‘Scale up coverage on local polls
Institute for War and Peace Reporting (IWPR) with funding from DfID and USaid released its first media monitoring report of the political campaign last month. The report showed that the ruling party People’s Party (PP) is enjoying significant coverage from the media among other issues. ALBERT SHARRA talked to Cheu Mita, programme manager of IWPR on the results of the report and other issues.
Q.
Do you think the report is fair considering that PP is the ruling party and answerable for all national policies, hence its appearance in most stories and media?
A.
Yes, the report is fair. If you had to check reports from any democracy on media monitoring, you will find that the incumbent party is usually given more coverage both positive and negative and this can then be broken down to fair and unfair coverage between State and private-owned media houses.
Q.
Media reports represent the majority perception. Some people have argued that it is not possible to expect parties with minority following to compete at equal levels with DPP, MCP, PP and UDF. What methodology did you use to come up with the results?
A.
Methodologically, the study used news at midday and evening bulletins for issues and parties covered in the radio. For newspapers, we looked at headlines and inside covers for who was covered. We also focused on web news and Facebook on issues trending at midday and 6pm. We used journalists in training at the Polytechnic and Malawi Institute of Journalism (MIJ) supervised by experienced journalism lecturers.
Q.
On parties, the report shows that priority is being given to DPP, PP, MCP and UDF, but some media have questioned the criteria used in monitoring the media, saying they are covering almost every party through news and special programmes. What do you say?
A.
The issue of small party’s lack of coverage is not because they are covered in the news. You must remember that we are monitoring the main news bulletins in a day and not other political programmes and indeed some of the journalists admitted that they feature smaller parties in other programmes other than news.
The issue of funding should not be lost here. Parties with enough funding and radio stations are covered better than those with limited funding. Let the small parties tell us if they feel they are covered on news like the other parties.
Q.
The report shows imbalance on coverage of presidential, parliamentarian and local government elections. What did you find as reasons for this?
A.
We can explain the imbalance between the three elections this way: usually, journalists focus on presidential elections because they are the torch bearers and wield power which is expected to cascade to the MPs and councillors. The presidents’ campaign on behalf of these two as well as themselves. They are invited to boost their campaigns! In the process these two elections are not given the focus they deserve. Worse still, the results are indicative that Malawi is not ready for the local government elections. The confusion on the role of councillors versus MPs is the bone of contention. I think this contributes to the current coverage.
Q.
Looking at the results, do you think the media is doing enough to influence the public to make informed decisions during the polls?
A.
So far so good. But we still have not done enough. If the media is not covering some candidates, it means more is yet to be done. I want to challenge the media to scale up coverage of local government candidates. For instance, I do not know who I would vote for on local government in my area because there isn’t enough information. Give us the information and policies that these candidates are advancing so that we can make informed choices.
Q.
The objective of the project is to promote professional, fair and peaceful reporting during the elections. What action are you going to take from the report?
A.
As chairperson of Misa Malawi Chapter Anthony Kasunda already pointed out, they have started taking MBC to task through the Broadcasting Complaints Committee. But this doesn’t necessarily mean we are singling out MBC. The results will also be used to inform the committee of any other biases in the broadcast media which they can take up with the respective media houses. We are also planning to engage with specific media houses and the Editors Forum on this and subsequent reports.
Q.
What role do you think the report will play on both the media and the public?
A
.Well tongues have already started wagging after the results came out. Expectedly, some support the findings while others feel otherwise. But we can only present the figures and hope to see the change in media coverage of the campaign and eventually the tripartite elections.
We hope the report will be able to shape the coverage as we delve deeper into the campaign and also hope that candidates themselves will start demanding more from journalists, especially the local government candidates. The candidates must not fear the prospect of approaching the media for coverage. For most it’s because they feel they have to pay for it, but they haven’t given it a chance.
Q.
Any additional comment?
A.
The media must continue to do the good job that they are doing and ensure they stick to the cardinal principles of journalism which are truth, fairness and accuracy in all their dealings. We also would like to challenge the journalists to go out and find the news and not wait for the news to find them. It must be remembered that democratic governance requires an active and informed citizenry, and the media play a vital role in providing citizens with information they need to exercise their right to take part in governmental and public affairs. Monitoring the media is therefore essential in promoting integrity in the broader political process.
