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Direct access to the media in election campaign
A review & recommendations for Zimbabwe
Media Monitoring Project Zimbabwe
November 30, 2001

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Introduction
The media play a vital role in allowing voters to make an informed choice in democratic elections. Indeed, if the media are not given the chance to report freely on election issues, the vote cannot be properly described as free and fair.

Three different rights are at stake:

• The right of voters to have accurate information on which to make their democratic choice
• The right of parties and candidates to put their views across to the voters
• The right of the media to report freely on election issues in ways that it sees fit.

Take away any one of these three rights and the others fall away too. For example, if candidates are stopped from expressing their views, then the media do not have a free choice on how to report election issues and the voters do not get the information that they need. If the media are restricted in their reporting, then this inhibits the ability of candidates to convey their views and the right of voters to receive information. And so on.

This is why the Media Monitoring Project attaches such importance to monitoring the role of the media in the forthcoming election.

• Three types of media coverage
• Direct access: issues to discuss
• Direct access coverage in Zimbabwe - recent experiences
• Paid advertising, free direct access - or a mixture of the two?
• Will the same system apply to the public and private media?
• If private advertising is allowed, will any limit be placed on the amount of advertising allowed for each candidate?
• If free direct access is allowed, how will it be decided what time or space is allocated?
• Who is responsible for making this allocation?
• Who will produce the direct access material? Who will pay for it?
• At what time should direct access programmes be broadcast?
• How long should direct access broadcasts be?
• Should there be any restrictions on the content of direct access broadcasting?
• Should free time given to a candidate be counted as a campaign donation?

Summary of recommendations
The following is a summary of the recommendations made in this paper. It must be stressed that these are suggestions for discussion and are not intended to preclude the workshop reaching different conclusions.

• Zimbabwe should adopt a system of free direct access by parties in election periods, at least for broadcasting. Paid political advertising would not be permitted.
• Failing that, any media that offer advertising time or space to one party or candidate should do so at their lowest non-political rate of advertising and should make similar time or space available to all parties or candidates.
• If private broadcasters opt to run direct access they should do so under the same system of free programming that applies to ZBC.
• If paid political advertising were to be allowed in broadcasting (which MMPZ regards as an undesirable option) then strict limits should be placed on spending.
• In any event, all sources of campaign funding should be made public. Failure to publish audited campaign accounts should be a criminal offence.
• Zimbabwe should adopt an equity system for allocating direct access broadcasting time. However, this system should contain a substantial allocation of time for new parties or candidates.
• MMPZ recommends that all presidential candidates should receive a basic allocation of direct access time. This should be substantially topped up with time allocated in proportion to the votes cast for each candidate’s party in the last parliamentary elections.
• Allocation of direct access time should be the responsibility of an independent electoral commission.
• There should at least be an option for parties to have direct access broadcasts made free of charge by ZBC. All editorial control would rest with the parties and ZBC’s role would be purely technical.
• The electoral authorities should ensure an equal division of prime broadcasting slots between parties with equal broadcasting time, and fair access to prime slots by parties with smaller allocations.
• The order of direct access broadcasts should be decided by drawing lots.
• The allocation of time for broadcasting should be divided into slots of a standard length – say five or 10 minutes, which would allow sufficient time for parties to explain their policy on a particular issue.
• The media should not be held legally liable for the content of direct access material.
• Members of the public or those who have been criticized should have the right to make a complaint to the electoral authority – this hinges on the existence of an independent and impartial electoral commission.
• The electoral commission is empowered to give the complainant a right of reply in the same media and of similar prominence, if it finds that the original material was seriously inaccurate or malicious.
• A right of reply would not apply in relation to statements of opinion, however strongly worded, unless they contained an explicit incitement to commit violence.
• The legal provisions regarding public funding of political parties should be vigorously applied. Any extra airtime given to a party by a public media organization should be deducted from that party’s statutory allocation of funds.

For More Information Please Contact
Project Coordinator, Media Monitoring Project Zimbabwe (MMPZ)
15 Duthie Avenue, Alexandra Park, Harare, Zimbabwe
Tel/Fax: +263-4-703702
View MMPZ fact sheet

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