “the media was expected to be the unifying factor for all interest groups, but unfortunately some media executives were brazenly partisan. If politicians come with raw and indecorous content, is it not the media’s responsibility as professionals to determine what will suit the sensitivities and sensibilities of Nigerian readers and viewers by toning down such adverts or asking the advertiser to go and refine his production?
In his paper titled: “Objectivity in Journalism: An Elusive Ideal”, Oso explained that the way and manner political gladiators conducted themselves and their politics no doubt influenced the way journalists behaved as producers of news and the type of political news available to them. “In a society where almost everything is seen from the prisms of religion, ethnicity, region and other differences, it is very difficult for the journalist to adhere to any universal notion of objectivity or other ethical principle,” he said.
In his own assessment, a South Africa-based communication specialist, Mr Bunmi Makinwa, opined that the media could have done much better than they did in the coverage of pre-voting phase of the presidential election. According to him: “The crucial communication exchange between candidates and electorate, facilitated by the media, hardly took place. The knowledge of candidates, understanding of issues, analysis of performance of candidates and political parties hardly featured in any serious way in many of the media.
“The mass media failed unreservedly in its professional duty of being a source of information and education of the populace. In analyses of information, verification of facts by parties, ascertaining claims by candidates, there was too little of substance. And whatever little that was done was not prominent in most of the media and even less so in newspapers that traditionally serve such important purposes. Many candidates are yet really unknown and surprises should be expected from people who will assume political offices.
“Even in the use of adverts, positioning of candidates and political parties, the public media especially did very poorly. A major area of uneasiness was the easy acquiescence of the official media organisations to unbridled use (more of misuse) by their government owners, both federal and state. The situation went even further: public roads, offices, buildings and other infrastructure were “colonized” by the said governments and wantonly used for their messaging, adverts and promotion, including excluding opposition from their uses, even when they wanted to pay as required. Such abuse of official organs and structures should stop. There should be better regulation, monitoring and sanctions of uses of public facilities during electioneering. It is encouraging that some political parties sought court interventions and obtained judgment against the abuse.”
In assessing the media coverage of the presidential election, former Editor of National Interest, Mr Tony Iyare, noted that the Nigerian Media Code of Election Coverage sets the guidelines of the conduct of journalists in reporting election issues in all spheres. Many of the guidelines, he observed, were observed in breach across board.
For instance, Section 1.0 which deals with equitable access says: “The performance of campaign platform and public role of the Nigerian media during election requires deference to the right of parties and candidates in elections to equitable media access especially as envisaged by legislative and institutional frameworks and other relevant instruments including the Electoral Act (as amended), the Nigerian Broadcasting Code (as revised) and the Nigerian Press Organisation Code of Ethics for Nigerian journalists. It also requires giving opportunity to under- represented groups to express their views.
Section 1.1 states the responsibility of media organisations to include: A broadcast medium shall ensure equitable allocation of time at specific but similar periods for all parties contesting elections to state their programmes; a media organisation shall regularly apply the principle of equity in the coverage and reportage of campaigns and other activities of parties and candidates contesting elections; a media organisation shall at all times uphold the right of parties and candidates to reply to allegations made against them and that a broadcast medium shall strive to ensure the participation of all parties and candidates contesting elections in political debates.
The code also says in Section 1.2 that a media organisation shall, as a matter of deliberate editorial policy, target under-represented groups, especially women, youths, persons living with disabilities and rural dwellers in the coverage of electoral processes.
According to Iyare, the report of the monitoring project conducted jointly by the International Press Centre and Nigerian Press Council with the support of the United Nations Development Project (UNDP) which covered some national and regional newspapers in addition to online and social medium platforms, generally applauded the media for devoting the highest percentage of the reporting of issues to campaigns, which it argued clearly showed an attemptto bring the attention of voters to what the candidates and parties stand for.
But the report noted “it was regrettable that political and electoral conflicts had the better part of media attention than voter education which really should have been at the core of reporting for the month given the contentious issues of PVCs TVCs and card readers”.
Speaking on the performance of the media, former Editorial Board Chairperson of the Nigerian Compass, Mrs Tayo Agunbiade said some reports were obviously biased, while many adverts contained inflammatory comments. According to her, the media didn’t exhibit a high level of professionalism in handling the last election, particularly as it regards publication of hate speeches. There were clear violations of the ethics.
“In the aspect of conflict and sensitivity, the media failed to live up to expectations. There were sensational headlines There were significant areas of non compliance with the code of conduct while there were few areas of compliance.
“Procedures should be established that monitor and ensure that election reporting prior to, during and after is fair, unbiased, neutral, non-partisan and not sensational. We must ensure that space are allocated to all parties fairly and reports should be balanced and not in favour of any party or persons.”
To guide against partisan role of the media in future election coverage, Makinwa suggested that all publicly-owned media, including public service broadcasters, should respect strict rules of impartiality and balance, particularly when reporting on the governing party/parties and on government decisions and actions during an election period. This implies that equal coverage should be given to arguments in favour of both sides in any referendum.
The media should grant all parties and candidates equitable access to communicate their messages directly with the public, either for free or at subsidised rate. Equitable access means fair and non-discriminatory access allocated according to objective criteria for measuring overall levels of support, and includes factors such as timing of access and any fees.
Olukotun stressed the need for continuous training and re-training programmes for journalists. He said: “It is important that journalists and stakeholders in the information enterprise from time to time to meet to review their craft with a view to determining whether they are maintaining or falling short of best practices.
“Obviously the role of the media in providing accurate information and objective reporting as well as analysis in a season of election cannot be over-emphasised. The media are crucial to the dissemination of credible information as well as providing a communication level playing field to the principal competitors and even to the electoral umpire, namely the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).”
