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Media
and the 2005 parliamentary election - Briefing paper 1
Media Monitoring
Project of Zimbabwe (MMPZ)
February 16, 2005
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Zimbabwe’s 2005
Parliamentary elections cannot be deemed to be free and fair if
the media are not able to report freely. In addition, voters must
be able to access accurate information that allows them to make
an informed democratic choice about the representatives they vote
for. Similarly, candidates have a right to convey their views to
the electorate. The electorate has a right to be informed at all
times, especially during elections, and this should not be portrayed
as a privilege. Information disseminated by the media should enable
individuals to develop their own opinions and make informed decisions.
To do this, voters require fair and accurate information about a
party’s policies and programmes, as well as information about aspiring
candidates. Media institutions should be especially aware of their
basic professional responsibility to provide fair, accurate and
balanced coverage of elections, particularly relating to the parties
contesting the election. This applies to:
- Voter education
– material, telling the electorate why and how they should
vote, produced by electoral authorities or the media themselves
- Editorial
coverage – news and current affairs coverage under editorial
control of the media. (this coverage of the election is not controlled
by the authorities or the candidates.)
- Direct Access
coverage – This is material produced by the political parties
or the candidates themselves in order to use the media to
tell the electorate about their policies.
Political opponents
of government have a right to be heard in the publicly funded media,
which is usually controlled by governments (particularly in Zimbabwe),
especially at election time. Precisely because these media use public
funds they have a responsibility to cover all contesting parties and
candidates fairly and without discrimination. In addition, all media
institutions should not be unduly restricted in carrying out their
activities.
As noted by former UN Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Opinion and
Expression, Abid Hussein "in pre-election periods…the State
must ensure that the media is given the widest possible latitude"
in order to achieve "the most fully informed electorate
possible." "The media – television, radio, newspapers, magazines,
posters and pamphlets and other forms of verbal and written communication
- are central to the electoral process. Without these, candidates
and voters would be hard-pressed to gather and share information and
views."
The main focus of scrutiny with regard to election coverage should
be the public media, which depends on public funds. This includes
Zimbabwe Broadcast Holdings (ZBH), the national public broadcaster.
As all its four radio stations and the country’s only television station
are owned by the State – and not the government – it therefore has
a national public duty to report without bias and provide equitable
access to the airwaves to all political parties and their candidates.
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