The views expressed in this publication are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the European Union, DFID, Denmark, Norway and UNDP. This publication has been produced with financial assistance from the European Union, DFID, Denmark, Norway and UNDP. MESSAGE FROM CHIEF ELECTION COMMMISIONER
Year 2013 saw the successful holding of the Constituent Assembly Election in Nepal. perplexed condition in the absence of an elected Legislature and Executive and where This historic event holds added significance in a situation when the nation was in a the head of Judiciary had to discharge the executive duty as well. The voter turnout recorded in this election was also historic, with about 80 per cent participation. The Election Commission of Nepal (ECN) feels proud to be in the centre of all those historic achievements. The success of the election is credited to all the election stakeholders – voters, political parties, all employees of the government and the election commission, the media and civil society, the international community and observers.
The ECN is revolutionising the management of election with the use of modern technologies as much as possible. Particularly mention-worthy in this context is the media monitoring activity that helped ECN to oversee the adherence to the related election code of conduct by the media. The media monitoring function was awarded to Nepal Press Institute, which had been serving in the country for over 25 years, as this was an institution with the requisite professionals with the necessary experience of media monitoring in previous elections. I am pleased to state that NPI and the professionals associated with it for media monitoring for the CAE of 2013 have accomplished the task to the satisfaction of ECN. I was pleased to receive periodic reporting of the nationwide monitoring activities. The task was completed successfully in spite of the acute time constraints faced even for preparatory tasks. I reckon that the media monitoring task accomplished by NPI and its professionals is a milestone in the history of election media monitoring in Nepal.
In your hands is a book that records not only the compliance of the code of conduct by Nepalese media outlets, but also various aspects of media monitoring for the election. I am sure that the publication will prove useful to all concerned, including media outlets. It is not just a routine report on code compliance but covers a wide range of topics related to media monitoring. In other words, it should prove to be a valuable reference point for future media monitors in Nepal. I would like to thank UNDP/ESP for providing support for the work. Finally, I would also thank the NPI for its contributions to making the entire election exercise a success.
Neel Kantha Uprety Chief Election Commissioner Election Commission Nepal August 10, 2014 MESSAGE FROM ELECTION COMMMISIONER
I am very proud to be part of our media monitoring exercise, conducted for the Constituent Assembly Election 2013, as it is an important tool for the Election Commission Nepal to enforce the media code of conduct as well as evaluate a whole lot of other factors. Recognising the importance of media monitoring as an organic function of election, the Election Commission took it upon itself to conduct media monitoring. Since it was my responsibility to oversee the gargantuan task that brought together media clippings from around the country, to analyse their compliance of the media code of conduct, I had the opportunity to visit the Nepal
The monitors were working under tremendous pressure as there was not even a Press Institute premises several times to see firsthand how things were progressing. month’s time for monitoring left when they were asked to do the job. Preparation and implementation of the task had to be achieved within that short period. I only wish there was more time available to them to carry out their job. It was truly a their mandate. The Commission was supplied with all these media clippings that memorable experience, seeing our media colleagues working frantically to fulfill remained at their disposal at all times and only a few mouse clicks away. What I can say for sure is that, this time, ECN has totally succeeded in improving on past monitoring exercises.
The report you have in your hands is an outcome of that historical exercise. It does not just analyse the newspaper clippings collected from throughout the country, but also provides in detail the whole monitoring event- from the planning stage to its completion. I would like to thank NPI for the great work that they have done.
Ila Sharma Election Commissioner (Co-ordinator, Media Monitoring Committee) Election Commission Nepal 10 August, 2014
FOREWORD OF THE PROGRAMME PARTNERS
Presence of a vibrant media is essential to a functioning democracy, including elections. A free and fair election is not about the freedom to vote and the knowledge of how to cast a vote, but also about making informed choices where voters engage in public debate and have adequate information about parties, policies, candidates and the election process. Media provide this space -- working as a watchdog to safeguard the transparency of the process.
The Election Commission of Nepal commissioned a media monitoring for the Constituent Assembly elections 2013 in line with the media code of conduct prepared development of the media fraternity in reporting elections. This analytical report for elections. The objective was to foster reflection and subsequent professional on media monitoring provides a rich view of how the media reported elections in 2013.
coverage by the media. A credible media reporting on future elections will further I am confident that this document will serve as a guide and improve future election cement public trust on democratic processes.
On behalf of European Union, DFID, Norway, Denmark and UNDP, I would like to thank the Chief Election Commissioner, Mr. Neel Kantha Uprety, and other Election
Commission and UNDP officials for their contributions to this nalytical eport on and fair elections. edia onitoring of Constituent ssembly Elections and for conducting free
Shoko Noda UNDP Country Director
A NOTE OF GRATITUDE NPI CHAIR
This report contains various aspects Nepal Press Institute is proud to have of media monitoring that Nepal successfully conducted the media Press Institute undertook for the monitoring event. The nationwide Election Commission during the 2013 exercise was truly monumental in not Constituent Assembly Election. The just scope and scale but also in throwing publication claims to be slightly off- up new challenges to be tackled. NPI the-beaten-track in that it is not just an had been waiting for a long while for analysis of the media codes, but a holistic just such an opportunity to come its record of the media monitoring exercise. way as it had not been able to utilize This should give a better perspective to the vast experiences accumulated from the reader regarding the background of earlier monitoring exercises. And, the the monitoring event. greatest of the challenges was to be able to overcome those brought about NPI has tried to organise the report by the hopelessly short time within into several segments. After a brief which everything had to be conducted. summary of the publication, the setting is provided by two chapters relating to We are grateful to the Election the history of elections in Nepal and the Commission for entrusting us with this way the media have come to treat these historical task. We would like to express exercises. Another section deals with the special gratitude to Chief Election monitoring activities which are detailed Commissioner Honourable Mr. Neel by chapters on how the monitoring Kantha Uprety’s continuous support system was designed and how the and encouragements to go along in spite logistics were managed. The analytical of the hurdles, particularly those related part follows with the actual monitoring with deadlines, and Commissioner Ms. reports, including analysis of various Ila Sharma for having an abiding faith aspects using statistical tools. There is in our abilities in spite of the short also a chapter on specialised campaign time available for everything. Similar reporting- viz on the coverage of gender, inclusion and campaign reporting. mainly Chief Technical Advisor/Project For those interested in social media Managergratitude Andres goes to Del UNDP/ESP Castillo, officials,Deputy activities, a chapter has been added Project Manager Kundan Das Shrestha to analyze Twitter activities during and National Electoral Education and the campaigns and after. This was not Information Centre Coordinator Nikila part of the mandated monitoring task Shrestha for their efforts in helping us assigned to NPI, but has been included, conduct our mandate with a resounding nonetheless. The legal perspective, i.e. success. the legal challenges facing enforcement of codes of conduct, is also discussed in Last, but not the least, NPI deeply the Analysis section. appreciates the efforts put in by the media monitors stationed in different implementation of the nationwide parts of the country where many of media monitoring. (Khanal, who led the them had to work in a rush and still team, is a professor of journalism with come out with the output expected Tribhuvan University.) of them. The untiring efforts of NPI's supporting staff too are memorable. In the core analysis section, Yogesh Koirala, in his report, How the Media Advisors, editors and translators Fared, revisits the daily reports submitted deserve our deep appreciation for their to the ECN to provide a qualitative valuable services without which this report would not be possible. efforts. (Koirala is a journalist, with prior monitoringanalysis of the experience findings of theat nationwideNPI.) Tara Coordinators of NPI Regional Media Prasad Bhusal, in Statistical Analysis, Resource Centres Birendra Kumar gives a quantitative description of the Sharma (Biratnagar), and Mohammad Arif Ansari (Nepalgunj), and Reader in economics with Tribhuvan monitoring center coordinators Brij University.)findings. (Bhushal is a statistician and Kumar Yadav (Janakpur), Punya Poudel (Pokhara), Janak Aryal (Chitwan), To supplement these analyses, Shobha Hari Thapa (Kathmandu) and Umid Gautam, in Gender, Inclusion and Election Bagchand (Dhangadhi) contributed Reporting, zeroes in on the few instances box items to enrich this report with of the election coverage to analyse it from their experiences. They merit special the gender perspective. Tanka Prasad mention. Dulal, in Legal Perspective, analyses the cases of code violation detected in Special thanks are due also to the the course of monitoring, reviews the team members who contributed their existing legal and policy framework and expertise and hard work in the making makes a few recommendations. (Dulal is of this report and wrote individual a lawyer with considerable experience segments. on media-law studies.)
To establish the settings for the In the Social Media Platform: Trends report Komal Dhamala delves into the Followed By Election Tweets, Jagadish History of Elections. (Dhamala is an Pokhrel examines the handle, text undersecretary at ECN). Kundan Aryal and time associated with the election in Media and the Codes looks into the conversation in the emerging social media performance in relation to the media platform, Twitter, as an additional election codes of conduct. (Aryal is a analysis pertaining to media monitoring. journalist and lecturer at Tribhuvan (Pokhrel is a journalist working with The University.) Rising Nepal.)
In the next section, which deals with The designers, Rabin Sayami, Arbindra the actual monitoring, Hari Uprety, in Man Singh and Rajendra Shakya deserve A Monitoring Concept is Realised, gives thanks for their painstaking efforts to an overview of the realm of media bring the report to this shape. monitoring as practised in Nepal in the recent times. (Uprety is a journalist and he coordinated the monitoring team Shobha Gautam for the Media Monitoring project.) Chairperson Chiranjibi Khanal, in The Logistics Nepal Press Institute and Management, discusses the swift 10 August 2014 CONTENTS
Prologue 11
The Setting 15 History of Elections in Nepal 17 Media and the codes 41
The Monitoring 59 A Monitoring Concept is Realised 61 The Logistics and Management 83
The Analysis 97 The Report : How the Media Fared 99 Statistical Analysis 121 Gender, Inclusion and Election Reporting 163 The Legal Perspective 189 The Social Media Platform : Trends Followed by Election Tweets 215
Major Recommendations 267
Key Abbreviations 269
Annex 271 Code of Conduct to be Observed by Mass Media 273 Request for Proposal 275 Details of Statistical Analysis 280
PROLOGUE
Thanks to the consultations with the time. The effort offers the ECN, UNDP Election Commission, Nepal and the and other international agencies like faith reposed by UNDP in Nepal Press the Election Support Programme, Institute, the unique and mammoth as well as NPI a reference point in task of preparing the Media Monitoring their quest for making future media pertaining to the 2013 Constituent monitoring exercises qualitatively and Assembly elections has been possible. quantitatively more comprehensive. The partnership in cooperation has resulted in this report which is highly The Code of Conduct issued by the and uniquely comprehensive in both ECN for various sectors, including the its size and breadth. The report is media, political parties and candidates a statement on the performance of in the fray, was the benchmark for all the Nepal media in the course of the November 2013 elections in which roles. While there are undoubtedly concerned to fulfil their respective more than 12 million voters (or, many areas where things can improve in 79 percent of the eligible voters) Monitoring activity was a uniquely future exercises, the month long edia their duties as citizens. A total of 120 challenging task. In response to the exercised their rights in fulfilling political parties and Independents UNDP call for conducting the media monitoring, NPI submitted its proposal and was duly awarded the task within fielded , candidates in the first parties had enclosed nearly 11,000 past the post segment whereas days after the sponsors gave a go ahead. pronged electoral system. NPI has had the longest experience candidates in the P list of the two in professional media monitoring—a As monitoring elicits feedback and decade. The BBC Trust commissioned public discussion, it was indeed an NPI to monitor the Nepali media— essential opportunity for media print, radio and television in 2003. professionals themselves to consult The project entailed monitors to work in three shifts from morning through performed and, more importantly, the afternoon to the evening round the the check list as to how they how they could do even better the next year without a break.
Analytical Report on Media Monitoring of the Constituent 11 Assembly Election 2013 What NPI needed to undertake was number and types of code violation by the monitored media. This gave the ECN an immediate accessibility to the a nation wide job. This wish too was Constituent Assembly Election in fulfilled with the decision to hold the 2013. As soon as the job was handed take action on them in the course of media files to decide whether it should over to NPI, decision makers sat enforcing the codes of conduct.
to launch the task. With only about down to make the final preparations 19 days to go for the election, the activities could not be conducted for number of must do pre launch campaign period was fast coming to a lack of time and, more importantly, close for any monitoring of campaign resources. This included orientation reporting to be done. of the newly inducted monitors in different parts of the country and Ideally, the news media mirror events, also essential equipment. But these processes and personalities. In media activities needed to be carried out, monitoring work, the purpose of even if only in a makeshift manner. Orientation sessions were held over media covered what and whether the phone and Skype. The equipment the report is to reflect which news the contents abided by the Code of shortage was made up by bringing out Conduct that the ECN issued. The old computers from the storage and ground reality is that not all the media repairing them. Monitoring would not followed the code prescription for the have been possible without the earlier NPI background. Some of the key November elections. NPI, therefore, hands involved in earlier monitoring specified election period leading to the graded the individual contents carried work, including those involved from the very beginning, were mobilised in results to the ECN/UNDP for perusal November as well. by the media and flagged off the
Media Monitoring project covered 547 During the project period, 135 and appropriate follow up action. The newspapers and 210 radio stations monitors uploaded a total of 10,491 from across the country. In addition, ten TV channels and another ten radio and 1,402 TV. Interviews and items online , print, , online news portals were monitored. talk shows were also included. A bird’s eye view of the issue of honouring/ As many as 147 personnel were violating the Code of Conduct by the mobilised for the task. A central media stands as follows: database was devised to collect media clippings from every district. The a) Complete code violation: 3 per cent; after marking them for priority b) Serious violations: 8 per cent; monitors would file their news clipping viewing to the database. The analysts and would then get down to writing their c) Some bias: 27 per cent. daily reports to the ECN about the
Analytical Report on Media Monitoring of 12 the Constituent Assembly Election 2013 When it was found that these efforts army of 135 media monitors was that were not enough at least two trips the worthwhile venture should be a had to be organised, one to Nepalgunj continuous process in familiarising and the other to Biratnagar. For journalists across the country with the necessary equipment, several the workings of the electoral process scanners had to be procured from the and the various elements and issues marketplace, in spite of the contractual involved. This will help voters to limitations. The ECN too was contribute more to their citizens’ approached to meet the shortage of role. Informed voters make informed servers and computers, and it helped decisions. The high turnout of voters in this regard to a certain extent. is an impressive record for South Asia in particular. Voters in large numbers An interesting aspect of the monitoring mentioned that they learnt from the was also the relatively new world of the media about the issues, parties and social media. Throughout November candidates. This might have also 2013, short texts about Nepal's bid contributed to the large voter turnout, to elect the CA regularly appeared on notwithstanding the call and threats the walls of Twitter. Authors shared by some groups pressing for a boycott assorted messages, ranging from of the entire election process. doubts and fears to hopes about the election. A few hundred sent the most tweets, interacted with their relevant to the ECN is necessary. egular monitoring on specific issues friends and followers, and drove Maintaining such an undertaking the social conversation. Others, in should go a long way in educating thousands, participated in the digital voters and also improving journalists’ echo chamber by sending just a tweet skills together with their knowledge of or two each. Technically, voters with the electoral process so that they are interest, Internet access and search able to carry out their responsibilities skills could tune in to the public tweets better and improve the quality of their and archive them. Building a corpus of contents both in their and, indeed, the 9,533 election tweets from a similar general public's interests. personal archive, this exploration describes their manifest features in That women constituted 27 per cent terms of handle, text and time. Some of the monitoring unit’s staff members indicates the level of achievement incorporated in the related article women have attained. It is a question of the key features of the findings are carried by the Media Monitoring of opportunity. Given the fact that report reviewing also studies in the thousands of girls from all over the intersection of tweets and electoral country graduate annually from politics and recommends further various campuses and acquire skills research in this emerging area. in a variety of areas, their meritorious
The general consensus among the provided equality of opportunity is put inclusions should not be a big difficulty,
Analytical Report on Media Monitoring of the Constituent 13 Assembly Election 2013 into practice in all earnest. An activity however, the general social attitude like media monitoring requires at can be gauged from the fact that least a Bachelor’s level academic during the Media Monitoring period that UNDP commissioned to NPI, of news operation and lots of energy election related news and views from qualification, computer skill, fair idea and patience to work under deadline the gender perspective accounted for pressures. Such being the case, a mere 1.22 per cent.
Analytical Report on Media Monitoring of 14 the Constituent Assembly Election 2013 THE SETTING History of Elections in Nepal
Media and the Codes
HISTORY OF ELECTIONS IN NEPAL
BACKGROUND BS that established democracy ensured 109 representatives for the House The history of a democracy is linked of Representatives but there was no with the history of elections. Nepal’s, provision for an Election Commission constitutional history began in 2004 in the Constitution. was held only in 1959AD. The Nepal It was a milestone in the history of the GovernmentBS. The first Act parliamentary 2004 BS is considered election Election Commission of Nepal that the of Nepal. It was drafted during the Nepal, 2019, assured that the Election autocraticto be the Rana first rule written and it constitution contained Commissionfirst amendment was to thean Constitutionindependent of provisions on the structures and mode constitutional body, and the second of formation of the legislature and the election of the people’s representatives. its functions, duties and powers. At that time, an election was held for the Theand Constitution third amendments of the Kingdom specified of Rastra Sabha and for that an Election Nepal, 2047, Wfurther consolidated Commission was formed. Mr. Subarna the Commission as an independent constitutional body. Based on the Election Commissioner. However, there Constitution, the Election Commission wereShamsher no electoral was appointed rules and the regulations, first Chief conducted national elections in 2048 neither was there political awareness BS, 2051 BS, 2056 BS and the local amongst the people. elections in 2049 BS and 2054 BS.
The Interim Governance Statute of The Interim Constitution of Nepal, 2007 AD, has made provisions related with the Election Commission in ElectionNepal, Commission. BS, for theThe firstfunctions time, Part 14, Articles 128, 129 and 130. wereprovided to look specific after, control functions and to direct the elections. It was also entrusted with election commissioners, including the responsibility of the preparation of one rticle chief election provisions commissioner, up to fiveto electoral rolls. In 2007 BS the voters’ be appointed by the President on the roll began to be prepared. Similarly, the recommendation of the Constitutional Constitution of Kingdom of Nepal, 2015 Council. Similarly, Article 129 provides
Analytical Report on Media Monitoring of the Constituent 17 Assembly Election 2013 the functions, duties and powers of participation of all the stakeholders, conducting, supervising, directing and transparency, professional integrity controlling the legislative, local and and impartiality to ensure free, fair and other elections as well as referendums credible elections. as provisioned by the Constitution and other relevant laws of the state. It is also The plan has also recognised the media mandated to prepare electoral rolls for the elections. activities. It has envisaged the role of theas media a significant as a support stakeholder in the conduct in EC s of Structurally, the Election Commission free and fair elections by disseminating has two distinct hierarchies, the electoral information, observing the Commission and the Secretariat. code of conduct for the media, informing The Commission is the apex body the voters, creating an environment for which makes policy decisions, while the elections, publicising irregularities the Secretariat works under the during the electoral process and Commission. The Secretariat is headed promoting the respect and observance by the secretary of the Government of of the code of conduct. Nepal, and it implements the decisions made by the Commission. There are The ECN also managed the CA Elections, four divisions and 10 sections in the 2013, with a historic participation of Secretariat, and it has 75 district voters. The role of the media, in elections after the restoration of multiparty democracy, has greatly been promoted haselection also offices been acrossintroduced. the country. There Theare by the ECN. Along with the growth and concept of five regional election offices access of the media networks, the ECN headquarter and the districts. has always given an emphasis on the about officials working in the ECN role the media for increasing awareness After the restoration of multiparty in the people. democracy in 2046 BS, the Nepalese people could experience real democracy bringing about substantial THE HISTORY OF changes in their lives. The role of ELECTORAL PROVISIONS the media and civil society was well AND PRACTICES IN recognised by the post-2046 state. The NEPAL Nepalese people wanted a Constituent Assembly (CA) way back in 2007 BS but it did not materialise until 2064 BS. The Nepal’s electoral history is not long. It started after the downfall of the 104 election, 2064 BS. year long Rana regime. In the initial ECN successfully managed the first C With the aim to improve the electoral post (FPTP) electoral system. With the system, electoral management Constituentphases, there Assembly was the Election, first past the 2064 and electoral procedures, the ECN BS, a mixed parallel electoral system,
plan in 2065 BS. The plan, envisions and proportional representation (PR) establishingformulated ECN its as five year an independent, strategic systems,comprising has first past the post been adopted. Similarly, ( PTP impartial, and competent organisation there has been a drastic change in the to hold credible elections with voter registration process which was the effective participation of all done manually until 2064BS. After that, stakeholders. The ECN is guided by registration has been made fully digital the principles of public accountability, to include biometric details of the
Analytical Report on Media Monitoring of 18 the Constituent Assembly Election 2013 The voter ID card: Proud moments.
voters. Similarly, another aspect worth nominated by the king. The Legislative appreciating, particularly after the Assembly or the Upper House would restoration of multiparty democracy, be formed with the combination of has been in voters’ education. This the Panchayat Sabha and the Kendriya process has received a lending hand by Sabha. But the Constitution did not the unprecedented growth of different mention the electoral system, voters’ media outlets in the country. Moreover, roll, age for eligible voters, and the the issue of social inclusion has been number of voters and parties. included in all the electoral systems and processes. An overview of the electoral Interim Governance Statute of history of Nepal follows: Nepal, 2007 BS
Government of Nepal Act, 2004 The Interim Constitution formed after the end of 104 years of autocratic rule of the Ranas provisioned only a one- was called the Government of Nepal chamber assembly. It also provisioned Act,The 2004 first writtenBS. It provisioned constitution a oftwo-tier Nepal some kind of Election Commission to Parliament- a National Assembly and oversee the elections. The minimum a Legislative Assembly. The National Assembly was the Lower House, and it 21. But the kind of electoral system had provisioned 60-70 representatives. age of the eligible voter was fixed at Out of them 42 were elected and 28 were Constitution. to be adopted was not defined by the
Analytical Report on Media Monitoring of the Constituent 19 Assembly Election 2013 The ballot at work.
The Consituion of Kingdom of The Parliamentary Elecion, Nepal, 2015 BS 2015 BS After the establishment of democracy, The Nirbachan Commission, with the several governments were formed. authority and responsibility provided In 2015 BS, the Government of Nepal by the Constitution of the Kingdom of announced a constitution named Nepal, 2015, held the parliamentary the Constitution of the Kingdom of election in 2015 BS. In this election, Nepal. It provisioned two houses of 4,246,468 voters participated. assembly: the Pratinidhi Sabha and Furthermore, nine political parties were the Maha Sabha. The Pratinidhi Sabha competing, and the ceiling of campaign had 109 representatives, and the Maha Sabha 36. At that time, the voters’ candidate. roll was prepared as per the People’s spending was fixed at s. , for each Representatives Act, 2015 BS, which The Consituion of Nepal, 2019 BS the preparation of a voter-roll for elections.was the In first addition, enactment the eligible allowing age After the December 1960 takeover by the then king, the new Constitution of then Election Commission was named Nepal, 2019 was brought into effect. It Nirbachanto be a voter Commission. was fixed at years. The provisioned a one-house parliament,
Analytical Report on Media Monitoring of 20 the Constituent Assembly Election 2013 called the Rastriya Panchayat. The electoral history. It was conducted in House included 90 members elected May 1980 and it was termed “National from the Anchal Sabha, or zonal Referendum”. Voting was to take assemblies, 15 representatives elected place to choose between a multiparty from the Bargiya Sangathan, or class organisations, and four from university system. Citizens above 21 years of age graduates- those who had completed weredemocracy eligible and for a modifiedvoting. The Panchayat voters’ their Bachelor’s degree. Moreover, list was compiled under the law of the the king nominated 15 per cent of Voter’s Name Collection Regulations, the total number of members. In this 2036. Unfortunately, even though Constitution, the election management there was a constitutional Election body was the Ministry of Panchayat and Commission to conduct the elections, the National Direction Ministry. These the referendum was conducted by two ministries conducted the election of an independent parallel commission, the Rastriya Panchayat. called the National Referendum Commission. The total number of First amendment to voters in this referendum was 7.192 Consituion of Nepal, 2019 BS in million. 2023 BS Third Amendment to The King amended some provisions of Consituion of Nepal, 2019 BS in the Constitution of Nepal, 2019 BS, in 2037 BS
Commission was established as a In 2037BS, the third amendment to constitutional BS. It was body the first by thetime Constitution an Election the Constitution of Nepal, 2019, was and it provisioned the appointment of carried out and some provisions were the chief election commissioner and other commissioners. The main function The Rastriya Sabha would have 112 of the commission was to conduct all electedmodified members regarding andnational 28 elections.members types of elections at different levels of nominated by the king. The provision the Panchayat system. of the Election Commission as a constitutional election management Second Amendment to body and the minimum age required Consituion of Nepal, 2019 BS in to be an eligible voter were not 2032 BS changed.
In 2032BS, the second amendment to The Elecion of Rastriya the Constitution of Nepal, 2019BS was Panchayat, 1981 AD provisions of the national elections. As per the third amendment in 1980 AD Themade. Rastriya The amendment Panchayat modified would somehave of the Constitution of Nepal, 2019BS, 112 elected members and 28 members an election for the Rastriya Panchayat would be nominated by the King. The was held in 1981AD for 112 members. provision of the Election Commission as The king, as per the provision in the a constitutional election management Constitution, nominated the rest body remained intact. of the 28 members. This time, the constitutional election management Naional Referendum, 2037 BS body, the Election Commission, managed the election. The limit for the The Referendum of 1980 AD is an election campaign expenditure for each important milestone in Nepal’s candidate was set at Rs. 30,000/-.
Analytical Report on Media Monitoring of the Constituent 21 Assembly Election 2013 The Elecion of Rastriya and ten were nominated. There were Panchayat, 2043 BS three women representatives as well. The Election Commission was to be an independent constitutional years, the new election of the Rastriya body. The provision of a chief election Panchayat fter the completion was held in of three a full phases. term of Thefive commissioner, other commissioners number of members to be elected was the same as that of the pervious election. mentioned in the Constitution. Again, the Election Commission was the and their qualifications were also clearly constitutional election management The Elecion of House of body responsible for the election. Representaives, 2048 BS In this election, 9.34 million voters participated. The electoral system was According to the Constitution of the Kingdom of Nepal, 2047, the
Theof the Consituion first past the post of the type. Representatives was held in May 1991. Kingdom of Nepal, 2047BS Thefirst electoral election ofsystem the owerwas FPTP, ouse and of the minimum voting age was 18. The Multiparty democracy was restored ECN was responsible for conducting after the people’s movement of 1990. the election. In this election there were The restoration brought about many 11.19 million voters with 20 different substantial changes in the democratic political parties competing. state of Nepal. A constitutional reform and recommendation commission The Elecion of House of was established to recommend the Representaives, 2051 BS drafting of a Constitution that was more democratic as per the people’s Before the full term of the elected representatives of the election in After the recommendations were 1991AD had expired, a mid-term receiveddemand from reflected the Commission, in the movement. the King election was called in 1994AD as per promulgated a new Constitution, the the Constitution. In this election, there Constitution of the Kingdom of Nepal, were 12.33 million voters, and 24 2047BS, on Kartik 23 the same year. It different political parties were in the provisioned an electoral system, the fray. This election was also conducted electorate and the Election Commission under the same electoral system as the as well. According to the constitutional previous one. provision, there was to be a two-tier parliament, a Lower House called the The Elecion of House of House of Representatives and an Upper Representaives, 2056 BS House called the National Assembly. The Lower House had 205 members The third National Election held after elected through the FPTP system from the restoration of multiparty democracy 205 electoral constituencies, and the was in 1999AD, after the completion of Upper House had 60 members, both the full term of the parliament elected in elected and nominated. The system of 1994. The 1999 election was held in two a Single Transferable Vote was adopted phases. Regarding the electoral system, for the election of the Upper House, or it was the same as the previous election. the National Assembly. It was also a The total number of voters participating mixed system where only 35 members in this election was 13.52 million. were elected through this kind of vote Moreover, 39 political parties competed while 15 were regional representatives in the election. It was the last election
Analytical Report on Media Monitoring of 22 the Constituent Assembly Election 2013 Election Commissioner Ila Sharma at an information sharing session.
for the House of Representatives before each constituency, were elected through the People’s Movement of 2005-6 the FPTP system, 335 members through overthrew the system. the Proportional Representation (PR) system, and the remaining 26 members The Interim Consituion of were to be nominated by the government. Nepal, 2063 The Consituent Assembly After the Second People’s Movement of Elecion, 2064 BS 2005-2006BS the Interim Constitution, 2063BS was promulgated. In this According to the provision in the Interim Constitution, only the Constituent Constitution of Nepal, 2063 BS, the Assembly election has been provisioned. The CA would also work in the capacity of the legislature, apart from formulating systemsfirst C were election used was in an held election. in Voters BS. the new Constitution of Nepal. The polledIt was in the the first FPTP time system that two to elect electoral one electoral system for the CA election member from each constituency. They was quite different from those of the also voted in the PR system to elect past. It provisioned a mixed system 335 more members from across the called a parallel mixed electoral system. country. Voters who reached 18 years According to the Interim Constitution, of age in Mangsir, of mid-December the total number of the CA members 2007, participated in the election. The would be 601: 240 members, one from ECN conducted the election in a very
Analytical Report on Media Monitoring of the Constituent 23 Assembly Election 2013 Vote is worth a few more steps with such burden.
free, fair, credible and transparent The electoral system adopted was manner. The total number of voters in the same as that for the previous CA this election was 17.61 million and the election of 2064BS.The CA Election participating political parties were 54 in 2070BS appears to be a replication of number. There was also a provision for the CA Election of 2064BS. This election a limit of election campaign expenditure was held based on a list of voters with for the political parties and candidates. their photographed identity cards. The According to the provision on campaign Election Commission had started to collect the voters’ list using a biometric for election expenditure for each party system since 2067 BS in the course of andfinancing, Rs. 50,000 s. , / for each candidate. was the limit making the voter roll accurate. Because of this, the number of voters decreased The Consituent Assembly to 12.15 million for the 2070 elections. Elecion, 2070 BS All the duplications in the previous rolls were eliminated. On the other hand, the number of political parties completing its assigned task of drafting taking part increased dramatically, aThe new first Constitution C was dissolved for Nepal. without To reaching 122. The election campaign complete the task left by the previous expenditure limit for each candidate CA, the date of the next CA election was Rs. 75,000/- for the PR system and Rs. 1,000,000/- for each candidate for Election Commission were appointed. the FPTP system. was declared and all the officials of the
Analytical Report on Media Monitoring of 24 the Constituent Assembly Election 2013 The CA election, 2070 BS, was a ELECTIONS AND THE slightly different from that of 2064BS MEDIA because of the number of political parties participating. There were 54 An election is a public affair in which political parties in the 2064 elections. the election management body, the In 2070 there were as many as 122 voters, political parties, the government political parties, of which 30 have and the security forces are the key been able to represent themselves in stakeholders. The cooperation and the CA. coordination among these stakeholders are of prime concern for the successful There were 240 constituencies, 10,013 management of elections. For the polling locations and 18,438 polling effective coordination among these, centres across the country. For the the role of the media is of much management of the election, 18,775 played their key role in voter education, stakeholders’significance. Socoordination, far, the media observance have polling officers, , assistant of the electoral code of conduct and 88,940polling volunteers officers, had , been deployed. assistant dissemination of electoral information. Thereofficials, were , 1, office21, 47,865 assistants eligible and The role of the media in elections has voters for the election. On the FPTP been great after the restoration of electoral system, there were 5,447 multiparty democracy in 2046 BS. male and 668 female candidates, The intensity of their contribution to including one third-gender candidate the election management is said to contesting. Of the total votes, 78.34 have a proportional relation with the per cent (9,516,734 voters) was cast expansion of their number and their in the FPTP electoral system and reach across the country. The Election 79.82 per cent (9,776,703 voters) in Commission’s media friendly policy the PR system. has further contributed to enhance
The percentage of invalid votes media’s role in elections. was reduced in the 2070 election the efficiency and effectiveness of the in comparison with the election of The Media and the Consituent 2064. This time only 4.96 per cent Assembly Elecion, 2064 BS and 3.2 per cent of the votes had been invalid in the FPTP and the PR system In order to ensure free, fair and respectively. There were 5.15 per cent credible elections in 2064 BS [2008 and 3.66 per cent of invalid votes in the AD], the Election Commission of Nepal 2064 election. For the management focused on three major areas-- the of the election, a total of 65 types of dissemination of information regarding election materials had been used. activities of the Election Commission, For enhancing the efficiency of the election related information and officials to manage the election, a information related with political total of 312,507 officials were trained parties. The Press Council of Nepal using the cascaded method in such was asked to deliver analytical reports themes as voter education, logistics on the activities of the media to the management, election management, Election Commission. The Press polling counting, security, observation Council was to check if all the media and the media. Similarly, for voter treated all the political ideologies education, 29,708 election education equally, if they delivered adequate workers, volunteers and others had information about the election and been deployed. voting, if they rightly informed voters
Analytical Report on Media Monitoring of the Constituent 25 Assembly Election 2013 about their rights and duties and also clips. Regarding the broadcast media, if they indulged themselves in voter three-umbrella unions of FM radios, education. The Council was also to namely Broadcasting Association monitor the media and keep relevant of Nepal, Federation of Community records, with tags to show the time Radio and Kathmandu Valley FM Radio and place of dissemination. It was Broadcasting Forum, were contracted to also asked to categorise the recorded disseminate election related information, information to show whether they public service announcements and to were neutral, positive or negative in clarify polling procedures to the public. In their tones and then report to the this way, all types of media were working Election Commission. to create an election environment for a free, fair and credible election in 2064. Media monitoring centres were set up by the Council in Kathmandu and the The media and the Consituent Assembly (CA) Elecion, 2070 BS to report to the centre in Kathmandu [2013 AD] onfive a regions. regular The basis. regional The Press centres Council were was to provide prompt reports to the The Commission’s relationship with the Commission during the election so media received a further boost during that election code compliance could the 2070 CA Election, especially in be enforced. The Commission had terms of capacity development of media provided logistics for the Press Council workers for electoral education. The to carry out the monitoring. This Commission took upon itself to carry ensured an effective media monitoring out media monitoring this time around in the 2064BS [2008 AD] elections. to make the process participatory and independent. It sought to further Moreover, to deliver election related systematise information management. information to the wider public in a timely Furthermore, the Commission used and reliable manner, the Commission different approaches to manage had established a media centre where information and media relations, such Nepalese and foreign media workers as by formulating and implementing could get information about electoral the Information and Communication activities, press releases, information Policy of the Commission, the Media related with the code of conduct and Centre Operation Directives, and the election results. The centre provided Voter Education Policy and Directives. computers and internet facilities for the It established and operated the Media media personnel. It also issued passes for Centre and the Call Centre successfully media persons to enter polling centres during the 2070CA elections. on the polling day. The Commission entered into contracts with Radio Nepal The Commission’s Informaion and Nepal Television to manage free time and Communicaion Policy, for the dissemination of the manifestoes 2070 BS of the political parties to enhance fair competition among them. The Election Commission brought out its Communication Policy in 2070. The Commission had sought cooperation The policy was to address queries from all national and local print and and interests of all the stakeholders audiovisual media to carry out voter by providing timely and relevant information during the election period, televisions had been contracted to including pre-election, and post broadcasteducation. election Specifically, related differentvideo election activities. The policy helped
Analytical Report on Media Monitoring of 26 the Constituent Assembly Election 2013 Ballots you bet!.
the Commission to deliver information the collection, processing, analysis to national and international media, not and dissemination of information and to mention actual, factual and credible messages regarding elections. This information to all the voters. was done systematically so that overall internal and external communication The Information and Communication process became effective. The policy Policy, 2070 states that information spells out the following: management has a crucial role in managing the election in a free, (a) Easy dissemination of information independent, impartial and reliable regarding the progress and manner. Information needs to be activities of the Commission managed properly to address the pursuant to the spirit of the interest and stakes of citizens regarding Interim Constitution of Nepal, the election system and procedures 2063, (2007) and the Right to before, during and after the election. Information Act, 2064, (2008). The national and international mass media need to be provided with factual (b) Election information system information on all activities regarding shall be formed and operated to election procedures, and the people manage and make the collection, need to be provided true, factual processing, analysis, production, and reliable information via these storage and distribution of media. The policy aimed to manage information effective.
Analytical Report on Media Monitoring of the Constituent 27 Assembly Election 2013 Voters’ turn.
(c) The Commission’s internal and the activities of the media sector external information system during the election period media- shall be made simple and easy related issues shall be included in to disseminate true, factual and the election code of conduct. reliable information regarding the elections to the citizens in an (f) There shall be a focus on the effective manner. institutional management and capacity building for the (d) Information disseminated information and communication regularly by the Commission management of the Commission. shall be categorised based on the subject, area, targeted groups and (g) There shall be essential geographical basis, and different cooperation with stakeholders languages, styles, and the media to strengthen and make the shall be used to reach the citizens information system effective. from the backward groups, areas and the marginalised communities. Moreover, the policy has also developed the following strategies to implement (e) To disseminate independent, the policy statements: impartial and reliable information through the media during the (a) A one-door policy shall be election period and to regulate implemented by revising and
Analytical Report on Media Monitoring of 28 the Constituent Assembly Election 2013 updating the existing information (h) To publish or broadcast system of the Commission to information and advertisements, guarantee the rights of the citizens modern technology, online portals to receive information relating to and other social networks etc. shall elections. also be used.
(b) Modern technology shall be used (i) Website, media centre, call to manage and make the collection, centre, media monitoring, accumulation, processing, analysis, video conferencing etc. shall production and distribution of be established, operated and information regarding elections updated to effectively disseminate more effective. information on all election procedures for managing the (c) Media and information shall elections. be categorised and selected based on the area, type, reach, (j) A Media Coordination Committee media and time, after analysis of shall be established to coordinate the information and messages and facilitate the analysis, disseminated by the Commission. coordination and control of information, messages and news (d) Publishable information and published/ broadcast by the mass meaningful messages shall be media during the election period. published in the national dailies at the central level and local (k) Appropriate training, seminars, newspapers at the local level. interactions and other programmes shall be conducted for capacity (e) Audio information relating to building of the human resources election shall be broadcast via involved with the information and Radio Nepal and the FM/ Radios communication management of operating at the national and local the Commission, and those of the level. mass media.
(f) Audio-visual matter shall be (l) Provisions shall be made to broadcast via Nepal Television and impart information in as many other TV networks operating at local languages as possible, the national and local level. in coordination with local stakeholders, to disseminate (g) For publication of the information and election messages Commission’s information in even to the citizens of backward weeklies, fortnightlies, monthlies, areas and the marginalised tri-monthlies, half-yearly, annual communities. reports, calendars, pocket calendars etc., publication criteria (m) An Election Education and shall be based on separate Information centre shall be guidelines, based on their equipped with physical and characteristics such as readership technical infrastructure for numbers, area, originality, the effective management of relevance, economy of costs, information compilation for the number of copies, regularity of Commission. publications, distribution systems, etc. (n) Essential coordination and
Analytical Report on Media Monitoring of the Constituent 29 Assembly Election 2013 cooperation shall be made with the Unit are some of the structures in national and international mass place worth mentioning. Though all media to make the information the committees are participatory in nature, the Assistance Committee is more so, because almost all of the For andthe messageeffective flow implementation more effective. of representatives of media houses and the policy, it has also directed the forums are members of the committee. establishment of a media coordination They include those from the National committee and a media monitoring News Agency, the Federation of Nepali committee. The coordination Journalists, the Television Broadcasters committee prepared the TOR to Association, the Community Radio analyse, coordinate, facilitate and and the Cable Television Association control the information, messages and and so on. The committee is to assist news published and broadcast by the in determining standards for media mass media. monitoring, to motivate the media to abide by the Code of Conduct for the Media Monitoring Direcives, Media and to deliver other suggestions 2070 BS to the Monitoring Committee.
Based on the information and The Media Monitoring Committee communication policy, 2070 BS, the remained at the apex of the media Media Monitoring Directives, 2070 BS monitoring work, and it had the was formulated and implemented in following members: the CA elections of 2013. The media monitoring directives were also Election Commissioner (with Coordinator prepared to make the elections free, responsibility for media) fair and transparent and to implement Secretary, Election Commission Member provisions related to monitoring Secretary, Ministry of Information Member mentioned in the Election Commission’s and Communication Communication Policy, 2013. Chief, Journalism Department, Member Tribhuvan University The Directives, in fact, is another Spokesperson, (Joint Secretary) Member milestone in strengthening the Election Commission relations between the Commission Information O cer, Election Com- Member Secretary and the media. The directives envision mission different institutional mechanisms to ensure participatory media monitoring in the elections. There is The committee was entrusted with the provision of a six-member Media the responsibilities of developing the Monitoring Committee coordinated by necessary monitoring standards for a commissioner in which the secretary the monitoring of communication of the Ministry of Information and Communication and the Head of the and monitoring groups, determining Department of Journalism, Tribhuvan relatedmedia, work training policies monitoring for monitoring, officers University, are among its members. submitting monitoring reports and analysis to the Commission, and if Among the other mechanisms, a it appears that any media or media Recommendation Implementation persons are violating the code Committee, an Assistance Committee of conduct, supply details of the to assist the Media Monitoring misconduct to the Commission and Committee and a Media Monitoring request it to take action.
Analytical Report on Media Monitoring of 30 the Constituent Assembly Election 2013 Similarly, there was another committee named the Recommendation Journalists Federation. The local Implementation Committee to take governmentElection ffice media and representative the egional and action against the code of conduct violations observed by the monitoring members. unit. The Committee was constituted the monitoring officer were the other with the coordination of an Election The responsibilities of the Regional Commissioner comprising other Monitoring Centres were to monitor if members from Press Council Nepal, the media publish/broadcast in support the Election Commission Secretariat, of or opposition to any political party, the Media Monitoring Unit and others. to see if any articles, news, talk shows etc. are published/broadcast directly A Communication Media Support affecting the election environment, to Committee was constituted to provide make available news and information necessary support to the monitoring and to submit the daily monitoring committee in monitoring. The report to the monitoring centre, receive committee had its members from the daily monitoring reports from the Election Commission, the National district monitoring centre and evaluate News Agency, the Federation of Nepali the monitoring reports and submit them Journalists, the Television Broadcasters to the monitoring centre at the ECN with Association, the Community recommendations and analysis. Radio Broadcast Association, the Broadcasting Association of Nepal, Besides the code of conduct, the the Valley Radio Broadcast Forum, the directives had also made some Nepal Cable TV Federation and the provisions about the duty of the media. Nepal Print Media Network. Some of the duties were to observe the prevailing election laws and the The directives also provisioned the election code of conduct, to show Communication Media Monitoring appropriate behaviour towards voters, Unit to make the task of monitoring candidates, observers, political parties of communication media well managed, effective and productive. stakeholders, not to get involved in Under the coordination of a Joint anyor their kind agents,of activity election that encourages officials and a Secretary of the Commission, The voter to support or oppose a party or Communication Media Monitoring a candidate, not to interview any voter, Unit was established. The Unit had observer, candidate or agent of political the responsibility of carrying out the monitoring and coordination with station, not to take photographs of the relevant experts. It was entrusted with activitiesparty or within official or within near thethe polling the task of submitting daily reports and station and to respect the secrecy of the analysis to the Committee, and inform activities within the polling centre. the Committee/Commission about the daily activities regarding monitoring. Code of Conduct for Media
The directives also provisioned the The Interim Constitution of Nepal establishment and operation of provides for freedom of expression and regional, and district media monitoring freedom of the media. It guarantees centres. As provisioned in the the right to publish without prior directives and carried out in practice, censorship as long as the publications the regional media monitoring centres are not defamatory or do not threaten had members from the Regional the national sovereignty or integrity.
Analytical Report on Media Monitoring of the Constituent 31 Assembly Election 2013 There are diverse laws regulating the Monitoring Committee, an Action media in Nepal. In the election period Implementation Committee, a the code of conduct issued by the Monitoring Assistance Committee, Election Commission happens to be a Monitoring Unit in the centre, and a primary one. In the CA elections of 2070, the Election Commission issued a regions and deputed media monitoring code of conduct for the election period. egional onitoring Centres in the five According to the code of conduct, Media Monitoring Unit would receive during the election campaign period, complaints,officers in all analyse,the district summarise offices. Theand the media are expected to remain report them to the Media Monitoring impartial, to avoid using abusive Committee. The Unit was supported speech or language that could instigate by the Nepal Press Institute to conduct violence or disturb social harmony and its monitoring activities in cooperation to give priority to news and information with UNDP/ESP. The monitoring relating to voter education. process was run with a good chain of command in which the district The code of conduct also provisioned free airtime for manifestoes on national report to the regional centres and the radio and national television. According regionalmonitoring centres officers would would report regularly to the to the code of conduct, the electronic centre. From the media monitoring unit media should record all election related in the centre to the media monitoring information disseminated during the
officer in the district, they all had a well To share information easily and reliably, an Dependingdefined job description.on the complaints Election Management Information System registered in the Media Monitoring Unit, with support of the Nepal Press (E-MIS) has to be established and operated. Institute, complaints were investigated
election period and keep the recordings According to the preliminary report for 35 days. The Commission had ofin the depth Commission, and decisions 15 different finalised. types the power to ask any media found of papers, two online media, two FM to be breaching the code of conduct radios and four television stations to rectify the violation. Similarly, were found to have violated the code the code of conduct established that of conduct. The media that breached the Commission should monitor the the code of conduct were directed to information and news related to the correct their lapses by the Commission. election campaign being disseminated The summary report of this is as by the media. In case of violation of follows: (See next page table) the code of conduct, the Commission should direct the concerned media to The European Union Election make necessary corrections. Observation Mission to Nepal submitted its report to the Election Depending on Section 95 of the Commission of Nepal in which it has code of conduct, the Commission written that in the CA elections of managed the media monitoring 2070, the media in general provided parameters and structures. For this, a diverse platform for the political the Commission launched the Media parties to present their messages to Monitoring Directives, 2070. Based on voters in an environment of expression. the Directives, as earlier mentioned, It has further written that both the the Commission established a Media public and private broadcasters and
Analytical Report on Media Monitoring of 32 the Constituent Assembly Election 2013 S.N Name of media Subject Complaint ler Action /Answer 1) ABC Television Live broadcasting of Mao- Nepali Congress Directed to stop broadcasting ist programme until 5pm of 19 november, 2013 2) TV Filmy Broadcasting party spe- Nepali Congress Answer of the media stating no ci c live programme discrimination on political basis 3) Himalaya Television Party speci c live pro- Verbal report Answer of the media stating no gramme live programme of speci c party 4) Avenuse Broadcasting Mao- NPI media monitoring Answer of the media was ist Mechi-Mahakali unclear provision of code of programme live conduct 5) Maitri FM Live Broadcasting Do Answer of the media that it was not live but a news bulletin 6) Star FM Broadcasted on behalf of a NPI ECNs direction to stop the party and a candidate action. 7) Naya Patrika Daily Published on behalf of a Answer of the media with com- party in silence period mitment to COC 8) Rajdhani Daily Published on behalf of a Answer of the media that it party in silence period was not news but grievances of voters 9) Karobar Daily Published on behalf of a Answer of the media that it party in silence period was for the purpose of voter education 10) Nagarik Daily Published on behalf of a Answer of the media that it party in silence period was for the purpose of voter education 11) Gorkhapatra Daily Published on behalf of a party in silent period 12) Nepal Samachar patra Published on behalf of a Clari cation asked party in silent period 13) Aarthik Patrika Daily Published on behalf of a ` Clari cation asked party in silent period 14) Janadesh Daily Published on behalf of a Clari cation asked party in silent period 15) Republica Daily Published on behalf of a Clari cation asked party in silent period 16) Annapurna Post Daily Published on behalf of a Clari cation asked party in silent period 17) The Kathmandu Post Daily Published on behalf of a Clari cation asked party in silent period 18) Janamanch Weakly Published on behalf of a Clari cation asked party in silent period 19) Chhalphal Weakly Published on behalf of a Clari cation asked party in silent period 20) Deshantar Weakly Published on behalf of a Clari cation asked party in silent period 21) Himalayan Times Daily Published on behalf of a Clari cation asked party in silent period 22) Setopati .com Published on behalf of a NPI Clari cation asked party in silent period 23) Ratopati.com Published on behalf of a NPI Clari cation asked party in silent period
Analytical Report on Media Monitoring of the Constituent 33 Assembly Election 2013 newspapers provided fair coverage also helped in swift dissemination of with proportionate distribution of the election results from the centre and airtime and space, and the reports were the districts. generally presented in a neutral tone. Most of the voter education Media and Voter Educaion programmes were based on airing and broadcasting public service The Voter Education Policy, 2070 BS announcements, radio jingles, dramas has clearly stated that production, and publishing electoral information distribution and dissemination of in the national and local newspapers. voter education materials would be The Commission wanted to reach carried out through governmental, across Nepal, therefore; it entered not-governmental and private into contracts with Radio Nepal, Nepal organisations and the media. Standing Television, the Television Association on the policy, the Commission of Nepal, the Broadcasting Association formulated the Voter Education of Nepal, the Community Radio Directives, 2070, and implemented its Association, the Radio Broadcasters’ voter education programme. Forum and the National News Agency for disseminating information in time For the enhancement of voter education and with priority. As stated by the Chief the Commission adopted different Election Commissioner the successful approaches, viz. human relations conduct of the CA election was due to approach, media based approach and the cooperation of all the sectors and techno-cultural approach. In human stakeholders, particularly the media. relations approach, voter education volunteers and voter education workers For effective voter education the media manned all the polling locations across houses were provided with different the country. They made door to door education materials for publishing visits and distributed print materials. and broadcasting. The summary of the Similarly, the techno-cultural approach media mobilised at the centre and local focused on the use of the social media, levels for voter education in the CA digital and LED displays as well as elections of 2070 BS, are as follows: street dramas and community based focused programmes. S.N Name of Media Total Period Number Among these approaches, the media 1. Television 11 2 Months based approach was the most 2. FMs 400 2 Months 3. Radio Nepal 1 3 Months and access and coverage. Under this approach,significant the in termsentire ofnational expenditure and 4. Nepal Television 1 3 Months the local level media were deployed. 5. National Daily 12 2 Months Secondly, both types of electronic 6. Local Daily and others 450 15 Days media, i.e. audio and video, were 7. Social Media 1 1 Month deployed. The contribution of these media for the CA elections was not only limited to voter education, but they also Capacity Building and Other worked as the hands of the Commission Programmes to know the local reality and about the implementation of the code of conduct Besides the policies and directives, the in the local political campaigns and Election Commission also gave priority other political activities. The media to make its own operational activities
Analytical Report on Media Monitoring of 34 the Constituent Assembly Election 2013 effective by helping the media during were also familiarised with election the CA elections, 2070 BS. In the related jargons so that they became preparation phase, the Commission able to report to their respective media developed its programmes and budgets bearing in mind the role of the credibility. media in the local and national level. It houses with efficiency, accuracy and made provisions for providing election The Election Commission believes in training to media persons, developing participatory performance, which has media based programmes like radio dramas, PSAs, jingles, tele-dramas, Plan, 2009-13. Based on the same principle,already been the reflectedCommission in its established Strategic the national and local magazines and and maintained it in and around the papers.tele films and publication of notices in CA elections of, 2070. To ensure the participation of all the media and The Commission provided Election related stakeholders, the Commission and Communication Training to called the media representatives media persons at three levels. The from different established media master training included senior houses and deployed them at the media persons of the national media Commission during the election at the national level. They worked as period. The Commission would resource persons for the regional level acquire suggestions from them to draft and implement new programmes trainings of trainers were conducted designed for the media. They would wheretrainings. senior Similarly, level media in the persons five regions, from also facilitate the Commission for easy different districts were participants. dissemination of press releases and Finally, this cascaded training targeted other information of the Commission, for the media was conducted in all besides their contribution in drafting the 75 districts across Nepal. There and launching programmes for the were 2,481 media persons who were media. trained for the CA election, 2070 BS. The regionwise training details are as A milestone in the cooperation follows: between the media and the Election
No. of Trainees on Election and management of free airtime provided Communication toCommission political parties is reflectedto broadcast in their the manifesto. For this, the Election Region Male Female Total Commission signed contracts with Eastern 434 117 551 Nepal Television and Radio Nepal and Central 570 134 704 requested all the political parties to Western 396 79 475 broadcast their manifestoes through Mid- 366 95 461 them. The airtime for the parties had Western been allocated on the basis of the total Far Western 247 43 290 political parties in their PR lists. This Total 2013 468 2481 programmenumber of of candidates providing filedfree time by thefor the political parties is also linked with The output from the training for media state funding for election campaigning. on the knowledge gained from the The free time allocated to the political training,persons wasthese significant media persons because, reported based parties to broadcast their manifesto on in a free, fair and neutral manner. They Nepal Television was as follows:
Analytical Report on Media Monitoring of the Constituent 35 Assembly Election 2013 S.N No. of Party Candidates Free Time in PR list Allocated the management of the media centre at 1. From 34 to 100 2 minutes theThere operational were level. officials mobilised for 2. From 101 to 200 3 minutes 3. From 201 to 300 4 minutes The media centre took up the 4. From 301 above 5 minutes responsibility of providing election related information to the public via the media swiftly, keeping record of Similarly, on Radio Nepal the free different media houses and coordinating time allocated for the political parties with them. The spokesperson of the to broadcast their manifesto was as Commission works as a coordinator follows: from the centre. The directives had also outlined the nature of information to S.N No. of Party Candidates in Free Time be provided to the media. Some of the PR list Allocated areas in which the centre could provide 1. From 34 to 100 5 minutes information were information related 2. From 101 to 200 10 minutes information of the Commission, results 3. From 201 to 300 15 minutes ofto the the elections, C election, and other information BS, official 4. From 301 above 20 minutes approved by the Communication Coordination Committee. However, All together, there were 122 political the centre is restricted from providing parties that received free time for information having bearing on national broadcasting their manifesto during security, sovereignty, integrity, foreign the CA elections of, 2070 BS. The relations, personal information and practice of providing free time for the other information to be kept secret as political parties to broadcast their stated by the prevalent laws. manifesto was begun during the CA elections of 2064 BS. Some facilities are made available to media persons at the media centre. Media Centre and Call Centre These facilities included computers, the internet, photocopiers, digital display and printers. Similarly, a special facilitating the media during elections. provision for photojournalists has been ForThe Electionthat it needs Commission to provide benefits election from made by providing appropriate rooms related information easily and in time. for them. The centre has the capacity It was for this that a Media Centre was to host 80 media persons in the hall. set up for an effective management of The centre also distributed 1,176 press passes for entry into the polling centres elections of 2070 BS, in accordance on Election Day. withthe flow the ofmedia information Centre Operationduring the and C Management Directives, 2070. This The Commission also provisioned a call has greatly helped deliver election centre at its premises. Such a provision related information to the citizens as well as coordinate district election in Nepal. The objective was to deliver electionwas the firstrelated in the information history of toelections all the Election Commission and the national voters directly and to answer the queries andoffices, international offices of returning media officers, during the elections. The centre is steered by the deployed for operating the call centre. Communication and Coordination Theof the centre voters. operated There through were a toll-free officials Committee chaired by a commissioner. number (16600144222) where the
Analytical Report on Media Monitoring of 36 the Constituent Assembly Election 2013 Symbiotic Relationship
The Nepali media have been a crucial partner in the country’s quest for freedom, democratic equality and order. In various forms, they have acted as a watchdog at every di cult moment of history - be it during the autocratic regime or con ict-hit period. The Fourth Estate constantly and consistently stands by the people to ensure their inherent, fundamental rights. An integral part of Nepal’s political transformations, the country’s media have come a long way since the early days of evolution which commenced with the country’s political movements and mod- ernisation process some six decades ago. Today it has become clear that the Nepali media and politics have developed their symbiotic relationship - in the absence of one, another is de cient. The media, or journalism as popularly known previously, have ourished in a free democratic environment. In a similar manner, the media have oiled the wheels of politics when it stagnates and falters. This appeared to be the case, just ahead of the second Constituent Assembly (CA) election held on 19 November 2013.
voters and other stakeholders could CONCLUSION ask their questions and get the relevant answer. The facility of call transfer, call In conclusion, Nepal has undergone recording and conference call assisted many lashes and dashes in its democratisation process-- from autocratic rule of the Ranas before officials in providing prompt responses. 1950, Panchayat rule after 1960 to in 10 categories so that the concerned multi-party rule in the 1990s. A new The queries of the callers were classified constitution is being drafted to meet category separately. The categories popular aspirations fanned by the ofresponsible queries officerwere: the could electoral handle eachand 2006 movement. Today, participatory voting process, the electoral district, democracy, inclusive democracy and voter registration and voter roll, voter media based democracy are being education, electoral law, political party consolidated within a competitive candidate, observation and electoral multi-party democratic system. For passes, the website of the ECN and the the maximum participation of people code of conduct, among others. Among and for the representation of all the these , the highest number of queries sections of societies, a mixed parallel were seen in the voter registration and electoral system has been adopted voter roll category of queries , while the since 2008. Similarly, from the same category of queries regarding political time voter education and initiatives party candidates recorded the least for social inclusion have been adopted. number. There are still challenges to further strengthen the democratic practices. The call centre also decided to Key components of democracy, such as communicate through the social media electoral participation, a competitive and the website of the Commission. The environment and an independent centre would daily update its Facebook media need to be further strengthened. status and table the comments thus received at the meeting of the concerned Election is the heart of a democracy while the Election Commission is the the operation of the Facebook conduit guardian of elections. The Commission duringofficials. the oreign election volunteers period. supported ensures the representation of people
Analytical Report on Media Monitoring of the Constituent 37 Assembly Election 2013 in the governance process through RECOMMENDATIONS proper management of polling. The Election Commission of Nepal has been Election management is a public process able to conduct free, fair and credible in which each citizen is the primary elections ever since its establishment, stakeholder. To bridge the gap among but now we see that it cannot declare the election management bodies, the election date on its own. Predictable the political parties, the citizens, the periodic elections are needed and the national and international stakeholders, Commission should be provided with the information sharing system can be the authority to do so. consolidated with the cooperation and coordination of media establishments. The media and elections are two sides Taking these into account, the following of the same coin. Where there is a free recommendations are suggested for and independent media system, there ensuring free, fair and credible elections: is much possibility for free, fair and ÂÂ An independent Election Com- credible elections. On the contrary, if mission: Though the commission the media are not free, elections are not is a constitutional body, it does not expected to be free, fair and credible. Therefore, election management other resources. It has to depend bodies and the media cannot be onhave the its government own officials, for the budget election and separated in this context. The Election date to be announced. Even if it is Commission has always understood a historical practice for the govern- this. In its quest for mobilising the ment to decide the election date, it media for different purposes, the has to be changed to ensure the pre- growth and development of the media dictability of elections, avoiding un- based democracy in Nepal has played a necessary expenses. supporting role. ÂÂ Succession planning in the com- The Commission has already launched mission: Throughout history, the the Media and Communication Policy Commission has repeatedly re- and Directives to strengthen relations mained vacant. This has created hur- with the media. It has also facilitated dles to the smooth operation of its ac- access of the media to the election tivities. Therefore, there should be a management activities by providing succession plan in the Commission in different facilities, such as the media which a commissioner knows that s/ centre, spokesperson, information he is going to be the chief. Political ap- pointment of commissioners should be at the lowest level, the higher level Asofficer the andnumber a call ofcentre. audio, video, print by succession planning. These will and social media are increasing day ensure accountability and ownership by day in Nepal, they have contributed of the activities of the Commission. not only for the conduct of free and fair elections but also for transparency, ÂÂ Regular media networking: The public accountability, people’s Commission usually focuses on me- awareness, information dissemination, dia relation only during the election anti-corruption campaigns and for the period which is not a good practice. promotion of a democratic culture in Every programme that the Election the country. Therefore, it is necessary Commission conducts is of public for the election management body to concern, such as voter registration, work alongside the media in the days registration of political parties and to come.
Analytical Report on Media Monitoring of 38 the Constituent Assembly Election 2013 An information session at the Media Center at ECN.
voter education. Therefore, the Com- tions. They should always work to- mission should interact with the me- gether. Thus, the current practice dia in the pre-election and post-elec- of ad-hoc media monitoring has to tion scenarios as well. be changed with some independent and stable mechanism. This would ÂÂ Implementation of Informa- provide an important listening post tion and Communication Policy, for the Commission as well as en- 2070: The Information and Com- sure good relations between the munication Policy has promised Commission and the media. many things for better relations between the media and the Com- ÂÂ Increase the coverage of media mission and for the management of monitoring: The Commission usu- electoral information. But an effec- ally monitors fairness in the publica- tive implementation of the policy is tion and dissemination of informa- still a prime concern for consolidat- tion or news or editorials. There is no ing cooperation and coordination practice of monitoring Commission between the Commission and the funded electoral education related media. activities of the media. Thus, the Commission has to initiate the moni- ÂÂ Permanent media monitoring toring of all the media performing mechanism: The election and the their information providing function media do not have seasonal rela- or educating voters. The Commission
Analytical Report on Media Monitoring of the Constituent 39 Assembly Election 2013 only focuses on the code of conduct the fastest and most effective means of the media at the moment. of communication and coordina- tion. Thus, they should be adopted ÂÂ Establishment of E-MIS in ECN: as a means of disseminating infor- Management Information System is mation. The Election Commission a modern system of ensuring infor- has started to focus on this aspect, mation sharing mechanism among but it should be institutionalised in stakeholders. Thus, to share informa- the organisation so that it can be tion easily and reliably, an Election run sustainably. Management Information System (E-MIS) has to be established and op- ÂÂ Participation of media experts in erated. It helps not only in organisa- electoral media plan and monitor- tional coordination but also informa- ing: As the media are said to be the tion dissemination. fourth pillar of the state, their partici- pation in the process of making pro- ÂÂ Formulation of internal and ex- grammes and monitoring activities ternal communication strategy: has a crucial role for the success of A media relation strategy has to be such programmes. It enhances their developed ensuring timely update of ownership on the programmes. electoral information to the people. It helps enhance transparency as well ÂÂ Training for the media monitoring as accountability of the organisation. institution: Due to the massive ex- Similarly, an internal communication pansion of media houses, their moni- strategy has to be devised so as to avoid duplication in the works of dif- day. Therefore, media monitoring in- ferent sections and divisions. stitutionstoring is getting have to to be be established difficult day and by strengthened. This will not only help ÂÂ Training for media persons: The the Commission but also other state Election Commission Nepal has al- organs. ready started training for the capac- ity development of media persons ÂÂ Address socio-cultural diversity across the country. This process has in monitoring: As the Commission to be further accelerated by provid- has always treated the media as a ing more extensive training. Similarly, good means of enhancing electoral the frequency of such training has to education in rural and urban areas; be increased; it should not be only a their access and cultural friendly seasonal happening limited to the dissemination have also to be mon- election period. itored. It is necessary to do so be- cause not all the media houses are ÂÂ Making a roster of media experts: culturally friendly and fair in their Media relation is one of the major broadcasting and publication ac- components of election manage- tivities. ment. Professional bureaucrats do not necessarily know each and eve- ÂÂ Long term media relation: Though rything about the media. Therefore, - a roster of media persons has to be sion has acknowledged the media as developed, and they should be de- onethe first of the strategic stakeholders, plan of theit should Commis be ployed for drafting media related clear on how they can be best utilised policies, strategies and programmes. for electoral proposes. Thus, in the upcoming strategic plan, long term ÂÂ Use and management of social media relation strategies have to be media: Nowadays, social media is
identified.
Analytical Report on Media Monitoring of 40 the Constituent Assembly Election 2013 MEDIA AND THE CODES
Over the years, the Nepali mass media the country has been witnessing media have proved themselves to the proliferation of conventional new be instrumental to uplift the values media such as radio and television as and norms of democracy. The Nepali well as today’s New Media. As per the media have been playing a pivotal documentation of Press Council Nepal role in the functioning of democracy a total of 3,580 newspapers-- dailies, in the country. In general, during the weeklies and fortnightlies-- have been CA election of 2013 the Nepali mass registered by the end of last Fiscal Year media echoed the nation’s diversity (Press Council Nepal, BS 2070: 47). and pluralism. Different opinions and The Council reveals that as per the points of view manifested themselves government registration, there are 581, through media outlets. Thus, at the 30, 2584 and 385 dailies, bi-weeklies, macro level the Nepali mass media weeklies and fortnightlies respectively. played a positive and constructive The number of weeklies is high among role during this election. However, at the print media. the micro level there are issues to be addressed regarding the professional It is observed fact that the Nepali standards of Nepalese journalism. weeklies are the biggest violators of journalist’s own code of ethics Apart from short-lived upheavals, the whether during the election period or mass media, in post-1990 Nepal, have otherwise. Most of the weeklies in Nepal been enjoying all the political rights acknowledge party allegiance. Some of that are necessary to operationalise them are radical in echoing the voice freedom of opinion and expression. The of their respective political parties. media landscape has been widening But in post-1990 Nepal weeklies have everyday over the past two and half been lagging behind the broadsheet dailies in terms of professionalism. developments have surfaced in terms The general audience are almost ofdecades. presentation Consequently, in commercially significant run, dependent upon the broadsheets in well managed media outlets. order to get information and opinions from various corners. There are 12 Nepal’s media landscape is full of broadsheets from nine publication diversity. Apart from traditional print houses. Among them four are English
Analytical Report on Media Monitoring of the Constituent 41 Assembly Election 2013 Dailies 581 By weeklies 30 HIGH ORDER Weeklies 2584 Fortnightlies 385 There are universal values, norms Source Press Council Nepal, 2070 and standards in the profession of journalism. In the context of Nepal, language broadsheet-dailies, namely: we do have the code of journalistic The Rising Nepal, The Kathmandu ethics with the latest amendment Post, The Himalayan Times and The and revision after the peaceful Republica. Similarly, in Nepali there political revolution of 2006. Though are The Gorakhapatra, The Kantipur, the responsibility to act as the The Nagarik, The Annapurna Post, custodian of the code of ethics has The Rajdhani, The Nepal Samachar been given to Press Council Nepal, Patra, The Naya Patrika and The the code has been accepted by the Himalaya Times. Some of the dailies Federation of Nepali Journalists from Kathmandu have been publishing and the entire media community. separate editions form different parts Section (7), (8) and (9) of the code of the country. Besides these big dailies of journalistic ethics of Nepal have published from the capital, there are explicitly called for Professionalism well managed dailies in other cities of a high order, Decent behaviour outside the Kathmandu valley as well. and Readiness to rectify errors from the Nepali journalists. Section According to the Ministry of Information (8) reads: Faithfully exercise and Communications currently as many professionalism of a high order so as as 360 FM radio license holders (Issued to be responsible, accountable and licenses, 2014) are on air operating reliable, and dedicated to the basic their stations regularly. The Ministry, norms and principles of journalism. reveals that altogether 75 licenses have been issued for television broadcasting, Section (8) asks professionals to: applying satellite, terrestrial and Remain alert towards working style cable technologies. The number of and use of language that are moral, archives and independent online news courteous and characterised by portals have been increasing. Online decency, while at the same time Journalists Association of Nepal has observing social courtesy in one’s estimated that the number of both professional conduct. Section (9) of kinds of news portals that are covering the code of journalistic ethics of Nepal day to day events and activities in Nepal says: Upon receiving information of has reached above 50. any error or mistake in a publication or broadcast, rectify such error or In the midst of this encouraging mistake, as soon as possible, and scenario, there are hindrances on the give proper place to any refutation part of the media to meet professional or response that is accompanied by standards. Partisan attitude is one of evidence, by publishing-broadcasting the crucial factors resulting in media the same in clear language. outlets providing unequal treatment to different political parties. Commercially run media outlets do not show overt with the sole aim to be the publicity partisan interest and, somehow, tool of a certain party or candidate. maintain a semblance of impartiality Radio, television and online media in their coverage of news and views. outlets have also been used as the But there are local newspapers started instrument of publicity during the CA
Analytical Report on Media Monitoring of 42 the Constituent Assembly Election 2013 election of 2013. Some of the media need to be aware of the importance of outlets blindly ignored not only the their impartial role. election code of conduct but also their own professional norms, values Like political parties and candidates, and ethics in order to serve a certain local newspapers, online news portals political party or candidate. and some of the televisions and radios breached the election code of conduct The online medium is in the process mostly during the Silence Period when of becoming a mainstream medium campaigning is prohibited. They tried in Nepal. Immediacy and low cost to supplement the election campaign have made it popular, especially with for the respective parties as per their the proliferation of mobile devices. allegiance. However, when it comes to human resources and subsequently the content, the new media need drastic INTRODUCTION improvement. Several online news portals were used by the political parties against all professional values, election commission, impartial and norms and standards of journalism to fair long media with are a powerfulessential andin order efficient to promote their own interests. Online conduct elections in a free, fair, and journalists need to understand that credible manner. In a democratic the trade is not based merely on polity, mass media are supposed to technology, and they cannot ignore provide platforms for diverse ideas and their moral existence in society. viewpoints. It is the duty of the media to Trade of communication would be propaganda not journalism. The readiness to treat all political parties It would have made much difference if equally or give an issue-based criticism was the Nepali media had abided by the code generally inadequate among all kinds of media of journalistic ethics of Nepal during outlets in the CA election of 2013. the CA election of 2013. Primarily, the Nepali media are equipped with such a code of ethics. Moreover, the election provide equal opportunity for different code of ethics for media seeks to enrich voices expressed in the public domain. their professional conduct. Media are expected to treat all parties in a free and fair manner. Bias hinders In fact, the CA election of 2013 the objectivity of the media that play provided a playground for political a crucial role especially in elections. contestation and a chance for keen Street (2001: 80) views that bias blocks observers to assess the level of fair or distorts people’s capacity to act as play in Nepali journalism. Thus, the citizens, their ability to make political Election Commission Nepal (ECN) judgments and act upon them. Kharel and media people including media (2010: 230) views that bias in journalism practitioners and media educators, is toxic to public trust in the media. It is need to work rigorously in order hostile surveillance, not monitoring. He to uphold the ideal of impartial performance of the mass media. the voice of reason. Since, the issue is directly linked with adds that this kind of approach stifles the credibility and, subsequently, Davis (2010: 3), based on Robert Dahl’s with the economics of the media 1971 work Polyarchy, Participation and institutions, media entrepreneurs Opposition published by Yale University
Analytical Report on Media Monitoring of the Constituent 43 Assembly Election 2013 Press at New Haven, CT, states that for their role in surveillance of the basic characteristics that distinguish environment by providing hard news representative, liberal democracies are and interpretation. free and fair elections, the right to vote, freedom of association and the right to The Election to the Constituent join or lead a political organisation, and Assembly 2013 also proved to be an independent media providing free a historic moment in the Nepali expression and alternative information. political life as well as for the media. Nepal’s Constituent Assembly (CA) It reasserted people’s determination Election 2013 was held against the for the new political system—the backdrop of all these characteristics, republic in Nepal, which was declared the constitution and complementary by the Constituent Assembly in 2008. legislation. The 2013 CA election upheld the democratic exercise in the country Furthermore, a care-taker government— and media played a catalytic role in the Interim Election Council of the process. Burton (2010:112) states Ministers—was established under the that the media, apart from the obvious leadership of the Chief Justice to hold examples of newscasts, offer a variety the election in consensus of the political of political activities and points of parties in parliament. All the ministers contact which involves citizens. In the of the cabinet were former bureaucrats course of covering elections, the Nepali who did not harbour direct political interests in the elections. amongst political parties, candidates andmass voters. media intensified the dialogues
Vertical diversity covers a number of options However, the readiness to treat all offered by a single channel while horizontal political parties equally or give an diversity includes options available at any time issue-based criticism was generally across a range of channels. inadequate among all kinds of media outlets in the CA election of 2013. The trend was not explicit in case of major Mass media play a crucial role in elections national newspapers, televisions and and the Nepali media also proved to be radios. Most of the local news media instrumental for the success of the CA became part of the campaign and all election in 2013. Primarily, for the sake of this chapter, functions of the Nepali coverage. media during the period of Elections to they tried to do was influence the the Constitution Assembly in 2013 are In general, the Nepali media landscape manifested pluralism and an enhanced indicator looks at whether the media degree of freedom of expression. The outletsgauged are using giving two equal indicators. treatment The to first all country has witnessed media diversity. political parties; furthermore, whether Watson (2004:109), while examining a they are providing equal opportunity for all political parties to express themselves normative, or best media performance, before the public. The indicator also statesnumber that of principlesat the macro-level that seek these to define can covers whether they are offering fair treatment to all political parties. The outlets and accessibility on the part of second indicator presents whether the thebe identified whole public as diversity to information, of sources both and media exposed the wrongdoing of the of these contributing to plurality of government and the political parties. It opinions in society. Watson (2004:109) regards the mass media as important states that diversity applies to channel as
Analytical Report on Media Monitoring of 44 the Constituent Assembly Election 2013 Election information is just a call away here.
well as content and style; and that would Burton (2010:111) mentions that mean a diversity of channels as well as politicians and political parties have a diversity of ownership and control. come to believe that media can be He (Watson, 2004:110) further points out the need to assess both vertical and They depend on media as a means horizontal diversities. Vertical diversity ofinfluential promoting in generating (or marketing) public opinion. their covers a number of options offered differing views, most crucially at times by a single channel while horizontal of national and local elections. The diversity includes options available at Nepali political parties are no exception any time across a range of channels. to such a universal phenomenon.
As Craig (2007:4) states, media are the sites where politics and public life are METHODOLOGY OF STUDY played out, the sites where the meanings of public life are generated, debated and In this chapter qualitative approaches evaluated. That is, according to Craig have been adopted to assess the media (2007:4), modern public life which is coverage of relevant political actors.
Nepal’s political parties are aware of The study draws primary data from an thisdefined phenomenon as a mediated and they phenomenon. have been archive of media monitoring set up by doing strategic thinking in order to Nepal Press Institute (NPI) in the CA receive some positive media coverage election in 2013. about them.
Analytical Report on Media Monitoring of the Constituent 45 Assembly Election 2013 An exploratory method has been On 20 September 2013, The Rajdhani, adopted to collect data on media a broadsheet daily that has been functions in the pre- and post-polling publishing from the capital under days of the CA election 2013. Several Rajdhani News Publication Private observation reports produced by a Limited, published news informing that group of different organizations have its chairman cum managing director been analyzed in order to examine the took the membership of the CPN state of the Nepali mass media in the (UML) during a ceremony organised second CA election. by the party. Some of the television channels overtly demonstrated partisan interests. For instance, they NEPALI MEDIA IN showed an election symbol and the CONSTITUENT ASSEMBLY face of a candidate of a particular ELECTION 2013 party for a considerable span of time on the screen without giving similar Irrespective of media outlets, ranging treatment to others. from print to broadcast and online media, Pushpa Kamal Dahal (aka The Election Commission of Nepal Prachanda) received the most media (ECN) has noted that the role played by exposure, a clear lead amongst the the Nepali media during the Constituent candidates. Nepal Press Institute (NPI) Assembly Election 2013 was generally monitoring for radio and television supportive. ECN has revealed that the coverage show the fact explicitly. percentage of voters increased in this Constituent Assembly Election. The number of invalid ballots was low. The ECN says that as many as 23 media institutions, Commission gives credit to the Nepali including online news portals, radio stations, media, along with different agencies and its staff, for playing an important televisions and newspapers, were asked for role, for impartial information clarification or informed to be prepared to face dissemination in order to make the legal action (Nirbachan Samiti, BS 2070: 30). election successful (Editorial, BS 2070: 3). However, at the micro level, ECN faced challenges to hold some of the Dahal, chairman of the UCPN-Maoist, media outlets accountable for their had contested from Kathmandu-10 writing or presentations. ECN says and Siraha-5. He lost the election in that as many as 23 media institutions, Kathmandu. including online news portals, radio stations, televisions and newspapers, Unlike weekly newspapers, small FM radios and online news portals to be prepared to face legal action that bore allegiance to political (Nirbachanwere asked forSamiti, clarification BS 2070: or 30). informed parties, broadsheet dailies did not demonstrate overt inclination to any A Citizen’s Campaign for Clean Election of them. Broadsheet dailies and big (Monitoring Report, 2013:155), a loose broadcast media presented their coalition of civil society organisations, materials with fairness in comparison recommends that media need to adopt to the weeklies and small radios. fairness towards all political parties However, almost all media had some during the election. It urges the Nepali inclination towards the respective media to abide by the Election Code of political parties. Conduct.
Analytical Report on Media Monitoring of 46 the Constituent Assembly Election 2013 During the whole period of The four-column-news reads, “After election, the mass media used their election Congress will be Number independent reporting. The media provided the political parties with be in third position.” The news with various platforms to disseminate the ne a U Nagarik second, correspondent Unified aoist byline will their messages. Although the mass was based on a study undertaken by media mainly focused on covering the the Nepal Chapter of one NGO named issues related to three big political “State of Democracy in South Asia” parties, they also attempted to give in support of “International Idea”. adequate space to smaller parties. It The report had predicted that CPN- is observed that at the local level, FM Maoist (Baidhya) would get 3 per cent radio stations allowed candidates to votes, the party that was launching convey their message. the campaign for an election boycott.
The National Human Rights days before the election code of ethics Commission mentions that it issued cameSince, into the effect; news technically, was published the codes five press statements and organised news were not violated. However, the news conferences as its major activities indicated the political inclination of the in the CA election of 2013. NHRC newspaper. As per the CA Election Code (Rashtriya Manav Adhikar, BS 2071: of Ethics 2013, ECN had announced 16) further states that people’s that the codes were in effect for three rights regarding the election were months starting from 22 July 2013. reiterated. According to NHRC, it presented a report that was based on a nationwide situation monitoring. It urged all concerned authorities, The mainstream media, especially the national through various media outlets, to daily newspapers, did not appear overtly respect the people’s rights. prejudiced. They packaged politics in their
Broadsheet dailies from Kathmandu presentation professionally. also took sides but with reason. On 11 November, The Kathmandu Post published a headline: “Maoist position The mainstream media, especially falters in Rapti-Karnali bastion”. the national daily newspapers, did NEOC (2014: 28), in this regard, not appear overtly prejudiced. They states that in a few cases, particularly packaged politics in their presentation in the East, observers found that professionally, concealing their reports on incidents involving poll strategic interest. The Annapurna Post, opposing parties were exaggerated in on 13 November, published a news item the national media containing details that denigraded the UCPN-Maoist. The headline read, “Another Maoist terror before the polling-day, the Annapurna over an innocent”. On 2 November, The notPost thoroughlyDaily signaled verified. its bias our through days Republica Daily predicted through its a headline that read, “Koirala is headline: “UCPN-Maoist likely to lose seats in Far-West”. daily was promoting NC supremo Sushilconfident Koirala. in Chitwan . bviously, the The role played by the Nepali media during the election period could be On 17 July 2013 Nagarik daily divided into two categories: role of published the main news in a box. surveillance and role of campaigner.
Analytical Report on Media Monitoring of the Constituent 47 Assembly Election 2013 ROLE OF SURVEILLANCE happens in the world on any given day can be included in the newspaper It was observed that the Nepali media, or in a TV or radio newscast. Media including online, radio, television and organisations select those events, print, played the role of watchdog allocate time and space, and decide which helped ECN. how much prominence they are to be given. Various gatekeepers involved in As NEOC (2014: 28) observes that the the selection process judge stories that overall impression of media coverage ultimately make it to the papers or the before, during and after E-day was that newscasts. it was often reliable. News stories were often factual with little fabrication, and A very common example of the journalists and newspapers largely interpretation function can be found maintained their professionalism on the opinion-editorial pages of a and applied balanced coverage. NEOC newspaper. Principally, interpretation, assesses the role of media in the comment, and opinion are provided election process as generally positive. to a reader so that he or she gains an added perspective on the news stories Harold Lasswell, according to carried on other pages. Baran and Davis (2000: 250), notes the primary functions of mass For instance, on 18 November 2013 setopati.com made public a secret functions such as surveillance of the recording of UCPN-Maoist chairman communication. In his findings, two Pushpa Kamal Dahal instructing his cadres to secure his win in the Partisan media accused the opponent parties or election by applying any means, candidates for ignoring the campaign code of including money, in Constituency-5 of Kathmandu. Similarly, on 15 conduct. November, The Nepal Samacharpatra Daily published a news story, exposing UCPN-Maoists’ strategy to win the environment and correlation of the election by applying inappropriate parts of society in responding to the means. Headline of the news read: environment are described as vital “5 formulas adopted by CPN-M to get for a political process of any society. victory by hook or by crook”. Surveillance of the environment refers to the media’s collection The most observable role played by the and distribution of information. Nepali mass media in the CA election Correlation of parts of society refers to of 2013 is in raising the issue of the the media’s interpretive or analytical code of conduct. Although violations activities. of the election code of conduct by the political parties, candidates and Baran and Davis (2000: 250) explain the media outlets were common and that surveillance refers to what we widespread, the media from across popularly call the news and information the country called for its enforcement role of the media. The mass media do and compliance. On 11 November, The not supply just facts and data. They Nagarik Daily published a headline also provide information about the that read: “EC unable to enforce code of conduct”. On 17 November, Himalayan of those events. They (2000: 250) TV presented a reportage stating that furtherultimate state meaning that not and everything significance that even during the Silence Period the
Analytical Report on Media Monitoring of 48 the Constituent Assembly Election 2013 On the records: Voter database.
actors have been violating the codes showed the example of presentation of ethics. On the same day, Channel of news in neutral manner. Nepal also broadcast news stating that candidates are active amongst the On 7 November, The Chitwan Post Daily electorates in a clandestine manner. reported that in Chitwan District alone 12 complaints against the violation of Online portals also provided coverage the election code of conduct had been of the issues of disobedience of election code of conduct. On 18 November, hamrokura.com posted a Blamefiled thus game far. regarding the election news item based on GEOC’s statement code of conduct was interesting. On regarding increased incidences of 10 November, the Kavre Post Weekly violation of the code of conduct. Like published a news item in favour of a online news portals, small FM radios particular party whose headline read: also played the role of surveillance in “NC Everywhere in villages and towns some instances. On 19 November, on of Kavre”. In the same issue, another the polling day, one such news was headline read: “Violation of code of broadcast by Makawanpur Radio of conduct on the rise in Kavre”. Hetauda. The news said that even after the advent of the blackout period Partisan media accused the opponent clashes amongst the parties have not parties or candidates for ignoring the come to an end. On the polling day, campaign code of conduct. A news item Krishnasagar FM of Nepalgunj also posted by kathmandutoday.com on 18
Analytical Report on Media Monitoring of the Constituent 49 Assembly Election 2013 November had a headline that read, manner. The headline said: “24- “Khanal and Nembang of UML defy hour summons to TV Filmy and the code of conduct”. On the same day, Himalayan TV”. On 16 November, the news portal posted news accusing the Gorkhapatra showed another the party: “UML asks people to vote example of surveillance by publishing in exchange for money in the garb of news concerning code of ethics. The election observers”. On 15 November, headline of the news read: “Prachanda setopati.com posted a news item with the is far ahead of all in using helicopter”. headline: “Government makes political On the same day, Mero Jagaran appointments on the eve of election”. Weekly also published a news item on implementation status of code of ethics The Mechikali Daily of Butwal showed under the headline: “Violation of code an example of balanced presentation. of conduct on the rise”. On the eve of On 9 November, it tried to balance the the polling day, Sambridda Samaj Daily coverage of different political parties warns through its headline: “Violation by providing equal space for them. One of code of conduct could impact the headline read: “Election preparation is results”. On the same day, Dainik Patra rapid in Lumbini Anchal”. It provided warns with: “Do not assassinate others’ space for a different party on 9 character against the code of conduct”. November under the headline: “Forum’s door-to-door campaign peaks”. ROLE OF CAMPAIGNER
NPI media monitoring reveal that they were Political parties and candidates always try to make best use of the mass media. most active with biased news or talk shows Their strategies were two-fold during such as interviews 48 hours before the polling, the 2013 CA election in Nepal. First, during the Silence Period. they made plans to secure maximum time and space in the mainstream commercial mass media. Second, they NPI media monitoring unit observed started their own media outlets, mostly that onlinekhabar.com played the newspapers, in order to run propaganda surveillance role on 9 November In both cases, their through a news story with the headline: primary object was to form a favourable “Political cadres become election forpublic political opinion. benefits. observers”. The tone of the news story In Public Opinion (1922), Lippmann presented the theory of Public Opinion Onwas flagged14 November, neutral. onlinekhabar.com Formation. According to Baran and presented an example of impartial Davis (2000:76), his ideas raised serious news story under the headline: “Code of questions about viability of democracy conduct is being ignored nationwide”. and the role of free press. What do you The news is based on a source of ECN. do in a democracy if you can’t trust the On the same day setopati.com posted people to cast informed votes? What good another new story whose headline is a free press if it is literally impossible to read: “ECN closes its eyes on colour effectively transmit the most vital forms posters that have been published by of information to the public? Lippmann, the parties”. as explained by Baran and Davis, believes that propaganda posed such a On 12 November, hamrokura.com severe challenge that drastic changes in posted a news item in an impartial our political system were required. The
Analytical Report on Media Monitoring of 50 the Constituent Assembly Election 2013 public was vulnerable to propaganda, so professional standards of journalism. It some mechanism or agency was needed was the result of using the media as a to protect them from it. tool for election campaigns by political parties and candidates. In this regard, Although poll surveys were banned, the NEOC (2014: 28) notes that a number of media did publish the so-called ‘poll media outlets—both at the district and results,’ mentioning that a particular national levels—were either directly party will be the largest party on the owned, sponsored by, or perceived to eve of Election Day. One such news item was published online. On 18 November party or candidate, which often led to 2013, kathmandutoday.com was red abe strong affiliated editorial with biasa particular and at times political the local media landscape was described a personal survey by Purusottam Dahal. as polarised. However, it further states Clauseflagged for101 election of the prediction Code of basedConduct, on that bias to some extent appears to have Chapter 8, under Miscellaneous heading, been counteracted by the plurality of prohibits carrying out any survey or media and the presence of independent publishing survey results about Political media. Parties and Candidates from the date of submission of candidacy until the voting In Janakpur, Sanjay Saha, a Sadbhavana is over. Party (Mahato) candidate from Dhanusha-4, started a newspaper In order to discourage the bias The Gangasagar Weekly just after the demonstrated by some of the Nepali nomination of his candidature. The media that were playing the role of paper was started as one of his election campaigner for a particular political campaign tools. The weekly folded up party or candidate, the EU Election Observation Mission forwarded a couple of recommendations. The Mission The newspapers, in general, showed their (2013:39) states that a revision of the Press Council Act, and of its Code of impartiality or bias through the headlines of Conduct, contemplating more effective the news during the CA Election. sanctions to be applied by the Council in response to violations of the Code of Conduct by the media, would contribute after the election. Watson (2004: 92) to reinforcing the legal authority of the views the term propaganda generally institution. According to the Mission, with brazen strategies of persuasion, reinforcing the independence of the with information that is distorted, Press Council is also advisable. The EU partisan or untrue. Mission (2013: 9) has highlighted that this media issue needs priority action. Four days before the polling day, on It also emphasises, as another issue 15 November, The Hetauda Sandesh of priority action linked with the mass published from Makawanpur District media, a proper and comprehensive carried a headline with an aim to implementation of the Right to promote a particular political party Information Act, 2007, would contribute by saying: “Youths are lined up to join to a more free media environment, in UCPN-Maoist”. Just two days before line with international commitments. the polling day, on 17 November, Youth Today Daily put a headline: “Vote to In some instances, the weekly and local UML is like pouring water in sand, this newspapers, and online news portals is time for UCPN-Maoist”. On the same were seen not following the basic day, Chure Kunj Weekly forwarded an
Analytical Report on Media Monitoring of the Constituent 51 Assembly Election 2013 anti-Maoist campaign: “UCPN-Maoist would contribute to a more free media will also fall down like the monarchy”. environment, in line with international commitments. Many local FM radios were active to present favourable materials With an aim to discourage potential to the respective political parties media manipulation, the EU Election or candidates during the election. Observation Mission-Nepal (2013:39) Outcomes of NPI media monitoring says it is advisable to develop clearer reveal that they were most active with instructions for media on airing/ biased news or talk shows such as publication of spots/advertisements interviews 48 hours before the polling, paid for by political parties and during the Silence Period. However, candidates during the campaign period. local radios with partisan interest The Mission says it is also advisable were active in election campaigning to establish clear instructions on during the entire period of the deadlines for newspapers regarding election. On 16 November, Maitri FM of respect for the campaign silence Kathmandu played an interview with period. According to the Mission a UCPN-Maoist leader and candidate report, it would be useful to establish from Rolpa-1. The interviewer was all these instructions before the start of the campaign period in order to avoid the introduction of amendments to For the past 25 years, the Nepali media have the code of conduct after the electoral campaign takes off. been enjoying political freedom. Now it is high time they become ethical and sensitive to their profession and deliverables. NEWSPAPERS THROUGH THE LENS OF HEADLINES
glorifying the interviewee in such The newspapers, in general, showed their a manner as if it was a publicity impartiality or bias through the headlines material. On 16 November, Radio of the news during the CA Election, 2013. Sano Bheri of Rukum broadcast news accusing other parties of distributing is lower in comparison to the broadsheet money to voters. On 17 November, dailies, ost of theindicated weeklies, thoughacknowledged their influence bias Janapriya FM of Achham said that a through their headlines. Reah (2011:13) UCPN-Maoist leader was urging voters states that a headline should encapsulate to vote for UCPN (Maoist) and not run the story in a minimum number of words, after others. attract the reader to the story and, if it appears on the front page, attract the The EU Election Observation Mission- reader to the paper (Table I). Nepal (2013: 39), in this regard, recommends that a revision and update The Janakpur Today from Janakpur of the Libel and Slander Act, 1959, consistently manifested prejudice. On appears to be necessary. The current 11 November, 2013, one of its headlines provisions of the Libel and Slander Act, read: “The wave is in favour of NC”. with provisions of up to two years prison On 9 November, Janabidroha Daily sentence for slander, seem outdated and published the headline: “UCPN-Maoist contrary to international best practices. is strong in Sunsari-2”. Later, out of six It states that in the same line, a proper constituencies, the Maoists could not get and comprehensive implementation any seat in Sunsari-2. In the capital, the of the Right to Information Act, 2007, weeklies were polarised. For instance,
Analytical Report on Media Monitoring of 52 the Constituent Assembly Election 2013 Table I: Examples of discrepancies between rhetoric and reality
S.N. Headline Newspaper Date Result 1. Maoist Leading in 200 Pokharapatra, Pokhara Nov 12, 2013 Maoist won 26 seats constituencies 2. Maoist is making its de nite Kavre Hotline Weekly, Nov12, 2013 Out of total 4 seats, 2 seats went to victory Kavre NC and 2 for UML in Kavre 3. Oli is going to lose second Janabidroha Daily, Morang Nov 12, 2013 KP Oli won the election from his time constituency, Jhapa-7 4. People who are in favour of Kavre Chautari Weekly, Nov 11, 2013 Out of 4 constituencies, UML justice vow: Kavre District is Kavre won in two places (Kavre-2 and fort of UML Kavre-4) 5. CPN-Maoist is strong in all 4 Adarsha Nepal, Pokhara Nov 9, 2013 CPN-Maoist lost election in all 4 constituencies in Kaski constituencies on 11 November, 2013, the Deshantar headlines said: “NC gears up publicity, Weekly said in its headline: “Congress door-to-door campaign in Beshisahar”. will have historic victory”. Another headline of that day in The Lamjung Aawaj tried to put the news On 7 November, The Kayakairan Daily of in more balanced way: “UCPN-Maoist Chitwan made a degrading comment on local leader enters NC, waves also to a contesting party which read: “UCPN- enter UCPN-Maoist and UML”. Maoist is in cross-roads of an existential portray bias with dull headlines. For ROLE OF NEW MEDIA instance,fight . Some The of Muktichhetra the newspapers Daily overtly, on 4 November, presents a headline that An online news portal, read: “Election campaign of UCPN- kathmandutoday.com, received many Maoist”. In the course of examining the election coverage, most local as the portal consistently indulged newspapers were found to be caught inred propaganda. flags from NPIOn mediathe eve monitors of the by a high degree of campaign fever. On polling day, it posted a news story 3 November, The Bhimeshwor Weekly with a negative tone towards ECN. The showed its bias through a headline: “NC headline said: “Election commissioner is wining in both constituencies”. Later, Sharma tells candidate to shut up ”. the election results showed that it lost both seats. On the same day, one of the On 16 November, just three days before headlines of The Satyapan Weekly states the polling day, kathmandutoday.com that victory to UML is essential to save posted a story which was defamatory the country. to a senior NC leader. Headline of the story said that Ramchandra Paudel Contrary to general trends was aging, was going to be defeated demonstrated by local newspapers, and had already lost the race to prime a newspaper, from a small town of ministership 17 times. western region, Lamjung, provided positive coverage of different parties. On 14 November, hamrokura.com On 12 November, one of its headlines posted a news story in a tone negative said: “Maoists busy with door-to-door to UCPN-Maoist. Its headline read: campaign in both constituencies”. On “Wave to leave the party among the the same day, another of the newspaper cadres of UCPN-Maoist has been rising”.
Analytical Report on Media Monitoring of the Constituent 53 Assembly Election 2013 Two days before the polling day, on 17 November, ratopati.com posted a so- fraud. The Nepali mass media as a whole called survey poll which was another contributedreveal first hand to the knowledge democratic of exerciseelection example of gross violation of election during the CA election in order to make code of conduct. it a success, provided access to all voices and exposed wrong doing.
NO OFFICIAL There are separate provisions for RESTRICTIONS AND good conduct during elections for the INTERVENTIONS government-owned national media. The EU Election Observation Mission- During the second CA elections, the Nepal (2013: 39) recommends that Nepali mass media did not face any more detailed instructions on the restrictions from the government’s allocation of free airtime to political side in the course of enjoying their parties and candidates in the national right to provide voice to all parties and electronic media are needed. Fixing candidates. They also enjoyed their the dates of broadcasts would allow right by covering parties and politicians political parties and candidates to who strongly opposed the government plan their campaign agenda and their and applied it to all campaign issues recording schedule well in advance. that journalists consider important for Similarly, as the Mission states, it citizens and for the future. is also advisable to establish clear
Code of Conduct for the start of media The online journalists of Nepal need to monitoringinstructions by and ECN specific in order dates to inmake the demonstrate their responsible and accountable this exercise more effective. behaviour in their presentations and practice in Clause 90 of the code of conduct of the order to gain credibility. Nepali mass media during the period of election states that ECN will be provided time on radio and television for political Reporters without Borders (11) states parties in proportion to the votes they that the right to free expression during obtained in the Constituent Assembly political campaigns must be guaranteed Election of 2008. The ECN made some to all parties and candidates, as well as free air time available on national to all citizens. According to Reporters television and radio to disseminate without Borders such freedom can be educational messages. Clause 91 of expressed through: the code of conduct manages the availability of ECN time in three phases. ÂÂ The right of access to media to pre- First: Five to twenty minutes on radio sent programme and/ or to express for public unveiling of the manifesto opinions. of a political party; second: Two to
ÂÂ The exposure of attempts to hinder campaigning; third: One minute to each freedom of expression. politicalfive minutes party on on television television for for electionmaking
Reporters without Borders states Silent Period begins. Clause 92 makes that examples of the latter include a provisionsthe final appeal for tothe the relevant voters before political the government preventing a candidate party to prepare the materials for the from holding a campaign rally, or a above and provide them to the relevant political party pressuring a citizen not to media.
Analytical Report on Media Monitoring of 54 the Constituent Assembly Election 2013 MEDIA’S TREATMENT TO Commission to conduct a regular POLITICAL PARTIES monitoring of election information carried by the mass media. If the Major newspapers do not urge their readers to vote a particular party. No code, ECN may issue directives to the political leader since the signing of a concernedmonitoring media finds to any make violation a correction. of the peace accord in 2006 has enjoyed a The media concerned will have an wider coverage as Pushpa Kamal Dahal obligation to abide by the code. in Nepali media, including the 2013 CA election coverage. One of the causes Chapter 5 of the Code of Conduct to be behind this could be his mobility and observed by Mass Media emphasises, activeness. in Clause 78, election information and news based on truth, facts and On the eve of the election (8 a.m., 18 objectivity. Clause 79 stresses unbiased November 2013), ABC TV presented an coverage and no special treatment interview with its managing director- to any person. Section 83 prohibits cum-news-chief Shubhashanker Kandel. Kandel claimed that the professional ethics and norms. Clause channel had not violated any code of 88undue ensures benefits appropriate and nothing opportunity contrary to conduct. He accused the government of to political parties or candidates to trying to stop the channel and that this express their views, policies and was against the spirit of press freedom. programme to voters. Clause 93 forbids As many as seven clips showed ABC election publicity during the silent period, beginning forty-eight hours take action against the news channel. before voting starts and ending with officials challenging the EC decision to the closure of the last polling Centre, By afternoon, the channel had repeated except for the electoral information the news many times with the following coming from the Election Commission. Banda gara Clause 94 urges keeping records for dusprachar [Stop the misinformation]. 35 days of every election news or text flashing on the screen information transmitted, published or In the afternoon, ABC TV started live broadcast by the mass media. broadcasting of a press conference organised by ECN. The Chief Election The General Election Observation Commissioner addressed the conference. Committee, Nepal (2013: 31) stated NTV, Avenues, News 24 and Mountain that for the purpose of holding CA TV broadcast live the entire conference election in a free, fair, independent whereas Image did it for a short while only. and credible manner, the election laws NEOC (2014:28), in this regard, mentions have also stipulated certain code of that on 18 November ECN directed the ethics for the mass media. The code government to bar ABC Television from urges the mass media to report fact- broadcasting until 5 p.m. the next day, based materials without bias and in an as the channel was found to be clearly objective manner. favouring a party in their broadcasting. However, following an objection from ABC Television the directive was not MEDIA’S ROLE IN VOTER implemented by the government. EDUCATION
It is worthy to mention here that Clause One of the traditional functions of the 95 of the Election Code of Conduct, mass media is to educate the general 2013 had authorised the Election public and help them to improve their
Analytical Report on Media Monitoring of the Constituent 55 Assembly Election 2013 Table II: Further expectations from the Nepali media for voter›s education
S.N. Report of observation Expectations 1. National Election Observation Media along with EC, civil society and NGOs should play a crucial role in broaden- Committee (NEOC) ing electoral education and voting skills of the electorates in those election con- stituencies where voters’ turnout is considerably low and invalid votes are high. 2. General Election Observation The mass media is required to give priority to news and reports related to voters’ Committee, Nepal (GEOC) education. 3. European Union Election A higher involvement of community radio stations in the implementation of ECN Observation Mission voter education and information campaigns and strategies is highly advisable. Given the crucial role that community radio stations play, especially in rural areas, informing voters, targeting these radio stations well in advance for education; better planned distribution of ECN voter education materials to the electronic media, avoiding accumulation of materials to be used and aired in the last days of campaign period are also required.
and violations of the code of con- life. This could be done by providing the duct in media outlets in elections. public with learning opportunities. In ECN, media community, including the context of Nepal also, it is a general practitioners and media educators, expectation that the media play a more therefore, need to start a concrete constructive role for voters’ education. exercise to address the issues. Since the issues are directly linked with A quick survey conducted by General the credibility and subsequently with Election Observation Committee, Nepal the economics of the media institu- during the day of polling revealed tions, media entrepreneurs need to that 65.7 per cent electorates came to be aware of the importance of their impartial role. For the past 25 years, in CA election through mass media. the Nepali media have been enjoying Theknow committee about the significancehad collected of voting6,955 political freedom. Now it is high time questionnaires from 6,652 polling they become ethical and sensitive to centres under observation (2014: 31). their profession and deliverables. As in the previous elections in the ÂÂ The nexus between the political par- country, the mass media proved ties and the media needs to be sort- instrumental in achieving widespread ed out. There should be a clear line voters’ education. Various organisations of demarcation between the act of and agencies, which were involved politics and the trade of journalism. in election observation, reached a However, for the existence of such conclusion that the media outlets need a clear distinction, the media com- to be used as an effective means to spread voters’ education. Clause 89 of with measures for self-regulation. A the Code of Conduct to be observed by criticalmunity press should or credible first come news forward media mass media puts an emphasis on voter should act as a watchdog that spares education materials (Table II). no political party and criticises mis- deeds with adequate evidence and CONCLUSIONS AND reasoning. Such type of news me- RECOMMENDATIONS dia treat all political parties equally, praise or criticise based on their ÂÂ Partisan interests and party-alle- performance and behaviour. The fa- mous dictum put forth by Mahatma causes of unprofessional practices Gandhi is still relevant in this regard: giance were identified as the major
Analytical Report on Media Monitoring of 56 the Constituent Assembly Election 2013 One of the objects of a newspaper ÂÂ The opportunity provided by the is to understand the popular feeling 2013 CA election was not fully uti- and give expression to it; another is lised by the Nepali media for enhanc- to arouse among the people certain ing their professional standards. In a desirable sentiments; the third is democracy, media get an opportu- fearlessly to expose popular defects. nity to build and strengthen their Even in this era where the print and reliability and people’s trust, for in- broadcast media co-exist, against the stance, by putting journalistic princi- backdrop of rapidly expanding me- ples of fairness and impartiality into dia landscape, the dictum is applica- practice. ble as well as relevant. ÂÂ Based on the experience of the ÂÂ Media persons and institutions need 2013 CA election 2013, it could be to be aware of and adhere to univer- summed up that online journalists sal values and norms of the trade, need to understand that the profes- including fairness, truthfulness and sion is not based merely on technol- independence. They need to achieve ogy. By ignoring their moral duty and these goals by taking responsibility accountability, they are promoting and self-governance. They need to propaganda, not journalism, through be accountable towards society for a trade in communications. The new their product in any circumstance. media, including online news por- Professional organisations need to tals, are being considered equiva- come forward to create an enabling lent to the mass media. However, environment and promote these val- ues in society. establish credibility. The online jour- naliststhe online of Nepal news need media to demonstrate should first ÂÂ Standards of journalism need to their responsible and accountable - behaviour in their presentations and stances in order to develop media practice in order to gain credibility. credibility,be upheld which even inultimately difficult leads circum to But the misuse of cyberspace, in ut- the path of sustainability. The grow- ter disregard to professional norms ing media industry of Nepal needs to and values of journalism, deters the increase its credibility and improve process of mainstreaming the online the quality of its products. However, media. Therefore it needs to demon- irresponsible and unaccountable strate decent and responsible behav- practices have lowered its credibility. iour.
ÂÂ Journalism in Nepal has more ÂÂ The Nepali mass media exposed a lot strengths and resources—both of instances of violations of the elec- physical and intellectual—compared tion code of conduct by the political to what it had some years ago. Now actors through their news coverage it needs self-assessment in order to of the 2013 CA election. ECN needs enhance its intellectual and ethical to examine the full account of these standards. In this regard, at least the facts in order to develop more strate- well managed big media houses need gies to hold elections in a freer and to start to put a clear editorial policy fairer environment in the future. in the public domain. Since the edi- ECN needs to come up with a more torial policy shapes media content, focused strategy to facilitate the me- such an approach would contribute dia outlets so that they can cover the to increasing people’s trust in the election process in a free and fair Nepali mass media. manner. ECN needs to monitor me-
Analytical Report on Media Monitoring of the Constituent 57 Assembly Election 2013 dia outlets more intensively and in- Davis, Aeron (2010). Political teract with them regularly to provide Communication and Social Theory. them with constructive feedback. London: Routledge.
ÂÂ Since objective, impartial and vi- Editorial. Election Bulletin. Vol. 3, No. 3. brant media are instrumental for a Kathmandu: The Election Commission of well-functioning democracy, review Nepal. BS 2070 Paush. of and subsequent amendments to the existing legislation as well as en- European Union Election Observation Mission (2013). Nepal Final Report actment of appropriate, new media Constituent Assembly Elections 19 laws are essential. The media com- November 2013. European Union Election munity needs to start public dis- Observation Mission course in this regard. General Election Observation Committee, ÂÂ Not all the aspects of media coverage Nepal (2014). Constituent Assembly during the 2013 CA election were Member Election 2013. Kathmandu: discouraging. There are rays of hope General Election Observation Committee, for creating a more professional Nepal (GEOC). media atmosphere within the Kath- mandu Valley and beyond, where Kharel, Parsuram (2010). Political local media outlets are bringing out Communication: Media, Message and balanced and fair news stories and Meaning. Kathmandu: Sangaam Institute. providing space to diverse opinions. The country is witnessing vertical Monitoring Report: Nepal Constitutional and horizontal diversities: Diversity Assembly Election 2013. Kathmandu: INSEC. in terms of channels of mass commu- nication as well as diversity of media Nirbachan samiti, upasamiti ra bisayagata outlets within a channel, and diver- ekaiharuko byabastha. Election Bulletin. sity in content. Vol.3, No. 3. Kathmandu: The Election Commission of Nepal. BS 2070 Paush. ÂÂ Pluralism and diversity of contents provided, though in a varying de- Rashtriya manav adhikar aayog (BS 2071). gree, checks and balances to situa- Sambidhan sabha sadasya nirvachan, 2070 tions where a lot of information and anugaman pratibedan. Lalitpur: Rashtriya diverse views were being exchanged manav adhikar aayog. in the run-up to the 2013 CA election. Reah, Danuta (2011). The Language of Newspapers, 2nd ed. London: Routledge. REFERENCES: Reporters without Borders and Baran, Stanley J. and Dennis K. Davis International Organization of La (2000). Mass Communication Theory: Francophonie. Handbook for Journalists Foundations, Ferment and Future. during Election. Paris: Reporters without Australia: Thomson Wadsworth. Borders and International Organization of La Francophonie. Burton, Graeme (2010). Media & Society: Critical Perspectives, 2nd ed. New Delhi: Street, John (2001). Mass Media, Politics Tata McGraw Hill. and Democracy. New York: Palgrave.
Craig, Geoffery (2007). The Media Politics Watson, James (2004). Media and Public Life.India: Allen and Unwin. Communication: An Introduction to Theory and Process, 2nd ed. New York: Palgrave.
Analytical Report on Media Monitoring of 58 the Constituent Assembly Election 2013 THE MONITORING A Monitoring Concept is Realised
The Logistics and Management
A MONITORING CONCEPT IS REALISED
INTRODUCTION multimedia clippings even though they
Media monitoring as a professional press clippings ordered to suit the undertaking has had a very humble issuesmay have that a the comprehensive person in question index of beginning in Nepal. This specialised wants to keep track of. This is mostly activity requires the gathering of all because multimedia requires a lot media clippings, be they in print or more resources– time, money and multimedia, and then sorting them out space. to suit one’s requirement. Some may like to focus on political issues and Media establishments today do have record their trend while others may a reference library where clippings– want to monitor only business news related with a particular trade. In a and stored for reference. Dedicated sense, journalists are monitors in their employeesaudio, video are and hired print for the are purpose. indexed In own right as they need to follow the the olden days when Nepalese media developments taking place regarding literacy was low and media outlets very issues that their beats cover. For a few, these libraries mostly depended larger monitoring effort, the coverage on foreign press clippings. This is widens beyond a beat and an ordered not the case today, as proliferation of media outlets and media houses is the is a must as it is more of a future norm in almost all parts of the country. referencefiling and material indexing available of the for clippings anyone interested. Over time, a comprehensive Who carries out the monitoring? library of the clippings is the result.
Very few people in Nepal are in lthough an orderly no specificmanner, qualificationprofessional engaged in monitoring the media in monitoringappears necessary does require for filing the of clippingsmonitor the professional sense, even today. to be a professional journalist with Several Nepalese political analysts and journalists are seen to have and technical skills, such as computer an organised library of newspaper literacy,considerable to suit experience, the job. languageHence, clippings for their own private use. monitoring of Nepalese media would Personal clippings libraries rarely have
call for experienced Nepali language
Analytical Report on Media Monitoring of the Constituent 61 Assembly Election 2013 journalists if the monitoring is to If they do not, then ad hoc measures be done for a Nepali organisation. If are applied to gather the information, Nepalese media are to be monitored whether broadcast or published, that for a foreign organisation, translation they need. This ad hocism in foreign skills too are required for that missions or embassies translates into particular language, and so on. arrangements for political analysts and newspaper translators. Such The proliferation of NGOs in Nepal has arrangements offset the need for lent a helping hand to the monitoring professional monitoring. profession because of their need to track issues they are involved in. When ad hocism is resorted to by Foreign missions in Nepal are known institutions and bodies that require to hire news monitors in the garb of monitoring, it is no surprise that political advisors, translators and professional monitoring gets the such. They help the missions to not brunt. This appears to be a big waste, only keep track of events in Nepal as considering the resources needed they unfold but also play a vital role in to sustain such a large number of making suitable responses when the translators and analysts by so many missions themselves are at the butt organisations. Professional monitors end of the news. can focus on whatever needs a client Today, even business houses have maycan do have the jobin amore professional efficiently manner. as they their own monitoring units to track The Election Commission of Nepal their visibility in the marketplace so (ECN) is perhaps the only state organ that they can develop their strategies that appears set to routinely hire media monitors. The effort began since
monitors,accordingly. quite Such unlike specific monitoring needs of held in 2008. Because that was a therequire general specific trends orientationin media reporting of the maidenthe first Constituentventure for ssembly the state election body, with regard to the overall national the project seems to have aroused the scene. Every monitoring task needs to awareness of the need for monitoring. be geared towards meeting a particular objective. BRIEF HISTORY Although the need is there, professional monitoring has not been able to get off Hardly any professional monitoring the ground in Nepal so far. Dedicated activities are on in Nepal for the professional monitoring organisations time being. Nepal Press Institute are still absent, perhaps because of was approached by BBC Monitoring the size of a market that might not (BBCM) in 2003 to carry out be big enough to support sustained professional monitoring for the monitoring. In spite of this, as already organisation. Politically, the period mentioned, some form of monitoring was a tumultuous one, and the need for is done by all kinds of organisations Nepalese media materials must have not only to locate their own positions been in demand among international in the milieu of things they hold dear, clients for the professional activity but also to acquire information on to be launched here. Several senior the developments that concern them. journalists were approached by NPI
has some form of a media monitoring The monitoring then was focused on facility, or example, or at everyleast a government semblance bodyof it. mediaand briefly with oriented a national to the network task at hand. and
Analytical Report on Media Monitoring of 62 the Constituent Assembly Election 2013 At the election booth.
The UNMIN monitoring went on for a brief period, when Bhutanese radio some time even after the mission left wasthose monitored based in athmandu.from the Nepalese Except soil, for Kathmandu at the end of its mandated the focus did not shift from Nepalese period. political developments throughout the entire seven–year period that BBCM The difference between the BBCM operated in Nepal. and the UNMIN monitoring was that the former already had a system in place for which monitors needed to deeper and wider with the signing of be oriented to, while for the UNMIN, a theNPI s Comprehensive monitoring experiencePeace Agreement went system needed to be developed from between the then Seven Party Alliance and the Maoists who had just emerged from a 10–year long insurgency to join scratch. The BBC experience did give the multiparty political mainstream. At wasa lot nowof the ready expertise to launch to NPI monitoring to devise that moment, the United Nations was forand almost fulfil theany UN IN organisation demands. if their NPI asked to oversee the peace process and the UN Mission in Nepal set up This is a valuable resource that NPI has shop in Kathmandu. The international acquiredspecific needs over the were years. spelt out clearly. body also wanted media monitoring to be done by NPI. NPI quickly set But these professional activities had up a unit to take up the task. After crunch on the contractors’ side. During assessing their needs, a framework theto be last closed Constituent down because Assembly of elections, financial wassitting developed down with to meetUN IN their officials demands. and the Press Council had approached NPI Both these tasks were completed for assistance in monitoring of the successfully during the contract period. media in the regions and districts. NPI
Analytical Report on Media Monitoring of the Constituent 63 Assembly Election 2013 MONITORING FOR THE did agree to do so. But that monitoring ELECTION COMMISSION OF by Press Council did not seek NPI’s NEPAL
in different parts of the country. What Since NPI had been conducting media thisexpertise, shows only is that the NPI resources was becoming that it had an monitoring in the past, there was important resource centre regarding no problem in conceptualising the media monitoring even though its framework within which the job would regional resource centres and resource be done for the ECN. It just needed to persons elsewhere were not trained in focus on the elections as the priority monitoring beforehand. It can be said that the professionalism that NPI has the monitoring to other parts of the developed over the years in monitoring country.issue for In monitoring the past, monitoring and to expand was is unparalleled in Nepal. Even then, But if most of the media outlets were to time went by and NPI had been sitting becentred covered at NPI s in the athmandu country, that offices locality only. idlethat on expertise the monitoring was gathering front, with dust all as limitation had to be broken. The crucial requirements for this, particularly the 2013 Constituent Assembly elections widening of the monitoring job to cover werethe experience announced thus and accrued, it was untildecided the the whole country, would be time and that media monitoring needed to be resources to meet the demands of the done. job. Once these requirements were met,
as the concept was already clear. there should not be too much difficulty need onitoring to routinise itself is the not tasks a complex according job, tobut the the focus complexity of the arisesmonitoring. with For the to give the ECN a detailed picture of political edia monitoring campaigns would and bebehaviour expected requires an adept hand at recognising of political parties and candidates theexample, nuances business of economics news and monitoring business during this critical phase in a nation’s management. Additionally, the democratic practice. It would give the monitor in question should be ready ECN a tool to enforce its directives, to collect the necessary clippings from prevent the election campaigns from the media as and when they appear in going wayward and ensure that the print or broadcast. A paper may devote polls remain free and fair. All this several pages for business items or could be carried out immediately not at all. A broadcast agency may even as events unfolded. Monitoring air this specialised programming at a would, therefore, be an important particular time of day. A monitoring component in improving the quality agency therefore will have to hire the of electioneering, the conduct of elections and the overall functioning of democracy in Nepal. monitor with the required qualification and ask him or her to monitor specific For an effective monitoring for the times.media Only outlets then or can specific a suitable pages routine, or, in Election Commission, the task would forthe casemonitoring of broadcast media,business-related at specific generally involve looking into how material, be said to be in place. What the different media channels were kind of arrangements is needed if we abiding by ECN directives, election are going to monitor elections? codes of conduct and reporting in a free and fair manner to prevent any unwarranted support to or criticism
Analytical Report on Media Monitoring of 64 the Constituent Assembly Election 2013 of any particular election issue or candidate. In concrete terms, there andwere report two steps to the to ECN,be taken as directed first NPI to, andwould then file address the monitoredfeedbacks regarding products the items thus sent, e.g. queries and requests from ECN to NPI.
Another aspect of the monitoring is that it is also an essential opportunity for TV footage of Chief Election Commissioner Neel Kantha media professionals themselves to look Uprety during his inspection visit to the monitoring cen- at themselves, as it provides feedback tre at NPI, Kathmandu, with NPI Chair Shobha Gautam. by analysing the state of their own profession in real time. Professionals can improve on their work by making the After that was done, these collected items needed to be scrutinised for their while doing their campaign reporting. abidance [or not] by the ECN codes. Whatnecessary is more, on the job the entire rectification monitoring eventask conclusion would be a crucial document, toIf theybring werethem identifiedto the notice as violating of the and the report that was expected at its the codes, they needed to be flagged future guidance for the Nepalese media could pursue further action on the asfit a for whole, archiving not to andmention disseminating future media for mediaconcerned outlet ECN concerned. officials This, so that in brief, they was NPI’s mandate regarding media two main goals of media monitoring monitoring. duringmonitoring this election. exercises. These were the NPI devised a system whereby monitors were told to gather all election related CONCEPTUALISATION AND clippings and to upload them to the REALISATION main servers. They were also asked to
How did the conceptualisation evolve? violation was suspected, so that the The monitoring needed to be designed ECNflag thecould items, check particularly them immediately where code and to suit the needs of the ECN whose initiate the necessary action. Other ECN primary interest was to see if the related materials too would be of ECN’s Nepalese media would violate the concern, hence a circular to all monitors election codes of conduct during the run- not to leave out any clipping that had up to the elections for the Constituent anything to do with the election, even if Assembly, a historic event from many remotely. perspectives. The importance of the elections cannot be minimised if you A three-tier organisation was set up look at it from the viewpoint of it to monitor the media goings-on in the being conducted for the second time country throughout the period that the codes of conduct were being enforced– the monitors would be to collect all the district level monitoring, regional level electionin merely related five years. news The items first published task for and the central level. According to the in all parts of the country. This in itself initial plan, the districts would primarily would be a mammoth task and an focus on print and radio while the unprecedented one at that. regional resource centres of NPI would also include television. But because
Analytical Report on Media Monitoring of the Constituent 65 Assembly Election 2013 of contractual requirements and the The nature of the equipment needed constraints that arose, NPI was forced and the manpower involved are more to drop multimedia monitoring from the districts and regions. In Kathmandu, or less fixed for the job at hand. But had to carry out the coordination of the specific numbers necessary could the tasktasks became throughout more the extensive country as apart NPI monitors,also be determinedcoordinators, once translators, the extent from monitoring of the local news of monitoring was finalised. News outlets. Separate teams would monitor statisticians and managers would make the media outlets, namely print, radio, upsoftware the monitoring and staff. hardware Equipmentwise, experts, television and online. A smaller fourth multimedia computers, recorders of team would coordinate with the districts audio and video, scanners, power supply, and the regions. Kathmandu would also broadband connections and other include a dedicated team of analysts to peripherals would make up the bulk, provide the analytical updates. apart from transport arrangements and other paraphernalia. The hub would be an electronic database to organise and manage the vast Hiring of monitors needed to be amount of information collected during the monitoring. The database would be able to address not only the day to issuch challenging that qualified even humanin the resources best of circumstances,filled the posts given at everythe scale level. of Thisthe items and their analysis but also work task and the technicalities involved. The day organising and filing of monitored limitations of hiring comes about when
publishedto simplify for the wider final consumption.analysis at the Since end priorities like inclusion and shortage thisof the involves project the which database was expected being able to beto ofexpediency time. This has almost to match always with means other manage the needs of both NPI monitors that working journalists have to be and the ECN, the two needed to sit hired and, in the districts, there aren’t that many to choose from. Whoever to discuss the details of the database was inducted in the monitoring team format.down, along This withorientation the database did not expert, take would have to balance between the place formally, but informal meetings need to meet the needs of his or her between the two sides did help in understaffed media outlet and at the making things workable. same time the objectives of his or her newfound job of monitoring. In spite of such constraints, at the end of the CLIPPINGS DATABASE day, NPI was able to put together a
DISTRICTS REGIONS NPI gender and ethnic groups including Dalitsmonitoring who carried team that out wastheir a job mix in ofa very satisfactory manner.
DATABASE ORGANISATION
NPI’s regional resource centres in Biratnagar and Nepalgunj were the other hubs of activity, apart from EC Kathmandu. Regional centres not The database as conceptualised by the plan only used their resources to carry
Analytical Report on Media Monitoring of 66 the Constituent Assembly Election 2013 out the day-to-day monitoring and coordinating of the districts, they OFF-BEAT FINDING were involved in hiring of personnel and other preparatory activities. The absence of initial familiarization Pokhara and Dhangadi too played classes for the monitors did produce a very important role in the initial some headaches to the central phase and also in coordinating their coordinator as he had to do a lot of respective districts in the day-to-day troubleshooting just to get things monitoring. For any organisation, all on track. Receiving phone calls from this would have been a daunting task. remote districts regarding basic things It is precisely here that NPI’s strength was the order of the day. Another lies. Its own roster of networked routine work was to check whether journalists working in different parts all the monitors were inputting data of the country becomes useful at such according to their assignment. These times. This network of journalists is did reveal some interesting findings involved in many other activities of regarding the functioning of the NPI. Placement, therefore, went like a Nepalese media. It was soon found breeze. that many newspapers were not being published in the districts as a Regarding the equipment needed, number of journalists and publishers computers were the primary tools in some districts were taking part in of monitoring as all the clippings the election campaigns of their pet needed to be digitised and stored in candidates. This important aspect of the electronic database. Multimedia election campaigns was not reported, clippings would require multimedia hence not unearthed by scanning computers, meaning new ones, while of the district based media. It came press and online clippings could do to NPI’s notice only in the course with less powerful computers. And if of implementing the monitoring shifts were arranged carefully even a task. Nonetheless, its significance limited number of powerful multimedia to Nepalese journalism cannot be computers could be put to greater use. undermined. Although journalists throughout the country were found In Kathmandu, where the monitoring to be busy during the elections, it task was the heaviest, with the number is hard to believe that there were of monitors reaching almost 50, shifts even those who shut down their had to be organised to manage the publications to back their candidates. available space and equipment and to reset the deadlines, especially in the case of multimedia monitoring, as those working from the districts TVs and radios have their prime time surrounding them. In many instances, particularly during the initial phase, of day. Three shifts were organised to meetbroadcasts these requirements. confined to a limited time were still developing their access to thewhen database monitors over in far flungthe internet, districts the Newspaper monitors handled the district monitors would email their morning shifts to scan the day’s work to the regional monitors who publications as soon as they were would then upload them along with published. This formed the backbone their own work to the servers. About of the monitoring job. Regional level 400 newspapers from the districts monitors were asked to coordinate were selected for monitoring for the not only the local monitors but also CA election. Fifteen online news sites
Analytical Report on Media Monitoring of the Constituent 67 Assembly Election 2013 PRESS MULTIMEDIA Districts Region NPI Ktm NPI Ktm
Cloud NPI Servers
DATABASE
The plannedNPI’s database servers. was The modified two were for laterexpediency merged by into separating a single database.press clippings from multimedia files. Press material was stored in the cloud while audio and video got stored at
processed and analysed. to cover the whole country. All national also added to the volume of text being TVout and extensive radio networks multimedia were monitoring based in Regarding multimedia clippings, ten Kathmandu, anyway. As infrastructure TV stations and ten radio stations had been chosen for routinely monitoring the district based radios, a roundabout within Kathmandu Valley. Separate wayconstraints was organised made it to difficult cover them to cover too. monitors were hired for the purpose. A contractor was asked to record about Separate shifts were organised for radio 200 radio stations from different parts and TV due mainly to the shortage of of the country and submit the tapes to monitoring equipment and also for the NPI on a daily basis for the monitors to look for relevant information. shift, 6.00 pm to 12.00 midnight, took This resolved the problem of lack of carepurpose of TV of monitoring expediency. while The a morning evening multimedia monitoring infrastructure shift took care of radio. The shifts were at other NPI monitoring centres. organised to cover prime time bulletins Contractual obligations did require NPI and shows. Since TV stations air their to carry out multimedia monitoring outside Kathmandu Valley too, at least programmes, talk shows and the like, inflagship the evenings, news the bulletins shift was and asked prime to mandated tasks. cover the most important broadcasts. to the extent that NPI could cover its And, since asking the radio monitors to do the same in the evenings would have THE MEANING OF produced too many similarities in the WAR-FOOTING clippings collected, they were asked to take up the other prime time slot, i.e. the However, like earlier hinted, what morning prime time hours. was unknown during the planning phase was that NPI would encounter a Since multimedia monitors had to shortage of the necessary equipment from the very beginning. The data needed direct access to the servers and input devices, or computers, were sincedeal withthe servers large electronicwere networked files they to not the only issue. More powerful the monitors in Kathmandu only, this network devices like servers were produced another limitation in carrying not forthcoming even at the moment
Analytical Report on Media Monitoring of 68 the Constituent Assembly Election 2013 of launching of the monitoring task. OFF-BEAT FINDING workaround by splitting the data We know that proliferation of media, collectionThis difficulty into two led separate NPI to databases– devise a both print and broadcast, throughout print and audiovisual sections, the Nepal has been astounding this past former based on the internet and the decade, at times attracting world other, a more bandwidth-intensive attention even. Indeed, considering task, on a small intranet to be linked that even remote districts have between the NPI and the ECN. Both their own media outlets, this is the databases could be integrated at a an admirable development. An later date, time permitting. The idea absence of adequate infrastructure of setting up an intranet to cover all means that broadcast media are left the monitors was abandoned at the dependent on national networks and very beginning for lack of resources the worldwide web for their news and time. stories, which would have been available to most of the audience In fact, the original plan had to be anyway, even without these outlets. trashed from the very beginning. The Does this have any bearing on the cost that a nation incurs for the very last hour, so to say. When NPI got benefit it accrues from having a high themonitoring go-ahead project to pursue was finalised the project, at the number of media outlets? there were barely three weeks left for the election. The timing of the contract- One finding concerns the FM revolution signing too left no room for carrying out that the country has witnessed over any task apart from internal meetings for the decade. While there is no debate over the rapid expansion of the FM with a Saturday, immediately after that network throughout the country what byfinalising the Tihar the plan.holidays. The NPInext took day begana fast struck as odd to this monitor was that track to recruitment, procurements and there was hardly any local news being software and database preparation by aired by them. If we look at this in light of the international hullaballoo created when these networks were Withmobilising only itsabout existing 19 network.days left for the banned from airing news during election, it would be considered lucky the royal takeover in 2006, one is if the preparatory work could be left wondering about what the fuss completed before the elections were then was all about. Almost all district held. But perseverance has a strange based FM stations either relay news way of paying back, if only in small aired by some other radio station, the instalments. internet or some international media outlets like the BBC. Under normal circumstances, it would have required at least a month of preparation-- acquiring the equipment, setting them up, developing the One may question as to why NPI database, hiring the monitors, training should be complaining about lack of them, developing manuals for the infrastructure and resources if it had already been doing monitoring in the trial run for at least a week to identify past? The answer is simple. Every thetraining bugs that and were then sure finally to surface launching in the a monitoring task requires a different entire system. Removing them would set of priorities and is carried out on need some time. different scales. This means different
Analytical Report on Media Monitoring of the Constituent 69 Assembly Election 2013 types of planning, manpower training, a long roster of journalists working in different parts of the country. Regional monitoring task can be done in different recruitment units were quickly set up, ways.equipment One can and collect expenses. clippings Even manuallythe same along with the regional monitoring units, and archive them in the old fashion or to oversee the monitoring activities in use modern IT infrastructure to speed the districts surrounding them. things up, or use a combination of the two methods. The amount and type of Since digital technology was used resources vary with each method. day-to-day monitoring was speeded Inconsistencies would arise even in the extensively, wherever feasible, the best laid plans. Therefore, one needed to monitoring would have a hard time be ready for any contingencies that could processingup significantly. and storing ny other such typea large of surface. Actual events later showed that volume of information. But elections NPI needn’t have bothered itself with are periodic events and reporting on such worries. That worry would have the election would soon end with the been, in a quirky way, a welcome thing conduct of the polls. This would mean as that would have meant that things that even though there is a high turnover were going according to plan. of media clippings, it would only be for a short period– until the elections. So, this Everything had to be hurried through, system of monitoring does serve the mostly under impossible circumstances. Monitors were being hired and at items would help narrow down the the same time old equipment were focuspurpose on codeof ECN. compliance. nd, flagging of select being brought out from the stores to repair and upgrade them to meet the An ideal monitoring model would requirements of the task at hand. Even then, the monitors based in Kathmandu of media items available and seek can be said to be lucky, compared with itsinvolve feedback briefing before the ECNdispatching on the kinds any their counterparts in the districts. These material. This is slightly more time Kathmandu based monitors at least had consuming than the model followed by some orientation, be it on the job. Those NPI in the 2013 elections, but would in the districts did not even have that nonetheless limit the processing of the chance, many of them were receiving monitored items, as only those items instructions from Kathmandu over selected by the election body would the telephone, and, in lucky instances, need focus. But in this model, even the over Skype. ECN would need to hire its own set of monitors to be in control of their side Servers that would provide the database of the line. NPI monitors would then infrastructure were not available. Hence, have to await ECN approval before makeshift servers were fashioned out uploading each item. of simple desktop home computers, at least half a dozen years old. Software Following this model in urban centres developers and database managers with good IT infrastructure would be were working round the clock to induct feasible, but waiting for the districts, the sketchy ideas that NPI was dishing especially those where the number out to them. And ideas were changing of media outlets are few, to provide constantly with each new hurdle thrown the press briefs and then asking them by time constraints. It was possible to process the selected items after to recruit the monitors in such short the resultant time lag might not be notices only because NPI already has too good an idea. Therefore, the most
Analytical Report on Media Monitoring of 70 the Constituent Assembly Election 2013 compliance with the election code of conduct. Press clips in the database are flagged red, orange, yellow and green to show their level of doable option would be to train the monitors beforehand to focus on the what is being updated, spot trends and code of conduct and see if the media adviseof officials the monitorsmust keep to afollow close particularwatch on abide by them. They would simply developments, especially if they are of be asked to upload to the database interest regarding code compliance by anything related with elections after appropriately marking and tagging be monitoring the monitors. This aspect them. Since the ECN requirements did didthe media.not manifestThese officials itself would during actually the not include lengthy processing, like election. This time around, the ECN’s translating and summarising, they monitoring unit was designed to focus could just convert the news item into only on code compliance by the media. the digital format and upload them. Future monitoring assignments by the If they saw anyone veering off course, ECN should take a broader mandate into they would just prioritize the item in account so as to capitalise on the huge their regular dispatch. This method monitoring. flow of information available during was found to be very efficient. Why is this important? Monitors CAPITALISATION ON THE GAINS anything related with the election. The ECNgenerally unit being examine talked about the medianeeds to forbe Every day, hundreds of media clippings specialised in watching the Nepalese were uploaded by the monitors media over a period of time so that throughout the country. A total of about it can spot any trend inimical to the one terabyte of data was processed fair and free conduct of the polls. The and analysed in the month-long members of that body would be tasked monitoring. Some of those items were to sort out the actionable information marked for priority viewing by the from that which may serve its other purposes. Monitoring on such a huge does not use these items, monitoring scale provides a rare opportunity as all becomesconcerned redundant. ECN officials. To give If theteeth ECN to the news would be available to the ECN monitoring activities, a dedicated team from different parts of the country and
Analytical Report on Media Monitoring of the Constituent 71 Assembly Election 2013 BENEFITS FOR THE MEDIA OFF-BEAT FINDING Another aspect of the gains to be It was found that media in remote made from monitoring concerns the districts sent their publications to media itself. This nationwide media be printed in more infrastructurally survey is also a chance for media able districts headquarters or towns. professionals to look into the mirror For example, newspapers published for once. Such type of research is what from Jumla are actually printed in NPI itself specialises in and it falls well Nepalgunj. This was a finding that within the NPI’s ambit of activities. might surprise some, but for the For NPI to cash in on the information monitors this also meant that they available thus, it should be able to use needed to be based in Nepalgunj if it while conducting future trainings they wanted to monitor the media for journalists. It can also disseminate in Jumla. This is because waiting for the newspaper to arrive in Jumla for distribution would take time while the findings by other means for the the immediate availability of the bebenefit gleaned of the from journalists the monitored at large. items But paper in Nepalgunj made it more andfirst, formatted the available to suit information the needs of must the deadline-friendly for the monitors media professional. These needs have based there. to be matched with the capability of the database and other inherent constraints. they would all be related with elections, even though they might not all be The code of conduct developed by related with compliance of the media the ECN has a strong element of the code of conduct. Thus arises the need journalists’ own professional code to group the clippings into different streams according to the needs of the after intense consultations with the ECN. Some of the information may professionalsof conduct, themselves. since it was Training finalised the have to do with the functioning of the monitors to spot code violations would election body, some others may relate were all trained journalists and all they may have to do with relevant actors needednot have to been do wastoo difficult to focus because only on they the liketo the the conduct government, of ECN officials,security othersforces elections; call it a new beat of sorts and election monitors, while still for them. After this, things get a bit others may have to do with the system more complicated as a database needs of election itself. More precisely, the to be designed with all this in mind. variety and the amount of news items Here, journalistic imperatives must be monitored by the monitoring team matched with the imperatives of data can give the ECN more than a tool to management. This means tailoring the enforce the codes of conduct. Much of system to meet the needs of the day. the information can be had only during Databases have been designed and elections and seeking that information managed by professional monitoring when monitoring is going on would systems elsewhere, but the problem mean killing two birds with one stone. is that they are usually proprietary While there is such a huge opportunity, and, worse, suited only to particular why focus only on code compliance? monitoring organisations’ needs. For In a manner of speaking, monitoring Nepalese elections, the database should is open intelligence and the gathered address the needs of both the ECN information must be put to good use. and the monitors based throughout
Analytical Report on Media Monitoring of 72 the Constituent Assembly Election 2013 Media focus on the election.
Nepal. It should be simple enough too needed to follow suit. Not just the
enough to carry out the task at hand; the clippings too needed to be electronic notto be too understood large for it by to all be but un-feasible efficient asdatabase, far as practicable. but the collection and filing of or unsustainable, but accommodative enough to meet the challenges of a Regarding the task of managing this huge repository of information, the would only be for a month. nationwide data flow, even though it monitors needed to sit down to hammer The fact that the codes of conduct IT expert, the data analyst and the had to be tallied with every news item monitored should not have been theout individual the difficulties data before they would uploading face themin indexing, to the database. labelling The and data analysing analyst simplicity, organising this vast amount would obviously want the database to ofdifficult. data collection But, again, and in management spite of its meant bringing together all these information as possible. The monitor clippings, running into hundreds of would,give him on as the much contrary, narrowly prefer objectified as wide election related news items every day, a canvass as possible for his or her from different parts of the country. subjective judgments to be part of the Since IT is a growing phenomenon, input with as little effort as possible. increasingly being put to practical use This, needless to say, is bound to produce by almost every profession, monitoring some sort of sparring between the two.
Analytical Report on Media Monitoring of the Constituent 73 Assembly Election 2013 MEASURING THE UN-MEASURABLE OFF-BEAT FINDING
We have mentioned elsewhere that Certainly, journalism in countries like journalists were found to be engaging Nepal is an ever-evolving profession in campaigning for candidates of with hardly any or no constant to their choice rather than engaging provide a level ground for analyzing in their own profession. In several the variables. Ever-evolving, because instances, the monitors found that professional journalism is not a given in they stopped publication of their Nepal. It is subject to one’s interpretation papers to do so. This was a nuisance through ideological prisms of one’s own for the monitors if such publications preference. We know that journalists were in their list of media outlets to here have openly declared that they have be monitored. And, this did happen their priorities, like “mission journalism” in some of the districts. But later on or some other similar goals. Many senior after the elections were conducted, journalists today are veterans of the these papers somehow appeared communist movement or the multiparty in the newsstands, some of the editions were in fact a combo of those lofty ideals in their work. The several past issues put together. The resultstruggle of whosesuch stellar job then people was torunning reflect scribes had clearly found time after after their high ideals and putting them the elections to come out with their into practice in everyday down-to-earth back issues. This they might have journalism also has a downside. It is done to fulfill their obligation to the advertisers or for whatever reasons. media outlets deliberately employing But it was quite an odd situation for like-mindedtherefore no surprisejournalists to find for partytheir based own the monitors to handle. partisan interests. In other words, trying
in the Nepalese media cross-section Hence, the role of the IT professional isto a find challenging a given task, professional to say the constant least. A becomes crucial in mitigating the cynic may even say that partisanism differences. Consultations were a matter is a constant in Nepalese journalism to be pursued with priority as the closer and easily get away with it. But this the relation among monitors, analysts is a topic discussed in voluminous works elsewhere by renowned media whole task would be. professionals. and IT experts, the more hassle free the Let it be said here that having a Media monitoring for elections have common language understood by both become a routine affair in many IT professionals or statisticians and democracies, especially emerging journalists is not a done deal as of yet. ones. The models adopted also Some attempts have been made towards follow a beaten path where news quantifying newsroom priorities into clippings are scanned to see if there numbers, especially by monitors in is any code violation or if bias is seen developed countries, to calculate news in presentation by the concerned bias, tone of reporting etc. But quantifying journalists and media houses. Some can only be done in environments help from statisticians is acquired to
in place. We know that calculation of differentwhere the variables professional can be codes done areonly firmly if the thisenhance model the inobjectivity the past. of Monitorsthe findings. sit environment remains constant. downNepal totoo measure has had the an spread experience of the withitem
Analytical Report on Media Monitoring of 74 the Constituent Assembly Election 2013 on the newspaper being monitored and incorporated into the measurement the time allotted to each actor in a news criteria? There are many other news nuances that the monitors have not been the degree of bias in the news. In a way, able to incorporate into their models to broadcast. ll this is done to find out give a true picture of bias in reporting. journalists’ professional behaviour as well,the monitoring not just make is expected him or her to comply correct And, again, in Nepal, one is hard with the election codes. for news bias, where a majority of news But, every journalist knows that news outletspressed tohave find openly the rationale sided forwith looking one priorities in the newsroom do not political party and business house or follow any statistical imperatives. another. Readers or audiences who are Desk priorities usually supersede a little media savvy know better than other priorites, leading to awarding to rely on only one version of any story. of a greater amount of space to a Banal as it may sound, to get a complete particular item than another similar picture of any story, one needs to item. Sometimes, the importance of go through the whole spectrum of the event being followed is the key news outlets. All journalists know to awarding prominence and space, rather than any set statistical criteria neutrality while writing any story. All deskthe difficultyeditors know of maintainingthat any news perfect he or she has prioritised in his or her media tofor provide equal treatment.an even amount ne may of space find to it outlet is given less prominence by other alldifficult items. to Sometimes, see any desk news editor items trying are media outlets even in cases where both outlets pursue professionalism with utmost care. toshortened consume to allfit intothe aavailable tight space. space. t So,others, the oneidea may of needpointing filler to lines the added area All this haranguing about journalism covered by the news item to prove and statistics and why a marriage among desk editors. If codes are impossible, does have a point. The bias is not going to find many takers pointbetween here the is: twoHow iscan difficult, one resort if not to a more practical solution understood byexpected them must to be be followed found, notby journalists, something such a skewed landscape and still that appears to be imposed by the arrivequantification at a logical of data conclusion? emanating fromThe statistician. Only then can corrections safest bet would be to abandon the be made on journalistic bias. Indeed, for the gut-instincts of the monitor to journalists’ behaviour, that is never dealquantification with. Although approach this andmay leavenot be it goingif monitoring to happen is if expectednews and tonews correct desk the best approach, a comparison of pressures are not taken into account the gut-instinct method vs. statistical in determining bias in the news. And, measurement approach, especially these, as we have said, are not easily regarding journalistic bias, would not produce a clear winner.
Similarly,quantifiable. statistical measurements can Therefore, for the purpose of only be done on items that have been monitoring the media for the election, published or broadcast. In the news the best model would only try to focus business, one sees a lot being said on code compliance. The statistical by journalistic decisions of blacking models would do well if they focus on out select news. How is this aspect measurable issues and work to provide
Analytical Report on Media Monitoring of the Constituent 75 Assembly Election 2013 the ECN about actionable information was not quite ready by the time the OFF-BEAT FINDING actual monitoring began. A quick way Some newspapers in the of letting the ECN know that some of advertisement-starved districts the items being dispatched needed to were making a great deal of hay be noticed by them so that they could while the election sun shone. The follow through with their action on the same newspapers were bombarded violators of the media code. This quick with advertisements from different candidates, especially if they system with three different colours– workaround produced the flagging appeared neutral in reporting the red for gross violation of the codes campaign activities. Although this and orange and yellow for less serious looks like a normal phenomenon, types of violation. This saved the day, in a mediaworld, where political as it came to the immediate rescue of preferences rule the roost among the monitors by being able to notify the journalists, this should show that ECN of code violations. And, it got stuck professionalism does pay, if only for to the very last day. It did result in some a short period. unintended consequences as well.
Cropping the length of the database input to journalism schools instead of trying to measure the un-measurable in system, but it did not cater to other a bid to shape the quality of reporting. needsinput formsenvisaged gave by birth the detailed to the flagging forms– that information would be unearthed Now, putting these dilemmas into the to conduct an in-depth study of the database would be challenging under media during a crucial phase of a any circumstances. But once that was democracy. Since NPI has been carrying done and the database visualised, it out academic works on journalism, the would be networked with the monitors, Institute was not going to let such an working from different parts of the country, for their inputs. The regions would be a hub for the district activities muchopportunity within slipNPI, throughwas not itsto be. fingers. The and the centre, i.e. Kathmandu, would hurriedlyThis extensive fashioned study, data bandied forms about simply so did not bring in adequate amount of information for the purpose. ownfinalise processing. the data before making it available to the ECN officials for their The priority was rather in looking for a
MEETING SHORTCOMINGS the ECN as and when they were being collected.sure fire method This was to deliver achieved the databy the to
system was devised to prioritise items ike earlierregarding mentioned, code violation. a flagging There stillflagging be system.there to The alert study the methodology concerned is a story about how the system got had to be sacrificed. The flags would designed. a major opportunity for studying the countrywideECN officials, newspaper even if this data meant remained that
too had to undergo changes to suit the theThe softwarerush to expedite and database the task that produced were unexploited. nalysis and reporting beingsome unexpecteddeveloped. outcomes,The data mainlyanalysis in more sophisticated statistical tools. In form that was to give a clear signal for spiteflagging of systemall this, rather the quantitative than depend data on
Analytical Report on Media Monitoring of 76 the Constituent Assembly Election 2013 Colour of media coverage: Keeping a tab on election stories.
analyst did manage in salvaging some by the monitors. This called for another important data for analysis, which he has presented elsewhere in this publication. Journalists across the analyst who would confine his daily outletsreporting monitored to the ECN and on the the number flagging basis. Except the number of media Alongcountry with should the attemptsbenefit from at quantifying it. items received, there was very little of the data to analyze them, the parallel theof differentnumerical flags dimension that the covered monitored in
producing a huge quantity of subjective or less to running a daily commentary offshoot system of flagging was his reports. e confined himself more system was designed to inform the ECN essence of his reports too is presented ofdata. notable s items already and said, this action the flagging had no elsewhereon the monitoring in this publication. findings. This, The at roots in quantitative analysis. Flagging was done by individual monitors by to the election body. And, with two relying on their gut instincts, rather analystsleast, fulfilled doing their the NPI s work, commitment the analysis than statistical tools. And, gut instinct part would be satisfactory for everyone is not a very reliable variable for involved. quantitative analysis, unless one is studying the various aspects of that The analysis of the data is worthy of human psyche. Therefore, NPI’s daily comment because this was the main casualty of the cropping of the original
report needed to cover the items flagged
Analytical Report on Media Monitoring of the Constituent 77 Assembly Election 2013 plan. Like mentioned earlier, the plan done away with, the only option originally planned analysis was more was to allow a more costly and time geared towards studying the cross- consuming “learning by doing” method section of the Nepalese media, rather to be adopted. Come to think of it! The brief training was done away with given by the ECN to NPI so that even because of time and money constraints than merely fulfilling the mandate only to give in to a more time consuming from this nationwide task. Originally, and costly method of learning-by-doing. themediapersons monitors couldwere get supposed some benefit to handover the monitored data to a group So, when monitoring actually took off, of analysts for a thorough statistical it did not begin throughout the country analysis before it reached the ECN. The at one go. First, the Kathmandu unit, quantitative and qualitative analysts the biggest of them all, had to start at the centre would then include the kicking. Here, one saw NPI hurriedly results in their daily report to the ECN. making space for the job at its central A huge number of analysts would be the facilities in Kathmandu, pulling out all its old computers from the storage to hacking off the army of analysts and to repair and equip them for the job result. The modified plan was limited at hand, carrying out recruitments, forms. It was instead merely geared making placements where they were towardsthe necessary meeting fields the in ECN the dataneeds. upload This necessary, orienting them for the job, developing the database and removing did produce some long faces, especially the incoming hurdles, all at one go. It exclusion of the study part of the plan was a scene worth watching. All the academically useful masala. mad conundrum going on as if the sky among those anxiously awaiting some was about to fall.
lack of time did not only force NPI to NPI had to dispatch someone hurriedly clipThe itsmodification own lofty needs,of the planlike the forced media by recruitment and organise a makeshift doing away with vital components of orientationto the Eastern to the egion main monitors to finalise there the study just mentioned. It extended to so that things would move smoothly. monitoring began even without Similar was the case with Nepalgunj carryingthe very monitoringout orientation itself. orclasses example, for which refused to trickle any monitored the monitor recruits. In hindsight, it items until someone went to equip is hard to believe how monitoring got the place with manpower, computers, scanners and skills to upload the players the rules of the game. collected data to the database. launched without even first telling the The main reason for the planning of the To top it all, the delay in getting the orientation classes was to acquaint the monitoring activities moving meant monitors with the system they would that NPI was falling short on its commitment to the contract, according the task, with all the technical details to which monitoring should have thatbe part come of and with also it. the Although extensiveness many of started in full swing on 1 November the monitors chosen had already done 2013, an impossibility given the late signing of the contract, on the same day, for the job. In other words, NPI had to thing.the work The in system the first they C were elections, to be theirpart assign additional monitoring tasks to ofexperience was going was to be not something necessarily quite a goodalien the monitors by collecting back-dated to them. With this important part of the
media files and carrying out the job, the
Analytical Report on Media Monitoring of 78 the Constituent Assembly Election 2013 staleness of the data notwithstanding. agreed period of monitoring was for a month– the post-poll period of about immediately after the contract was a week included. Preparations had to signed.Those media This particular files were task being was collected devised be carried out within this period. This purely to satisfy the conditions of the meant that the actual monitoring for contract, rather than informing the ECN code compliance by the relevant actors with real-time monitored data. Things could shrink even further. One may did start falling into place after a couple blame the suspense surrounding the of days, however. holding of the election that had already been postponed several times or some Under normal circumstances, once other political or procedural culprit for the delay and the resultant short period of test runs would reveal the systemic available for monitoring, but the fact is bugsthe database which would was have finalised, been aremoved period that the actual monitoring task would when the actual monitoring would be facing the brunt of it, no matter how be launched. Things would have been moving smoothly once the actual monitoring began. Orientation Sinceyou explain NPI had it. been conducting media sessions would have removed the need monitoring for a long time, it might have to constantly link up with monitors seemed that NPI could do it in a jiffy. Those familiar with this specialised correct their mistakes even while they media activity know that things are not werein far flung uploading places their to getmaterials them to as simple. Each monitoring requires the database. From holding technical a machinery that is geared towards a particular objective and preparations monitoring methods to familiarisation are needed for that, even though withsessions the system to explanationitself thus became of theall monitoring might be the staple of part of the central level staff’s daily that monitoring agency. For a vast routine. This time could have been task such as monitoring of the entire more fruitfully utilised for seeking a spectrum of the Nepalese media, one greater amount of input from the ECN needs to start from scratch– preparing to make changes in the system to suit the manpower, training them for the the ECN’s needs even better. particular job, arranging the hardware and developing the software etc. This needs to be done each time monitoring POST-MORTEM is conducted, as election monitoring is done only when elections are held and For monitoring to be meaningful, the they are held after a considerable gap period chosen to do the monitoring of time, a time when monitoring is not should be relevant to the objectives at done. hand. NPI’s election monitoring should have begun at least a few days ahead Secondly, when signing contracts for a of the enforcement of the poll codes monitoring job one needs to carefully of conduct. This would have given the go through the conditions spelled out monitors at least three months to do on paper, as these determine the scope their jobs. One month is not enough of activities one will have to carry out even to make a proper appraisal of the job done. The project began so late that the main objectives of the contract. when actual monitoring began there Althougha project ofNPI’s a national own resources scale and could fulfill were barely three weeks left for the be put to use to override constraints, election to be held, even though the and this was done where its necessity
Analytical Report on Media Monitoring of the Constituent 79 Assembly Election 2013 was deemed absolute, such conditions be integrated in their own database, should not occur. the ECN can use this as a valuable resource in the future. For this, the ECN This brings us to the training issue. will need to orient its staff manning the Orientation to the system is necessary monitoring unit to sorting these items not only for each monitor carrying out into several streams and store them in their own database. Obviously, those
the taskssystem in andfar flung unearth districts the data it is alsothat that the ECN needs. theynecessary need. forIt gives ECN them officials an toidea get about into that are flagged are not the only items The state body should realise that and how best to put the available there is a lot of material out there that informationwhat to expect to use. from As time the went database by, the is available only during elections and ECN did get acquainted with the system, other materials that are not available but it would naturally have been better then. This means that apart from had some form of orientation session arming itself with the tools to enforce taken place beforehand. the codes of conduct, it can also gather information on the developments This means that there is also the regarding the political actors, need for a proper monitoring unit of government activities and, not the least, dedicated individuals at ECN’s end who the ECN itself. If we look at the terms need to familiarise themselves with the of reference for the election media system of monitoring in place and, as a monitoring in Nepal, it is clear that even consumer of the end product, be able to the ECN’s monitoring requirements show that the task mandated to the and use it to enhance the activities of monitors are more concerned with theabsorb ECN. all the information flowing to it making the media more professional than with gathering information on Since the election related clippings elections for its own use. do not only concern with the election codes of conduct, but the entire This points to another need that the gamut of the election, there is a lot of ECN will feel later on. Monitoring of information out there that would be the media only during elections will required by the ECN at some point of be not enough, especially if monitoring braces a wider canvass than mere activities of a political party during code compliance by the mass media. thetime. campaign or example, may newsnot have regarding anything the Such realisation would empower the to do with the codes of conduct, but election body with adequate amount could prove vital in ECN’s dealing with of information to carry out its tasks the said party in the future. There are effectively and give it early warning news stories related with a host of signals regarding its own course other institutions, the government, the of action. A regular tracking of the security forces and even the general functioning of the media would also people’s attitudes. If the news items give it a comprehensive knowledge of have something to do with these the media landscape. Such knowledge institutions and the elections they helps one to anticipate likely scenarios, are uploaded by the monitors, albeit including likelihood of code of conduct violations, and prepare for is concerned, the item may just be such eventualities accordingly when ignoredwith a neutral as it has flag. nothing s far to asdo thewith ECN the codes of conduct. But if these items can developing targeted codes of conduct elections take place, for example,
Analytical Report on Media Monitoring of 80 the Constituent Assembly Election 2013 Election Commissioner Ila Sharma (third from right) during a visit of the NPI media monitoring centre in Kathmandu.
for a more effective compliance. The are available and each government sooner this realisation dawns, the unit or state organ can access them better. Once that happens, a permanent according to its need. This would monitoring unit, albeit a smaller one, facilitate the governance process would be the order of the day, rather much better. It would in fact act as the than just during elections. All ECN government’s ear to the ground. needs to do during the elections is to For NPI’s part, the institute needs constituencies where elections are beingexpand held. the activity to cover all the theto try data and that find they the need most by feasible streaming and One can sense a growing realisation themexpedient into way actionable to serve theand ECN useful with on ECN’s part of such a need, but that information that the ECN needs. This realisation needs to be manifested into action now. And, once the ECN put in place and seems to have served knows the value of monitoring it thewas ECN achieved well bythis the time flagging around. system The could show the way forward to other is based on what the monitor feels media monitoring can bring to the aboutkind of that flag particular used for aitem particular and, hence, item organisation.government An agencies ideal situation what benefits would a purely subjective decision on the be to have a central government monitor’s part. But since statistical database where all the media clippings tools have been widely used to
Analytical Report on Media Monitoring of the Constituent 81 Assembly Election 2013 determine the quality of news items in developing journalism hands in by many election monitors around the the non-governmental sector, has world, there is a need to study them remained the hub of professional carefully before applying them in the monitoring thus far. A training course lasting several weeks that can lay down the basics of monitoring for interested Nepalese context. journalists to develop monitoring skills completely replace this form of pursuit would go a long way in the development of lthough objectivity, the at flag least system for the appears purpose to of professional monitoring in Nepal. of enforcing the code of conduct on the media, objectivity tools would Granted that journalism schools do not run surely be able to give a wide array specialised classes for monitoring. And, of data for other uses, like the media of course, this means that publications study that NPI had in mind. If NPI on theoretical knowledge on monitoring can persuade any future agency that is not available. But these things develop it will be monitoring for, not just the along the way with training courses ECN, about the need to conduct such getting honed as time goes by. There studies beforehand, it would not be too regarding monitoring in Nepal. And this of monitoring for the ECN should serve canis alreadymake a somegood starting experience point availablewhen it asdifficult a lesson to conductabout why them. time This is of instance essence comes to transferring that knowledge to regarding preparation for such a scale interested journalists. This could give a of activity. shot in the arm for those wishing to give continuity to professional monitoring. Quite stark in the NPI’s monitoring NPI should initiate such a training. efforts is that in spite of completing several projects involving monitoring, Yes, there is enough reason to scoff monitoring itself has not been able to get at the idea of providing an academic off the ground as a sustainable activity. dimension to what is essentially a Each time there is someone who wants professional monitoring services and them. But, remember that there were approaches NPI, the Institute scrambles thosemere collectionwho said ofthe clippings same thing and about filing together the necessary equipment and mainstream journalism until some time manpower to take up the job until ago– that journalists were born and not the client feels it no longer necessary. taught. And professional journalism Hence, the human resources that have far preceded its academic courses in been developed for particular jobs the universities. Today, journalism usually involve part-timers whose main is a thriving faculty in numerous base is somewhere else. universities throughout the world.
Because of the hiccups in the The idea behind the concept of training development of monitoring efforts in for monitoring is that with some Nepal, it may make sense to have some knowledgeable manpower available, kind of training course dedicated to there is bound to be efforts aimed at developing manpower for professional sustaining the profession as a specialised monitoring. This idea makes sense branch of journalism in Nepal. in light of the fact that NPI, a pioneer
Analytical Report on Media Monitoring of 82 the Constituent Assembly Election 2013 THE LOGISTICS AND MANAGEMENT
1. INTRODUCTION task: ‘Monitor the media for the 19 November 2013 Constituent Assembly With the past experience the election in relation to the Election Nepal Press Institute (NPI) had in Code of Conduct for the Mass Media monitoring the media, it successfully as issued by the Election Commission implemented a nationwide media Nepal (ECN) in 2013.’ The Terms of monitoring programme for the Reference required the NPI to recruit Election Commission of Nepal (ECN) and depute monitors throughout the in November 2013. The Electoral nation and see how the mainstream Support Project (ESP) of UNDP had Nepali media, that is, newspaper, radio, television and online news portals, put a media monitoring mechanism in complied with the election code for the placeprovided and financial assess the assistance media coverage to swiftly of mass media, that had been brought in the Constituent Assembly election in to force by the ECN. The code sought to terms of the Election Code of Conduct ensure that the media coverage of the for the Mass Media 2013. Nepal’s election campaign, campaign blackout, major political parties were preparing voting, and results were fair and to intensify their campaign for the impartial. Election actors, mainly, the crucial poll to be held on 19 November political parties, candidates, voters and 2013. An alliance of 33 parties was election managers, were waiting for creating obstructions to the election campaign with general strikes and week of November, when the festivals violent acts. Major Nepali festivals, wouldthe campaign be over. to heat up from the first mainly Tihar and Chhath, were also around the corner, keeping the people busy in travel and celebration vacancies for media monitors on planning. theThe day NPI it officiallysigned the announced contract. The the political protests that rejected the In that backdrop, the NPI needed very process of election under a non- strategies to start media monitoring political government had made free as soon as a contract for services was movement of people from one place to signed with the UNDP on 1 November 2013. The contract spelled out the monitors and other personnel from another difficult. ecruiting media
Analytical Report on Media Monitoring of the Constituent 83 Assembly Election 2013 the centre and posting them to the It suggested online sessions for staff monitoring stations in the districts and recruitment, orientation, training regions through elaborate processes and problem solving for districts and of application, interview, training regions, where the national team leader and orientation sessions in less than and monitoring coordinator would not a week was not possible. At the same be physically available for carrying out time, selection of the media monitors the tasks. without the due processes of testing On another front, the central team risky. It demanded skill, experience of media monitoring leaders and andtheir ingenuity fitness for to the meet job the at handneeds was of experts established a channel of skilled media monitors, who knew how communication with the ECN so as to the media worked during elections, in the midst of the need for fast-track available on a network of computers recruitment process. make the findings of the monitoring privileges. Before the NPI submitted the proposal for viewing by officials with access seeking support to launch the media Until late into the campaign period, monitoring operations, it had done there was doubt among the political some homework about the anticipated actors about whether the election structure of the monitoring operations would be held. Except for some and the staff needed to cover a wide sporadic violent incidents on the voting spectrum of news media from all day, the elections were, surprisingly, parts of the country. As a media fair and peaceful, despite the anxiety. A training and research institution, the cursory glance at the media headlines NPI already had a network of past showed that as the Election Day drew trainees across the country and three nearer, the people were more and more independent regional media resource certain that the election would be held centres in Biratnagar, Butwal and as scheduled on 19 November 2013. Nepalgunj. It assigned the team leader, During the campaign, the media started who oversaw the proposal process, taking partisan views, particularly to mobilise its network of regional regarding the prediction of victory centres and journalists. After the NPI for the candidates and parties they signed the contract with the UNDP/ favoured. This went on well into the ESP on 1 November 2013, the team silent period. In monitoring terms, the leader started the hiring process right away, asking the regional centres and code violations, rose to the highest sub-centres, on day one, to contact duringnumber the of campaignred flagged blackout. items, showing potential applicants, interview them about their interest and skill in media monitoring and send their names, that the NPI was going way beyond the with resumes, to the centre. ambitThe findings of general above, formedia example, monitoring, showed of the clipping and indexing type, to In Kathmandu headquarters of the NPI, handle a special monitoring situation the team of media monitoring leaders like the national election. Its client and experts, as per the initial proposal, was an autonomous state organ, the ECN, which was tasked with the major 2013. The meeting discussed the setup responsibility of managing the crucial ofheld the their monitoring first meeting infrastructure on November at the centre and suggested strategies it had held the CA election in 2008. to implement the project nationwide. election to the next C , five years after
The ECN took cues from the findings
Analytical Report on Media Monitoring of 84 the Constituent Assembly Election 2013 At the election booth.
of media monitoring to enforce mass time. The data collected by the NPI media compliance with its election needs to be preserved for future use code during the people’s democratic and analysis. exercise of participating in a fair and impartial election. The scale of the task 1.1 Structure of the article at hand stretched the limits of media monitoring to the realms of political This article limits its scope to setting analysis and the academic world. the context in which the NPI undertook to monitor the election media under The steering committee arranged a services contract detailing how the external and internal monitoring and services were successfully delivered. The next section is structured to focus from the ECN and the UNDP/ESP visited on the past experiences of the NPI in theevaluation monitoring of the centre project in work.Kathmandu. fficials media monitoring in general.
The core team leaders followed up Following these are the highlights of with the monitors regarding their the proposal process and services contract. In the section after that, visits, and on Skype sessions. In the the focus will shift to how the team courseassignment of a onhectic phone, month, through the fieldNPI leaders, experts and monitors worked learned some lessons on managing the overtime and managed to send the project of a national scale in a short media monitoring updates into the
Analytical Report on Media Monitoring of the Constituent Assembly Election 2013 Nations Mission in Nepal (UNMIN) THE CONTRACT REF: during the implementation of the PISU/PROF/014/2013 peace accord between the then seven political parties and the Maoists, who were emerging from an insurgency Title: Media Monitoring for the CA to become part of the legitimate Election 2013 mainstream of a multiparty polity. The NPI’s monitoring unit ably Task: Monitor the media for the handled the monitoring task for the November 19, 2013, Constituent BBC monitoring during all the seven Assembly election in relation to years the international monitoring the Election Code of Conduct for the establishment worked in Nepal, from Mass Media as issued by the Election 2003 until it pulled out of the country Commission, Nepal (ECN), in 2013 citing budgetary constraints. The UNMIN monitoring took place from 1 Duty station: Throughout Nepal One year of monitoring was carried Duration: 1-30 November 2013 out anuary for another to UN Septemberorganisation, . the Goal of services: Provide the ECN resources were shifted away to other with routine media monitoring UNDPUNDP, untilpriorities. the available Events-related financial reports and analyses of electoral media monitoring had also been communication carried out successfully for three organizations and governments. In Services provided to: ECN and implementing some of these projects, UNDP/ESP which sometimes involved works in three countries, namely, Nepal, Bhutan Services provided by: NPI and India, the NPI had developed strategies to get the job done despite Payment for services by: The complexities (See A Monitoring Concept is Electoral Support Project (ESP) of the Realised, page 55-74 page). UNDP (See Annex for Contract) Moreover, the individuals involved in election media monitoring had highly database for viewing within less relevant past experiences, including than a week from the signing of the election observation. The team leader agreement between the NPI and the and the NPI Chairperson had been UNDP/ESP. This section deals with election observer themselves. the contract implementation and reporting of the progress of work to So far, few Nepali institutions were donors and the subsequent section dedicated to monitoring the media in lists issues and risks, preparing the a professional manner like the NPI did. ground for mention of the lessons learned. In the end, recommendations Against that background, the Media are made for future work in this area. Monitoring for the CA Election 2013 started as a major media monitoring 1.2 Past experience of the NPI endeavour that the NPI sought to take to another level. The core team The NPI had the requisite expertise, brainstormed about the time and with an impressive record of carrying resource constraints, prioritized the out media monitoring for the United objectives and broke them down into
Analytical Report on Media Monitoring of 86 the Constituent Assembly Election 2013 1.5 Objectives of the activities for implementation under a assignment timeline. Generally, as the agreement between the NPI and the ESP spelled out, a media communication to clarify the concerns monitoring service aims to provide ofEfficient experts oversightand clients and guided regular the clients with tailored documentation, monitoring work to a successful or copies of media content of interest, outcome. If the monitoring had lapses and/or analysis of the print, electronic in approach or some technical details and internet media and delivers during the haste, the nationwide information in a timely manner as and presence of monitors, many of whom when possible. were journalists covering elections and politics, must have acted as a deterrent to election code violation by contract were: the media. Specifically, the objectives of the ÂÂ To monitor media coverage of politi- 1.3 The proposal process cal and/or public affairs communi- cation during the election period, Well before the election mood built as per the ECN Media Monitoring up, the NPI board had decided to Guidelines, 2013 the media for the November election ÂÂ To provide an impartial analysis of andseek see financial how well support they performed to monitor on the media coverage and help the their democratic function of keeping a ECN’s efforts in holding credible, in- watch on a free and fair election. Duly a clusive and professional election proposal was prepared and submitted. It assigned a leader, who had led ÂÂ To regularly update the ECN with several media monitoring projects on - other normal occasions, to put up a ing for it to enforce the election team and prepare the modus operandi codethe findings of conduct of thefor mediathe mass monitor media for an election media monitoring on during electioneering, voting day a national scale. The leader formed a and vote counting periods core team of experts to see through the proposal process and decided on the ÂÂ To use the infrastructure set up for the CA elections to conduct media monitoring until the local election Thespecifics NPI needed of methods to rework and variables. its proposal, mainly in response to the Request for Proposals advertised by the UNDP/ESP 2. IMPLEMENTATION OF on 24 October 2013, and submitted it THE CONTRACT for consideration by the ECN, the client, to evaluate its effectiveness to assess When the ESP/UNDP called for the media compliance with the Election proposals to monitor the media just Code of Conduct for the Mass Media. a month before the Election Day, the NPI reviewed its existing media 1.4 Professional services monitoring infrastructure and came contract information up with a proposal in response to the call. Working overtime, the NPI advertised vacancies for the media information about the contract for monitors, set up a steering committee, services.The following is the main official got the key project personnel into
Analytical Report on Media Monitoring of the Constituent 87 Assembly Election 2013 gear on a fast track, upgraded its demonstrations, general strikes computers in the centre and regions, and violence staged by the 33-party established its own database system alliance, led by the CPN (Maoist), had and started monitoring the campaign made free movement of people from media coverage. The implementation schedule, shared with the personnel on day one, gave a basis to kick-start the Toone short-circuitplace to another the difficult.time needed for early work. With speed as the mantra, travel during political uncertainties the media monitoring work was going and major festivals, the NPI announced vacancies for all media monitoring November 2013. personnel on 1 November 2013 via on at a full scale from the first week of its own organizational website and Implementation schedule assigned the team leader, who had seen
Although the database system was being tested, despite the collection dozenthe proposal other personnel process, towith recruit the help a fleet of of news stories and summaries from contacts.of about Hiring mediathem all monitors from the centre and a several places in the central database, and posting them to the monitoring the weekly Tihar holidays affected the stations in districts and regions, work and reporting schedule of the the formalities of application, interview, trainingthrough and elaborate orientation processes sessions to in fulfil less Thefirst weekdatabase of November. technicians helped the than a week was not possible. ECN with the data views. The team For fast-track recruitment, the team leader mobilized the NPI regional coordinatorsleaders flew toand the monitors, various regions,shifting media resource centres which somesetting districts up regional for better offices, supervision recruiting contacted the prospective candidates, from one region to another, and interviewed them about their interest providing orientation to the new and skill in media monitoring, and sent recruits to start work right away via the possible names, with resumes, to face-to-face, phone and online (Skype) the NPI headquarters. sessions. 2.2 Work routinisation The NPI approached the assignment from three fronts simultaneously: The project envisaged a three-tier set i) Personnel recruitment (including up to monitor the media activities in 26 % women) and setting up media the country during 1-30 November monitoring units in Kathmandu and 2013 - district, regional and central regions ii) Work routinisation, and iii) level monitoring. The districts Updates for the ECN. primarily focused on the print media and radio while the regional resource 2.1 Personnel recruitment centres of the NPI also included television. In Kathmandu, the task When the NPI undertook the project, became more extensive as the NPI it knew that media monitoring was a was geared towards coordinating the complex but urgent task, which would tasks throughout the country as well as monitoring the local news outlets. adequate time for preparation and Separate teams monitored the media anbe elaborate difficult set-up to implement to avoid glitches. without outlets- viz. print, radio, television and Complicating the matter, street online news.
Analytical Report on Media Monitoring of 88 the Constituent Assembly Election 2013 T REE TIER NETWOR level to the centre and then on to the ECThe throughflow of information the three–tier from thenetwork local was as follows. ECN and UNDP/ESP
A database tailored to the needs of NPI the election media monitoring was developed and presented to the Regions ECN and the UNDP/ESP. The cost, of physical and human resources, determined the depth and breadth Districts of the work done in response to the assignment. The project team believed the wide ranging media samples from visits to the NPI headquarters to see all regions and districts produced how well the monitoring was going on. pointers for the ECN to enforce code compliance for the media. Internally, the central monitoring coordinator regularly carried out an The project then routinised the appraisal of the previous day’s work. monitoring tasks to regularly update With help from the database people, the ECN on the state of the electoral the number of stories and quality of code observance by the mass media throughout the country during the from across the country, The follow campaign, blackout, the Election Day upreports meetings, of the discussions monitors and were actions filing and the vote counting periods. By the end were managed by phone, email and Skype sessions with the regional programme submitted the report of the leaders and monitors. earlyof the preparations,first week, the receivedmedia monitoring the ESP colleagues at the NPI to show how the Regarding analysis, provisions nationwide monitoring infrastructure was set up to work on a regular basis for the month and apprised them of the data.were Due made to forinitial field server check, problems, quality problems, mainly the lack of powerful assurance and filling in of the missing database servers, which were necessary forms for print outlets published as far to run such a massive project without backthe monitors as 1 November were asked 2013, to the fill day up the technical glitches. contract was signed.
The project steering committee Technical assessment was carried arranged for internal and external out regularly – with initial focus on evaluation of the progress of activities removal of system bugs, integration towards the objectives. Internally, the of audio-video and print, changing key personnel kept tab on the quality the view, such as for summary of and progress of the media monitoring reports, and application training and work with the help of internal and adaptation as the work progressed external reviews, follow-up meetings from the second week onwards. and progress tracking measures. They anticipated risks and solved problems Because of the holidays and the short as and when they arose during the time available for setting up the project implementation. The EC- infrastructure to begin monitoring, Committee arranged for external the project was implemented in monitoring and evaluation by paying Kathmandu right away and then
Analytical Report on Media Monitoring of the Constituent 89 Assembly Election 2013 expanded to the various regions and tailored to the needs of monitoring, had districts. This demanded logistic been designed and demonstrated during management accordingly. the proposal process and sample media outlets were almost ready. Once the routine produced regular inputs and updates into the database, the steering committee made an internal monitors uploaded a total of 10,491 review of the work and evaluated the stories ne hundred in the anddatabase. thirty The five media performance of Kathmandu, Biratnagar sample included 400 print outlets, 200 and Nepalgunj as excellent. Janakpur radio stations, 10 television channels and and Dhangadi carried out satisfactory 10 online news portals from across the work. Pokhara region performed well. country. At the completion of the project, The monitors followed guidelines from the NPI delivered reports, analyses, the centre and performed better when indexing of clippings and compilations they had received orientation, training and Skype/phone sessions. the partners. of the findings of the monitoring task to Print and radio monitoring deadlines The database technicians worked with for the districts and regions were set as per a schedule so that the ECN received the reports for print, radio and online theirthe ECN own officials terminals. to set upIt tooka network a while for news sites, from separate desks of forthe the latter ECN to to access get used the to findings viewing from the updates regularly. During the campaign blackout, the designated staff at the ECN withmonitors, the teamby the leader final deadline visited theof ECN were sending letters to code violators, tonoon. familiarize Database them and withmonitoring the use officials of the including some television channels, database system and offered support alerting them against the risk of crossing the lines of impartial campaign coverage the full text of an item listed in the print and the need to stop the partisan headlines.later. The ECN officials now had access to coverage of election candidates in the blackout period. Regarding deadlines for the television media, the evening bulletins were chosen for monitoring the channels. RIS S AN ISSUES Hence, the deadline for uploading the television media monitoring report of This section elaborates on the risks the evening news was 12:00 midnight. and issues that arose during the Special arrangements assigned monitors implementation of the project. It and analysts to go beyond the routines also highlights how the management to record some on-air bulletins and talk resolved the issues, despite some severe shows from selected channels as per the request by the ECN during the days of peak campaigning and also during deliverables.constraints, toThey fulfil were its obligationsrelated with to campaign blackout. aspectsprovide of the management, client with thestructure specified of organization and approach to service. 2.3 Updates for ECN 3.1 Management When the NPI signed the contract, it was prepared to implement the nationwide The project management anticipated monitoring task between 1-30 the main risks to arise from the need of equipping its central and regional
November . database, specifically
Analytical Report on Media Monitoring of 90 the Constituent Assembly Election 2013 Reporting CA 2008 and 2013
The socio-political condition in which the rst CA poll was held in 2008 was quite di erent from that of the CA election 2013. The entire nation had plunged into election in 2008. One politi- cal force that had come fresh from a jungle-based insurgency joined the peace process and it was only through election that their journey to the peaceful and competitive politics could be sealed. All wished to see that CA poll be held at any cost. There were two armed forces - the Nepal Army and the Maoist combatants - and they both were con ned to the barracks in order to make the peace process e ective. “Holding election was more important than maintaining electoral integrity. So, the EC closed its eyes to many incidents of code violation,” confesses EC chief Neel Kantha Uprety, who was one of EC commissioners during 2008 poll. The parties had erected welcome gates to attract the voters and displayed life-size statues of their candidates. “If the EC had gone to demolish them, the country would have risked losing CPN-Maoist from the actual election process.”
Even in such a trying moment, the media acted a watchdog to create a favourable atmosphere for the election. Media-persons were not lenient when it came to expose the excesses of the former rebels’ party. Some journalists had lost their lives while in the line of duty. Even in such hostile environment, the media stood rm and contributed to bringing the political process to the right track. The EC chief is full praise for the media: “Journalists’ role in institutionalising Loktantra is highly praiseworthy. Coming to the next CA poll in 2013, one nds media-men and women were getting professionally mature.”
Still, he does not hesitate to say that the media as a whole is not free from certain biases. “It is better they stop making a mountain out of a molehill,” he advised.
endorsing personnel for recruitment. on a short notice to implement the It also facilitated communication with nationwideoffices and monitoring recruiting of the personnel media the ECN and attended meetings to sort coverage of electoral communication. out issues. The core team, database To mitigate these and other unforeseen personnel, regional team leaders, and risks, the project started in Kathmandu monitors worked in a loose hierarchy and expanded its operation in the to get the teamwork going. Kathmandu regions and districts later. It mobilized monitoring included separate units for radio, television, online, and print resources, in the centre and regions, to (weeklies and dailies). beginthe existing the media NPI offices, monitoring with staffwork and to cover the run-up to the CA election in a Similarly, regional team leaders worked in the regions with monitors, focusing on the overall administration 3.2full fledged Structure manner. of organization and oversight functions.
The steering committee was on the 3.3 Approach to service top tier of the media monitoring work. It acted as a conduit between the project personnel and the NPI board approach in dealing with the risks and and made important policy decisions, issuesThe management arising out of time took and a resource flexible such as announcing vacancies and constraints. It promptly acted as and
Analytical Report on Media Monitoring of the Constituent 91 Assembly Election 2013 when the routine monitoring and Media specialist. The media specialist reporting were concerned. Notable suggested more brainstorming are the following actions, meetings for the core team to arrive at an and visits. understanding of what each variable meant, how to code the media content Central level actions solved problems for the variables, and how to share that
time to anticipate and analyze the risksright associated away but, with without them, there sufficient was understanding with the monitors no room to be complacent that they Datain the field.tabulation specialist. The were the best actions possible in the data tabulation specialist regularly circumstances. For example, when monitored the quality of the data. The monitors entered data differently, specialist suggested charts and graphs the central coordinator asked them for viewing by users with database to follow a set of rules. This meant access privileges. These inputs were some of the entered data would need included in the mid-term review and revisiting. Another possibility, such report as well. Working with the core as allowing the monitors to enter the data the way they did or re-do the variables and indicators to be included work, was never explored. To address inteam the anddatabase, technicians the tabulation to finalise expert the the issues and mitigate risks, as and helped with the quantitative analysis when possible, meetings were held in this report. and visits organized to discuss them. Legal specialist. The legal specialist 3.3.2 Meetings Election Code of Conduct for the Mass The team leader and the central Mediasimplified and suggestedthe list of provisionsthe need to onfollow the coordinator held regular meetings the contract ditto and to relate all the with the core team members on several output with the code of conduct. From issues, including recruitment, sample the legal side, the specialist urged the decision and assignment of monitors, project to follow the decisions of the as per the ToR. meetings about personnel recruitment and management. The following give the gist of suggestions the key personnel made or Political/election specialist. As a member of the steering committee, the political/election specialist got Teamthe briefings leader. theyThe gaveteam at leader the meetings. visited down to troubleshooting at the centre, Biratnagar for setting up the regional as soon as the work began, typically with a notebook, to resolve queries by monitors. Flying to Nepalgunj, together monitors and other project personnel withoffice the and national provided media orientation monitoring to coordinator, they resolved issues as actors and sources, in the database forms.about theThe definition job required of variables, the listing such of the lack of equipment and monitors, to media outlets obtained from across coverconcerning the sample the officeoutlets. setup, Acting mainly as the the country as sample candidates focal point, he held Skype and phone for regular media monitoring. In sessions with regional team leaders Janakpur, Dolakha was shifted from and some monitors, with the help of its previous grouping with Rautahat, the database specialist. Parsa and Bara, for supervision by the centre. The political election expert
Analytical Report on Media Monitoring of 92 the Constituent Assembly Election 2013 sat with specialists and the analyst to provide support to the input process resolve issues regarding the quality of and provided support to the core monitoring and analysis. The political/ election specialist recommended: demand basis. At the ECN, they helped before starting out monitoring, it setpersonnel up a network and the of ECN computers officials for on would have been better to study what in the media was likely to affect the election. 3.3.3viewing Visits the monitoring findings.
Gender specialist. The gender specialist The project arranged visits by teams suggested looking at women in the of the ECN and the UNDP/ESP candidate selection committees and women’s issues in the election monitoring work was going on. Chief documents, from the Election Code Electionofficials toCommissioner observe how Neel the Kantha media of Conduct to the political party Uprety paid an inspection visit on manifestoes, stressing the need to take in to account gender bias, gender expressed satisfaction that despite advantage and gender neutrality time Novemberand equipment . constraints, CEC Uprety the while monitoring the electoral work was smooth. Earlier, Election communication. Commissioner Ila Sharma had inspected the operations and offered Central monitoring coordinator. The additional equipment support (servers and laptops) to the centre and some with the team leader to provide orientationcentral coordinator to the flew monitors to Nepalgunj and Kathmandu centre for review of the made sure of the initial progress of workregions. and The its ESP progress officials on visited several the work and intervened when needed to occasions. make it smooth in the centre and the regions. Later, developing a system 3.4 Field strategy with the database technicians to follow up on the number and quality The project also geared itself to of stories each monitor was inputting meet the contract requirements of into the database on a daily basis. The delivering reports, analyses, indexing coordinator was a part of all meetings, facilities, clippings and compilations dealing with the concern about the time and equipment constraints that limited his ambition to monitor the countryof the findings scanned of the the monitoring news media task. media throughout the nation in a more and mediarecorded monitors electoral from information across the effective manner. in a database for storage, retrieval, analysis and viewing by the people Database specialist. Responding to the with database access privileges. The demands of the core team, the database media monitoring adopted a mix of technicians devised new approaches to quantitative and qualitative methods. swiftly start monitoring work. Fixing bugs as and when they appeared, the IT specialists constantly worked on offIt identifiedmedia narratives the relevant about actors them, in the backend operations to make the mainlyelectoral when communication the content and flaggedcalled web database application serve the attention to any clause in the Election monitoring purpose without errors. Code of Conduct for the Mass Media The technicians remained in touch or when it dealt with election related with the regions, and even districts, to political violence.
Analytical Report on Media Monitoring of the Constituent 93 Assembly Election 2013 ÂÂ Indexing of the clippings “title wise” enable the method adopted for media with links to the actual item monitoringThe field strategyat the NPI responded to do the to following: ÂÂ Detailed report on print and elec- tronic media ÂÂ List election headlines of news, write-ups and programmes from ÂÂ Report on web monitoring newspapers, electronic media and online outlets as they appeared ÂÂ - throughout the country ports Complete and compiled final re ÂÂ Upload full and original text of print items related with abidance of the above bullet points were covered by EC directives and Code of Conduct theThe database first four system, deliverables which allowed of the as they related to the mass media. In case of the electronic items, re- originally planned. Final reports, with cords of the audio and video and/or allgreater details efficiency in print, and easewere of delivered use than transcriptions could be made avail- separately at the end of the programme. able; 3.6 Outcome ÂÂ Prepare a once-a-day analytical re- port regarding the general trend of The outcome of the project was two- media reporting of the elections the media persons and others to get a 3.5 Deliverables picturefold. The of first the wastrue thestate opportunity of democracy for in the country as the monitoring task Designated ECN and UNDP/ESP not only gave a glimpse of the events and developments during the practice allowed to view the summaries of of a critical component of democracy- monitoredofficials with items access as privilegesand when werethe viz. periodic elections- but also an media monitors from across the analysis of another vital component, country submitted their forms, reports that is the exercise of freedom of and analyses, in the morning, daytime expression by the media and political and evening. The system delivered players. Overall, it helped indicate the some of the agreed services, as listed health of Nepal’s democracy. in this section in bullet points, more Secondly, with this analytical report useful manner. The client could use the the NPI got the opportunity to put efficiently and, hopefully, in a more together another project which stories from around the country, go will be an important document for intodatabase the details for a quickof a particular view of flagged story further polishing the skills of Nepali of interest or sort the problematic journalists and help inform future ones by days, outlets and several other media monitoring efforts. categories.
The agreed deliverables were as helped the ECN decide how to enforce follows: the t thecode least, of conduct the monitoring for the mass findings media. It asked several media outlets to refrain ÂÂ Each day’s media monitoring re- from code violations during the crucial port with detailed media analyses campaign period and its actions must have played the role of a deterrent.
Analytical Report on Media Monitoring of 94 the Constituent Assembly Election 2013 4. CONCLUSION a lot of preparatory work before the monitors begin to input the data into the Media monitoring during special database. Enough time and resources, times such as the national elections including modern tools, are a must for is challenging as well as rewarding. standard media monitoring. Despite severe time and equipment constraints, the NPI quickly set up the ÂÂ Sharing of experience in meetings infrastructure to monitor the media and - routinely updated the ECN with stories cials helped resolve several issues at thebetween central the level. NPI Such and meetings the ECN offiand called attention to the Election Code orientations are needed in the re- offlagged Conduct for theirfor thecontent Mass that Media, potentially which gions, as well. was brought out by the ECN to ensure media impartiality in the coverage of the ÂÂ Sustaining the media monitoring ef- candidates in the fray. The data collected fort beyond the election time needs served the immediate purpose of the to be a priority for all. ECN in conducting free and fair elections. ÂÂ Regional and local monitoring units need to be better equipped to handle started taking partisan views, particularly the local broadcast outlets. with ne ofregard the findingsto prediction was of that the the victory media of the candidates and parties in their favour. ÂÂ Media monitoring has to begin si- This went on well into the zero hour multaneously with the issuance of periods. Except for some sporadic violent the Election Code of Conduct for the incidents on the voting day, the elections Mass Media so that the entire cam- were, surprisingly, fair and peaceful, paign period can be covered. a larger implication – they can inform 5.2 Recommendations thedespite interested the anxiety. people The about findings the crucial have media coverage of the Constituent ÂÂ In the preparatory phase, arrange Assembly election. Going beyond that, adequate training for monitors and if preserved properly, in print and provide time for trial run. electronic forms, the media monitoring ÂÂ As the review of work is conducted, public, including the media, government make arrangements for the ECN findings will be useful to serve the wider donors and researchers, providing an institutionaland election memory management of a historic officials, time in ÂÂ Electionsofficials to are visit a routineregions. feature of de- Nepal’s political transition from a unitary mocracy. To support the holding of to a federal nation. free and fair elections, organizations should help the media monitoring ef- forts at the regional and local levels.
ÂÂ Local FM stations and television 5. LESSONS AND channels are increasing in number RECOMMENDATIONS and expanding their outreach. The regional monitoring efforts should 5.1 Lessons be strengthened to cover them.
Media monitoring is a complex task, ÂÂ The campaign period begins when which needs an elaborate setup and the ECN issues the Election Code of
Analytical Report on Media Monitoring of the Constituent Assembly Election 2013 Conduct. Media monitoring should ÂÂ cover the entire campaign period efforts have implications for the me- to assess the media performance of dia The behaviourfindings of duringthe media times monitoring of elec- that time. Comparing this with the tions, including the local election. post election coverage should also They need dissemination among the be a priority. wider public, including the govern- - ÂÂ The NPI has collected the media cials, donors, media and the interest- coverage data of the crucial election edment people. and election Support management should be sought offi time. They are in the cloud server to serve the institutional memory at the moment and need protection in print and electronic book forms, for future use. A local server for the which will be readily accessible for data should be given a priority. others in the future.
Analytical Report on Media Monitoring of 96 the Constituent Assembly Election 2013 THE ANALYSIS The Report : How the Media Fared
Statistical Analysis
Gender, Inclusion and Election Reporting
The Legal Perspective
The Social Media Platform Trends Followed by Election Tweets
THE REPORT HOW THE MEDIA FARED
BACKGROUND
campaigning gained momentum, uncertainties lingered on because of lthough the election date was fixed for the general apathy and indifference of November , people had doubts the people from the distasteful political as to whether the poll would actually be experience of the past four or five years. held. umours of deferring the poll date n top of it, the CPN ( aoist called for to pril or ay to accommodate the CPN a day strike from November . ( aoist were widespread. The CPN ( aoist had announced that the party lthough, officially, media monitoring and its allies would boycott the election began on the first of November, the Justiceif it was Khil conducted Raj Regmi. on November system that was just set up was by the incumbent government of Chief rudimentary. In much of the early days, there were not enough computers. Desks were re arranged constantly to Even the political parties who were for fit in new monitors and monitors took the election were not certain about it, turns at the computer to finish their bit although they were planning to launch of assignment. their campaign in style and firmly move ahead in favour of the election. Those The software and network system and election.who were against it were already on equipment were there, but needed a campaign to boycott vote in the building on that, improvising and customising them to the needs. The job of this report writer was to browse Despite widespread doubts, the through all of the monitored news items government was consulting with and prepare a daily report, focusing different government bodies and mainly on flagged items that violated making the needed arrangements the Election Commission s codes of to ensure that the election would be conduct, mainly as it applied to the held peacefully on the designated date mass media. News items on political of November. Soon, the political violence too were flagged. This was parties started campaigning with not the mandated task of the monitors much fanfare. Even as they went on but deemed necessary for the Election door to door campaigns and as the Commission Nepal to enforce its codes.
Analytical Report on Media Monitoring of the Constituent 99 Assembly Election 2013 The personal desktop window where a political nature. There were also items the reporter could see all the uploaded showing violation of the political code news items of the monitors had not of conduct by political campaigners been designed until the end of the first and they were also flagged. hen week. ne had to wait till the morning these items were flagged it was done shift monitors, monitoring radio merely to notify the ECN rather than stations, ended their shift at noon for only to point out code violation by the analysis of the day s work. concerned media. In the latter cases, the media does not violate any code, it onitoring had been done before by merely points to incidences of violation NPI but it was limited in scope, subject of the political code by candidates. matter and coverage. This time around ere, the media is only doing its job the coverage was nationwide to include of reporting a code violation by a all the selected popular media from candidate. nly by the content of the each district. So, the monitored news news were monitors able to make items came from far flung districts. out whether it was flagged for code The project was massive and gathered violation.violation by the media or for reporting , media items from all the a political violence or a political code districts in the month long period.
The media that had to be monitored ost of the news items that violated were divided into four categories T , the political code of conduct were inter radio, online and print. The morning party clashes, planting of improvised shift monitored the radios. The day explosive devices (pressure cooker shift worked on newspapers and the bombs kept at different places , vehicles online, while the evening shift worked being vandalised, death threats and the on T items. irst the analyst went like. edia code violations included through the monitored morning news biased and partial reporting providing items from the morning radios and unequal treatment to the different the T channels of the nights before parties and candidates, toeing certain and wrote a summary. Then items on party lines and the news selection online and print media were in line for highlighting only the news that would the day s summary as well. be highly favourable to a certain party.
or every news item the monitors were Technology has made it all easy for media asked to flag them with red, orange, outlet. News could be aired directly yellow or green for gross violation of by radio or could be broadcast the code, serious bias, slight bias or live from a T Mechi station Kali using Abhiyan mobiles was neutral in that order, according to the and telephones. or example, Pushpa severity of code violation. The Election amal Dahal s Commission of Nepal (ECN had asked aired live by some T stations and NPI to check the media coverage in radios. This was a gross violation of relation to two main themes one the media code. iving live coverage was the Election Code of Conduct for from the campaign spot is campaigning the ass edia and the other was and singularly propagating ideas of a political violence. So there were two certain party. Campaigning is done by types of code violations that drew our parties and not the media which is a attention. ne was the violation of the direct violation of the media code. This media code of conduct. The other was media got a red flag without difficulty political violence that included threats, on the analytical front. lagging was vandalism or explosions and the like of also subjective and was left to the
Analytical Report on Media Monitoring of the Constituent Assembly Election 2013 judgment of the individual monitors, these forces. s the days drew closer because flagging some items could only to the election date, these activities be done subjectively. There were many intensified, and, thus, the violation of parties that were not heard of but were the codes was greater. running for the election. They were hardly seen in the media. This was But, the election itself was full of because most of the media were partial election.intrigue, andNo noone one knew was certainwhat wouldabout to the three major political parties. nd what would happen on the day of the if the media does not provide space or time to other parties is it not being happen and whether voting would take biased against them ill the media place, because they were frightened or not be violating the code of conduct if it disinterested until the morning of the is stuck to the three main parties The Election Day. media was definitely being partial but PRE-ELE TION was it violating the code of conduct or AMPAIGNING not So, in their selection, the monitors were compelled to use their subjective First Week judgment in flagging the news items as they could not include all the parties. lthough flagging is a rational act it is also based on personal rationality onitoring of the election campaign of the monitors. So, although much of reporting began from November the flagging done by the monitors was , the date Nepal Press Institute a judicious evaluation of the media undertook to implement the project. The reports for violation of the code, some campaign had started but, with doubt news items were flagged based on the on everyone s mind as to whether the sheer judgment of the monitor. election would really take place. This was because there was a general indifference News items that were flagged red for in the people s mind as the last C political reasons were for threatening, had been dissolved unceremoniously vandalism, for blocking the roads without writing the constitution. nd or for using children in the election the Interim Constitution made for campaigns. The media received the the interim period had to undergo flag here for the imputation on political drastic changes enabling the Supreme events, rather than the media that Court Chief ustice to head a caretaker carried the news. If the media is partial government to conduct the election for or has become a propaganda tool for a the new C . Politics had gone through so certain party, then the media violates many turns that a straight forward thing the media code and the media is flagged like holding an election was doubtful. n for code violation. the other hand, after splitting from the UCPN ( aoist party, the CPN ( aoist Even here personal gut feeling of the party did its best to disrupt the election. monitors was responsible for marking They called a day general strike the news with red, orange or green. for early November. There was a total The CPN ( aoist had declared that it shutdown for one day. The strike caused would go against the election. The other immense hardships to the common three parties were competing with one man. rom the second day of the strike, another. The violations of the codes, government vehicles were provided related to political violence, campaign security escorts. The CPN ( aoist codes and the media codes, were called off the general strike and limited it raised because of the clashes between to a vehicle shutdown only. Nonetheless,
Analytical Report on Media Monitoring of the Constituent Assembly Election 2013 the party promised sterner measures to parties with posters that were much disrupt the election as the election date bigger than the si e allowed from drew nearer. They were planting, hoax early on. fter the reprimands, the and real, improvised explosive devices parties had grudgingly yielded to the in different parts of the capital and the code enforcement by the Election election.districts, while the government and Commission. most other parties were pushing for the Similar incidents occurred in Biratnagar where Bijay umar achchhadar took eanwhile, the parties that were out a rally with hundreds of cars. The running for the election began their Election Commission had allowed campaigning, assuring voters that the use of only two cars. Defiance the poll would be held on the pledged against the code from some big guns in date. In their campaign, NC president politics went on without obstruction. Sushil oirala and UCPN ( aoist vice Even though the parties were aware president Baburam Bhattarai were candidatesabout the continued right si e to of use the those posters that making speeches, reiterating that the and banners that were permitted, claimedelection that date the would election not would change. be NC sheld amchandra Poudel from Damauli they had already prepared. nly after the Election Commission was stern on the stipulated date, according to and said that it would disqualify the nline habar. The same outlet on the candidacy of the defaulters did most of thesame election day quoted was not amal good. Thapa saying violatedthem obliged. the media owever, code. little action was that to leave out the CPN ( aoist from taken against the media that constantly Violation of the political code
But as the election date drew near, the campaigning intensified. Clashes between the CPN ( aoists and those ECN s political code violations included parties that were for the election threats, terror, and vandalism, booth became evident. The competition capturing and so on. In the first week among the parties running for the of campaigning the CPN ( aoists used election also brewed clashes. These led various means to disrupt the election. to many violations of the election code ith hoax and real bombs, they targeted of conduct for political campaigning, constituencies of different candidates through acts like torching of vehicles who were running for the election. of candidates, felling trees on to block News of this form of political violence highways falling on the campaign trails, was also flagged red for violation of the planting improvised explosive devices political code of conduct.kathmandutoday.com and so on. This was the political scenario that made much of the election n November, news during this pre election period. reported that a vehicle belonging to Newsa UCPN Today ( aoist cadre was torched But, despite the pressure against the by CPN ( aoist cadres in Sunsari. election from the CPN ( aoist alliance, reported that a bomb was campaigning for the election began found planted at the office of a UCPN in earnest. s early as November, aoist candidate, Barsha an Pun, banners started fluttering from orang Constituency . clash and the loudspeakers booming. The between the Nepali Congress and the Election Commission too got down CPN (U cadres started when they to the business of cracking down on tried to hoist their respective party
Analytical Report on Media Monitoring of the Constituent Assembly Election 2013 The keen ears and eyes from the fourth estate.
Public Times setopati.com banners at a house in Sankhuwasabha party disregarded the code of conduct on November, , a local completely, reported. newspaper, reported. The CPN ( aoist called for a vehicular kathmanduDevi Prasad today.com. Devkota s vehicle was strike in Siraha to restrict the UCPN vandalised in Bhaktapur, reported ( aoist from campaigning for the Two vehicles, election. ThePublic Nepali Times Congress workers belonging to a local, Bharat Shrestha, threatened the U s Bharat hatri were vandalised by the boycottingNepali with death, reported. The Express aoist party for not obeying a call item was flagged red for gross violation for its strike on November, Aof ratopati.comthe code of conduct by the NC. daily said. n November, the UCPN ( aoist carried party cadres on opinion piece eulogi ed a bus to hold a campaign meeting. In Shaligram ammarkatel, a UCPN Rastriyathe process, Samacharpatra they obstructed the traffic aoist candidate from Dhading, on the highway in Urlabari, orang, Constituency on November. reported. International communities were The UCPN ( aoist blocked the highway also eager to make their comments traffic to hold their campaign meeting public. They spoke against the day at Urlabari in orang. In doing so, the strike and said that it was the right
Analytical Report on Media Monitoring of the Constituent Assembly Election 2013 of the people to vote and that the UCPN aoist election campaign in Onlinkhabar.comCPN ( aoist call. for the strike was ajbirajKrishna where Pushpa amal Dahal against the people s right, reported and Baburam Bhattarai were to address rallies, daily reported. Security was tightened in Inarwa after a bomb amchandra Poudel in Damauli was found in Krishnafront of the main gate of reiterated that the election would in no the Nepal Construction Entrepreneurs way be postponedOnline Khabarand that the election ssociation, daily reported. wave was in favour of the Nepali The item was flagged orange for Congress, reported on serious violation of the political code November. The news was flagged by the aoists. yellow for slight bias. said that the election would be held on Newspapers were also carrying news In these items, the political leaders of big guns of the political parties. kathmandu.com adav umar Nepal sand Online addresses Khabar on. the stipulated date. Nepali Congress his campaign trail were reported by President Sushil oirala, UCPN ( aoist leader Baburam Bhattarai, Slanders against other parties by the PP N Chairman amal Thapa and leaders were also reported. Those who adhesi anaadhikar orum Chairman are campaigningOnline for Khabarmultiple identities Bijaya umar achchhadar said the Mithilaare like hermaphrodites, Bishesh said Baburam Defiance against the code from some big Bhattarai, reported. guns in politics went on without obstruction. , highlighting Baburam Bhattarai s speech that said he was a Even though the parties were aware about the leader of an international stature and right size of the posters and banners that were was sure to bring in development in permitted, candidates continued to use those Butwal whether he won or lost, was flagged orange by our monitors for that they had already prepared. serious bias.
The international community said that the day strike onlinekhabar.comcalled by the CPN election date would not change. They ( aoist was against the people s rights said this while they were campaigning and against the law, in their respective constituencies. reported. The news item was flagged They were all reported but flagged yellow for slight political bias. neutral. Six CPN ( aoist cadresonlinekhabar.com robbed some In another news item, the the Election voters education materials in Charanbi Commission struck off the name of village in Bhojpur, Bal rishna Dhungel and akir Shah reported. The news item was flagged from the UCPN ( aoist candidates orange for serious violation of the list. They were contesting elections political code. The Election Commission under the proportional representation looked helpless in withdrawing the category. They were deemedRadio ineligible Nepal, candidacy of ayaraj Samyok imbu, a toKantipur run in FM the and election. Star FM These. reports candidate of orang Constituency were monitored on from orum oktantrik. is case was similar in nature to that of Bal rishna Dhungel who was convicted by the The CPN aoist called a transport court for murder and was withdrawn strike in Siraha District to foil the from the proportional representation
Analytical Report on Media Monitoring of the Constituent Assembly Election 2013 setopati.com candidacy of the UCPN ( aoist party, the country to garner an edge over reported. The news item the others. The UCPN ( aoist went Channeltoo was flaggedNepal orangeand forAvenues serious news bias. on with their echi ali bhiyan. This led to more clashes between the party Channel Nepal cadres leading to political violence and, channel also came up in the list. thus, to violation of the political code of telecast presented conduct. The media outlets supporting UCPN ( aoist Narayan aji Shrestha one party or the other were more as denying using a helicopter in aggressive. Some media outlets that his campaign and said that he was were supporting certain parties were wrongly represented and that he has literally campaigning for them. The reported this to the EC . news clip trend of violation of both the media and of an NC press meet violating the political codes shot up as the election political code of conduct hadChannel it that date got closer. Nepalthe UCPN and ( aoist Avenues was buying votes in violence and media code violation went Constituency of athmandu. Himalayan The clips red flagged for political TV carried that report, hence received the red flag. up by three per cent to about seven per was tagged orange for a news clip cent of the total clips during this week. on parties wooing anang is living in athmandu to return to anang to vote The inistry of ome ffairs had for them. This appeared to be wrongly already announced on the first week flagged as it is the job of parties to ask of November that the Nepalese rmy voters to return to their constituencies would be mobilised, apart from the forSecond voting. Week police force and the armed police force, for the election. any including UCPN-Maoists blocked ex home secretaries spoke against this move of the government. They electionreasoned could that evenlead a to tussle clashes between and The date for the election drew nearer. the army and those going against the Those for the election and those against it intensified their programmes after trigger a civil war. But the government the second week of November. Those went on with its plans, and the CPN opposing the polls were targeting aoist that had opposed the election campaign offices of, and places where went on with theirs to stop the election mass meetings were planned by, big from being carried out raising the parties like the UCPN ( aoist , the Violationpossibility of of political the political violence. code CPN (U and the Nepali Congress. News of hoax bombs being planted in athmandu and other places attempted to scare the voters and deter them from n November, the Nepalese rmy going to the poll. defused an improvised explosive device pressure cooker bomb Swatantra kept The major parties, however, were fully Biratat the Weekly UCPN ( aoist Constituency geared up and were intensifying their office in Urlabari, orang, campaigns. So the tussle among all the reported. vehicle was political forces became more intense. set on fire, and a pressure cooker eaders and leading speakers from the bomb was found near the house of a UCPN ( aoist , the Nepali Congress aoist candidate running under direct (NC , and the CPN (U , the main election. n attack was attempted on a three contesting parties, were touring CPN (U candidate, Prakash wala,
Analytical Report on Media Monitoring of the Constituent Assembly Election 2013 Aguwafrom Salyan Samacha Constituency when he meeting in Udayapur on November. was going on a door to door campaign, In the course of the campaign an IED r reported. was also set off there. Annapurna Post bomb attack was reported by the Compared to the first week, more on November. improvised explosive devices were Bombs were planted in Udayapur on found at different places throughout Morning November. Times The policeand Ujyalohad to fire in the country. t first, unidentified actors the air to take control of the situation, were blamed for planting them, but daily later those responsible started to reveal reported. their identities as belonging to the CPN ( aoist . Trees were felled and other eanwhile, an UCPN ( aoist barriers set up on the way to where the candidate running for direct election three main parties were campaigning. from Sankhuwasabha was attacked There were also hoax bombs to create and two vehicles of two candidates confusion and fear. So, as the Election were vandalised in autahat on Day approached nearer uncertainty November. Hamro Karnali loomed because the CPN ( aoist , a Khabar major playerwas doing its best to ward n November, it off. reported an attack on an U candidate by the UCPN ( aoist . number of media outlets were flagged red or orange for their news In Butwal, a female NC proportional selection and presentation. oreover, representative candidatehamrokura. was those flagged for bias towards a certain comphysically. abused by the Tarai adhesi ideology or party were doing so oktantrik Party, reported consistently from the day the campaign started . Those that got flagged for media code violation and biases were clash between the UCPN ( aoist the same outlets that were biased and the Nepali Congress cadres caused against or for one political party, and tension in Doti on November. The this was also reported to the Election HighlightsUCPN ( aoist Samachar blamed. the Nepali NewsCommission. biases and code Congress for the incident, reported violations rise A Blast Times Daily Maitri and item was flagged Mirmire FM for gross violation of the code by mong the stations UCPN ( aoist for prohibitingChannel other drew most of the red flags Nepalparties to hold meetings at hejenim in and did this consistently by selecting Taplejung on November. news that favoured the two aoist news of its news bulletin parties the UCPN ( aoist and the was tagged for gross violation in its CPN ( aoist . nd they drew red disownedreport on CPNattacks ( aoist on leadervehicles ohan and flags almost every day for media code Baidy s press conference where he violation. Newspapers also took sides and reported or predicted the victory Ablamed Muluki the government for those acts. of their candidate and projected them as iconic figures. ll these were flagged daily news item got a red flag for serious code violations for giving for reporting an obstruction by CPN top priority to and campaigning along ( aoist of a UCPN ( aoist mass the party lines of the UCPN ( aoist
Analytical Report on Media Monitoring of the Constituent Assembly Election 2013 Maitri and the CPN ( aoist . featured a election would take place. ggression recorded speech of the UCPN ( aoist was on the rise as the CPN ( aoist leader Prachanda from hisMirmire campaign FM were buckling up in the last days on November. This was repeated prior to the election to ensure that again on November. the election would not be held. These was red flagged for broadcasting a affected the political situation and gave news item against Prachanda who rise to more violence and violation of used a helicopter on the campaign. It the political and media codes.Annapurna was earlier reported thatMaitri helicopters FM got Post couldnot be used for campaigns except nalysing the situation, the with prior permission. wrote on November, that on flagged again for the fourth time in the one hand the government had a row on November, this time for announced stern action against those gross violation and serious bias for against the election, but on the other broadcasting an extremely unbalanced the CPN ( aoist were attempting to and partisan speech of the UCPN train themselves to find means to make ( aoist leader Pushpa amal Dahal their strike more effective. Unless the who was on his last leg of the election CPN ( aoist backed out, clashesAnnapurna were beginning.campaign. These stations had Postimminent and may go on to the day of consistently earned red flags from the elections. It was not just the that spelled doubts. newspaper editorial from hapa wrote that because Similar was the case with BC T that of the start of violence, free and fair was literally campaigning for the UCPN election was becoming doubtful in ( aoist and was flagged for most of the east because the imbuwans had its news broadcast for many days. or warned of physical action against the proof to show how the channel had party alliance. eports from another violated the media the EC requested the newspaper from hapa envisaged even Nepal Press Institute (NPI to record more violence. They were flagged their programmes. n the afternoon Blastorange Times for serious Daily bias. of November, the NPI recorded and uploaded a three hour long clip and sent was flagged for it to the EC with the monitor s analysis gross violation for its report on the as E S on how the channel was UCPN ( aoist Hamro prohibiting Karnali Khabar other Triyugaviolating Daily the codes of the EC. parties to hold meetings at hejenim in Taplejung. from Udayapur was also reported an attack on a U cadre by flagged red a few times for similar a UCPN ( aoist cadre.Darshan The Dailypaper was reasons. n November most of also red flagged for gross violation of its front page coverage was given to the political code. from promote an NC candidate for which it orang also got red on November was flagged red. These biases generally for news on the rising trend of placing happened intermittently in the print suspicious objects at different places media but not consistently like in the to incite fear. newspaper from hapa electronicElection media.still uncertain: Baidya had an editorial derogating the violent still not convinced attack on public transport. This item was red flagged for a political code offense on the same date.
Up until November, the general eanwhile, industrialists had vowed people had doubts as to whether the to keep their industries open despite
Analytical Report on Media Monitoring of the Constituent Assembly Election 2013 bandh
the call of a on November by This item was flagged red for gross the CPN ( aoist after the government violation of the code. This should committed itself to compensate for the merely have been a case of bias in lossE L incurred on that day. reporting rather than a gross violation attack other leaders Usingof the code. children in campaigns: another political code offense
UCPN ( aoist leader Prachanda called on all to vote in favour of Using children in campaigns is a code federalism, secularism and a republic offense. In this election some parties and appealed to all to give his aoist went as far as to shut down schools to party a two thirds majority. e said take children to election campaigns. that the CPN (U leader halanath There were five news items in the week hanal waskathmandutoday.com the Number ne betrayer. that were red flagged for reporting use e was addressing a meeting in of children for election purposes. Sarlahi, reported on November. The news item was Teachers too were reported on flagged orange for serious bias. n November going on the campaign trail November, in apilbastu leader of the shutting down theirAnnapurna school in Post. Baglung. UCPN ( aoist Pushpa amal Dahal The school remained shut until accused the CPN kathmandutoday.com (U of not having violation. angsir, reported Pokhara Patra The a clear perspective and betraying item was flagged red for the political code the country, carried news reported. This item was flagged orange about the UCPN ( aoist using children for serious bias. for election campaigns in elamchi on November. Political parties had been Nepali Congress President Sushil using children to put up posters and oirala, fearing defeat in Constituency for other campaign activities in Saptari, Onsnews.comin Chitwan, attempted to coordinate Kalpristhareports said on November. with the CPN (U to pull out a win, reported. The news item carried a news item on was flagged orange for serious bias on November saying six thousand Reports November. Times school children were used for election Pashcim campaigns. Today This happened of anakpur printed a in elamchi, ailali and several other thephoto media of the code. NC election symbol on places. got red for November making it a gross violator of its report on UCPN ( aoist using News 24 children in campaigns in ailali, on ANovember. Muluki news was on the gross violation list for its programme on daily was also red November. The channel was flagged for flagged for a photo of EC officials using character assassination of Bhumi aj children carrying ballot boxes on Niraula of the Chure Bhavar party. JanakpurNovember. Today
During an interaction in Surkhet, reported on the action Chairman of the CPN ( arxist taken by the Election Commission on eninist CP ainaliSurkhet claimed Daily that said. his cues from the monitoring team against party was the only nationalist party those violating the Election Codes in in the country, anakpur.
Analytical Report on Media Monitoring of the Constituent Assembly Election 2013 mong the news items that had the Intra party tussle continued. The court orange band for serious bias, Nepali ordered the CPN ( aoist party to Patra and anabidroha were banded withdraw all its strikes to which the T W for critici ing foreign observers. ohan Baidya faction paid little heed. Baidya said in a statement that he was going to continue with the strike, whateverBomb blasts the order. continue This was the most eventful week and it was when the election campaigning peaked. The last day of election campaign was on November. This n November Ujyalo , incidents Daily of bomb was followed by a ero hour, a period of blasts occurred in different parts of hours of silence before the election, the country. reported when no campaigning was allowed. an explosion in Udayapur.Udghosh Police Dainik had The Election Day was November. had to resort to blank fires to take the situation under control. f the monitored items during this Nayareported Patrika that a bomb was found at a period, the number of red flagged onCPN a bus (U in Kathmandu. office in angeli, orang. items was the highest in the first three reported a bomb attack days, constituting per cent of the Kantipur total number of clips. That figure is the highest for the entire monitoring period. daily said that a CPN ( aoist Kathmandu.cadre was injuredUdghosh while he was The campaigning stopped hours setting up a bomb on a microbus in before the election date after the daily reported final crescendo on the evening of a bomb attack on a UCPNUpatyaka ( aoist FM November. But, again, during the ero function in Bhojpur. There was also our, or the Silent Period, the parties a bomb blast in ugu. and electoral candidates found new reported thatSetopati.com the home of the chairman ways to give one last push to reach out of the Education Union was set abla e to the voters. Some candidates ignored in orkha. reported an the ero our while others found new attack on CPN (U cadres by their ways to woo the voters. buffet was UCPN ( aoist counterparts in ukum. hosted by a candidate while others reached out to the voters through the n NovemberMechi theKali court Times ordered the social media using thousands of cell CPN ( aoist to withdraw the strike, phone messages. News items of threats, reported . Baidya, intra party violence and the resistance however, defied the order and said that of the CPN ( aoist against the election he was going on with the strike. This continued as they did before. any CPN was reported by many T stations and ( aoist cadres doing the rounds to s along with News T . Defying the deter the election were already rounded court order was an open violation of off and were under police custody. the political code by the aoist party, T S P hence deserving a red flag. Nonetheless, barricades were raised or Zero Hour and hurdles were created against parties that were taking part in the election. The media outlets that were giving priority to news items of their The campaign ero our period preferred parties were doing that till started in the evening of November. the start of the third week also. This hour period was a time for rest
Analytical Report on Media Monitoring of the Constituent Assembly Election 2013 Vigorous Campaign
The media made the election their key agenda and campaigned vigorously for it with a belief that it was only a new and inclusive CA that could give a reliable outlet to the crisis-ridden nation. It continued to press the key stakeholders and urged the people for their enthusiastic participation in the election. The media made the unilateral call for a free, fair and credible election. Di erent media outlets together instilled con dence in the electorate. In their opinion columns and editorial writings, the media outlets constantly pushed the voters for electing a new CA with fresh mandate to promulgate post-monarchy Nepal’s rst constitution.
and restraint to mark the end of the an UCPN ( aoist cadre s motorcycle campaigning period. But the parties on fire. Thesetopati.com news report came from and the media were making one last the two media outlets respectively. push. Some of candidates still went on Similarly, reported that campaigning. thers discretely were the ballot boxes and other election sending S Ss from their homes. The materials had been snatched away by flagged items that grossly violated the unidentified persons. media or political code reached per cent of the total number of clips. n November, there was a news ost of the items falling within this item saying that five hundred thousand band violated the ero our code by Thevoters Morning did not knowTimes how to vote. publishing advertisements, holding rallies and putting on banners. reported Subas pinion surveys are prohibited during Nembang declaring that the CPN Political ero our. violence continues (U was to become the Number ne party, a biased report in his favour. astriya anamukti Party outh orce action against 18 media stations that chairman accused the main parties of The Election Commission had to take spreading rumours about his party candidates resigning from his party to day for violating the ero our code. lend support to them.kathmandutoday. com n November there were news items news item by of a few election related violence that was red flagged for election also got flagged red. clash between prediction based on a personal survey the CPN (U leader ajendra Pandey theby Purusottam election code. Dahal. pinion surveys and the UCPNChannel ( aoist Nepal. youth Himalayan group are prohibited during this period by TV oung Communist eague ( C was reported by had two similar reports. ne clip The Election Commission asked BC showed a bomb blast in ugu and television and other media houses another clip showed an attack on a for clarification for publishing or passenger bus in athmandu. The broadcastingkathmanutoday.com. items in violation of the bus was heading towards aur from media code even during the ero our, athmandu. The two clips were aired Dailyreported Express in its pm news bulletin.ratopati.com n NC andactivist kathmandutoday.com named Tara Pudasaini s house was marked red for was set on fire in orkha, publishing Sadhbhawana Party reported. candidate Sanjay Shah in an ad in its CPN(U cadres vandalised and set latest issue. The same was done for
Analytical Report on Media Monitoring of the Constituent Assembly Election 2013 Samaya
weekly that advertised the a majority government would be able to Nepali CongressUdghosh symbol Dailyand candidate transform the country. Sushil oirala running for the election from Banke . reported f the television channels monitored that the adhesi anadhikar orum that day, of them got flagged red for chairman Bijay umar achchhadar gross violation of the election codes of violated theUdghosh ero our code by takingNaya conduct, two for serious bias and two Corseout a rally in his constituency in for slight bias while none were flagged Sunsari , reported. neutral. Adarsha was Nepal red flagged for publishing Upatyaka FM was about the an appeal of Purna umari Subedi and ne news related to election violence published a photo ad broadcast by of the CPN ( aoist crossing the line home of the chairman of the Education of the ero our code. ther news Union being set abla eKathmandutoday. in orkha. items that were red flagged for gross comdaily reported that a bomb went off in violation comprised highlights and olba ar in orang. personal partial surveys favouring reported a Setopati.com clash between cadres Himalayanparty lines. TV of the Nepali Congress and the CPN (U in Ilam. reported reported that UCPN an attack on Nepal Students Union ( leaders and candidates were still district chairman arihar Sharma by campaigning with banners and posters anamorcha workers. in athmandu alley. UCPN ( aoist Onlinekhabar. chief Prachanda attended a blood com rmed forces personnel took control of donation programme at san, imal a petrol bomb in Banke, Sharma joined a party meeting in Putali said. notherKathmandutoday.com news item, was on Sadak and isila ami, a UCPN ( aoist security workersThe diffusingKathmandu bombs, Post Channelcandidate, Nepal went out on the campaign reported by trail in her constituency in athmandu. tagged neutral. Ujyalo Patra in its bulletin, reported that people were injured in reported that ajendra Pandey, a pre poll clash in orang. CPN (U s Dhading candidate of reported of a bomb planted outside Constituency went campaigning the UCPN ( aoist campaign office in stealthily door to door and clashed An olba ar, Avenues Siraha. TV with UCPN ( aoist cadres who were ABCalso busyTV campaigning. item was flagged red Okhaldhunga.for its report onSram inter Srijana party clashesDaily was again flagged red for gross in Tanahu, Dhading, orkha and violation of the ero our code as it had aired Pushpa amal Dahal s assessment onreported 18 bombs . found in different of his own echi ali campaign through parts of ailali prior to the poll date Starits utlook FM programme. Similar ero NovemberThe KathmanduTwenty Post five people hour code violations were reported by were injured in an intra party clash in . The channel wasStar flagged FM was red Cut orang, throat campaigning reported. for favourably presenting PP (Nepal Chairman amal Thapa. A Kathmandutoday.com news that marked for campaigning for the Nepali Congress in its . news bulletin. In its bulletin the channel aired an Puspha amal Dahal distributed three UCPN ( aoist candidates appeal to million rupees to buy votes was flagged vote for a majority for his party as only red for violating the media code as the
Analytical Report on Media Monitoring of the Constituent 111 Assembly Election 2013 news item had no firm evidence and channel broadcast different views was negative campaigning against the of Pushpa amal Dahal made public A aoist hamro leader. kura.com while he was in the Tarai during his echi ali campaign. This channel item was flagged had also covered those activities of the orange for serious bias for alleging aoist party. n many occasions, live that Nepali Congress cadres had and recorded speeches of the UCPN confiscated food kept to feedSetopati. the ( aoist leader were broadcast as he comvoters by UCPN ( aoist candidate was electioneering through his echi ekh aj Bhatta in ailali. ECN’s ali campaign. attention made public a secret recording of UCPN ( aoist chairman Pushpa amal Dahal (Prachanda instructing his cadres to secure his win in the s the number of media code violations election by applying any means increased during the ero our, the necessary, including money, in Election Commission began efforts at Constituency of athmandu. In containing it. n November, the its report an election monitoring Election Commission requested NPI s organisation named E C said that media monitoring unit to record a some parties were buying votes to win whole day s programme of those media the election. In a press conference, outlets that had defied the media code the organisation reported that money and to send a summary report showing was being doled out to woo voters on proof of their violations. November. The report was flagged red for violation of the political code NP then recorded seven video clips Mirmireby the candidates. FM throughout theABC day lasting several hours each on November . The received an orange flag for actionclips showed against the news television channel. officials On serious bias for its news item about the challenging the ECN decision to take Mirmire party allianceFM holding a meeting and ABC TV asking people to refrain from voting. the eve of the election ( November was marked for serious , at am, presented an bias for its partisan views in its interview with its managing director and roadcasts. In the clip that was cum news chief, Shubhashanker monitored, it said that the election was andel. andel, who claimed that the Mirmiretaking place because of the intervention channel had not violated any code of of foreign powers. In another of its clip, ethics. e accused the government derogated the election process of trying to stop the channel from and said that the poll booths were like broadcasting against the spirit of press army camps making it doubtful that the freedom. e also lambasted the ECN Anelections ABC would be impartial. officials in a derogatory manner.
news was marked for gross In the afternoon, the channel repeated violation for propagating the UCPN the sameBanda interview gara dusprachar time and again ( aoist election campaign and with the following text flashing on the grossly transgressing all boundaries screen Stop of the media code. In its pm the misinformation purporting that news, the channel aired a minute channelit was thewas ECN challenging that was the doing Election the clip where aoist candidates were misinforming. Instead of relenting the allowed to broadcast their views, one by one. In another news clip, the same Commission flashing slugs directed
Analytical Report on Media Monitoring of the Constituent Assembly Election 2013 at the ECN asking it to stop the lambasting all the other parties. misinformation as it was against the The presenter said that the Unified fundamental right of press freedom. aoists have played a constructive They rationalised and justified what role from the time of the insurgency they did without any heed to any of the up to now. e also presented reports election codes issued to the media by the of the party activities in the districts ECN. Their argument shutting down with pre poll predictions in ABC the the media is equivalent to obstructing party s favour. In BC and Shuva press freedom, a fundamental right Shanker adel , adel defends provided by the Interim Constitution. against the action of ECN.Janamanch got
f the T news items monitored In other cases, in the evening, eight were red flagged flagged red for a news story about for gross violation, one gotABC flagged for the Chief Election Commissioner serious bias and three for slight bias. misappropriating funds. Similar f the channels monitored T was political trends figured in other news flagged red for gross violation of the items and were flagged serious, slight media code of conduct for seven of its bias and neutral. f the T channels nine items uploaded during the Silent covered on November, four received Period. In these items, the channel is the red flag for gross violation of the seen defends itself against the action slightelection bias. codes of conduct, one was taken by the Election Commission. flagged for serious bias while six for Election Day: 19 November eanwhile, the channel continued ero our code violations by airing campaign activities going on in the districts and making favourable predictions for n Election Day, the electronic media the UCPN ( aoist party. In its were reporting live what was happening bulletin of November, the channel throughout the country. eports from was red flagged for airing interviews the radio were about events in different of rishna wala and Somat himire parts of the country. News of booth who defended the channel against the capturing and attacks on polling booths Election Commission action. In another were the main code violation clips clip, m Sharma does the same and Politicalmonitored violenceby online media. goes to the says that the reactionary forces do not polling centres like Nepal becoming a republic and a thefederation channel. and that they were hatching Setopati.com plots and imaginary thoughts to defame reported an attack on a Nepali Congress village unit chairman n a programme called BC and the khukurisof Balkot in ukum and a UCPN ( aoist code of conduct that was uploaded attack on CPN Rastriyasadarbhadaily. (U cadres with on ECN s request, journalist Shyam com in Dolakha at the Thulo Patal Shrestha and Shuva Shanker adel Poll Centre. said that the parties, other than got red for reporting code the UCPN ( aoist , were violating violation. It was a news item on people the political code, instead. n its being terrori ed by thesetopati.com discovery and of peration Big News newsmaga ine, bombs in ratopati.com Constituency in ukum. the BC presenter committed gross Two news items from Ratopati.com violation of the ero our code by one from were flagged praising the UCPN ( aoist and orange for serious bias.
Analytical Report on Media Monitoring of the Constituent Assembly Election 2013 Setopati.com said Makawanpur reported booth capturing in different RadioTen media outlets received flags for places in orkha. gross violation of the code. the members of Baburam Bhattarai s was red flagged for violation of own party captured four booths in the political code issued by the Election his constituency in orkha. Nepali Commission.Mirmire bomb FM was set off at the Congress candidatesetopati.com. mresh Singh was CPN (U party office in Bharatpur. reported to have captured booths in Similarly, received an Sarlahi by These items orange flag from NPI monitors for were tagged for serious bias.Kanchanjunga serious bias when reporting that a Times Nepali Congress worker got injured In the print media, during police firing when he attacked reported an attempt to abduct a sleeping CPN (U candidate in CPN (U leader Subas Nembang AUdayapur. Mirmire FM’ in Panchthar. adhesi anaadhikar orum workers vandalised the vehicle s report was red flagged of Udaya Chaudhari, a CPN (U for another violation of the political candidate, in Itahari, according to code of conduct. It reported that the another paper. Both items were UCPN ( aoist chief ordered his cadres marked red for political violence and to apply all means to win the election Ujyaloviolation Patra of the code. through a tape made public recently. n item that the station aired was also said five people had been red flagged for saying that candidates arrested for campaigning against U were luring voters with money and codecandidate violation. uru Janabidroha Prasad Baral, in orang. goodies even after the time for open The news was flagged red for ero our campaigning was over. This was win. Reporters Time was flagged Fourthreported weekby a Civil Society leader. red for predicting an UCPN ( aoist was flagged red for Post election period gross violation of the ero our code by publishing adhesh biased news. Six people, including five candidates, were The evening after the polling day, when asked to clarify for their code violation. the counting of the votes were in full UdghoshThe Saptari. District Election office swing, almost all the channels focused asked for the clarification, according to on the counting. ittingly, they started Arun Tamor giving the latest results of the top three candidates, where the Nepali Congress bimonthly reported that and the (CPN U were leading and the CPN Karobar ( aoist was preparing the UCPN ( aoist was trailing behind. strategies to oppose the polls in Early poll results started showing an Udayapur.activities against the reported election. that Karobar four unexpected defeat for the party that people were arrested in aighat for had garnered the most seats during the C election. This led to the said people were sued in court for development of a chaotic political public offence in Purbanchal. It also scenario in the following week. reported that a petrol bomb was found near a polling centre in ailali and thusAjur vote n counting November, venue the alleging UCPN ( aoist massive flagged orange. Bombs were also placed pulled out its representatives from the at different places in anchanpur. daily said Shiva Sena burned voters rigging in the election and threatening to identity cards. These items were boycott the Constituent ssembly. uch flagged for serious bias. of the news items monitored revolved
Analytical Report on Media Monitoring of the Constituent Assembly Election 2013 No mean feat: Election security.
around this reaction and the other UCPN ( aoist was relegated to the parties and international organisations third position to the total disbelief of urged them to return to the mainstream. the party s leaders. The Election Commission naturally refuted the rigging allegation the next fter the election, although the day and gave a go ahead to the counting election codes were lifted and did till it was completed. not apply, many monitors continued to flag the monitored news items In due time, the results of the like before. The post election period candidates were announced despite produced some confusion among the UCPN ( aoist staying out of the media monitors as well. The election counting process. The victors held code was still on for some time even rallies, and they were interviewed by though the campaign period was over. different media adding to the post The monitors were told to adjust to election fren y. By November, the the situation and file their clippings results of all the first past the post accordingly. But the monitors went on seats ( PTP were out and the Nepali doing what they were doing before. Congress party, by winning most s a result, the same UCPN ( aoist seats in the parliament, became the issue was flagged differently by largest party. It was to lead the new different monitors. The flags ranged government in partnership with the from slight bias to serious biases and second largest party CPN (U . The gross violation of the media code.
Analytical Report on Media Monitoring of the Constituent Assembly Election 2013 Maitri FM NTV, Channel Nepal and HimalayanNews of theTV. UCPN ( aoist boycott n November reported came through that the UCPN ( aoist had hinted Similarly, at a press on reviewing its previous decision conference organised by aoist leader to reject the election and boycott the gni Sapkota in Sindhuplchowk, he said Constituent ssembly. Barsa an Pun that the election did not represent the said that rigging took place in some totrue ABC mandate TV of the peopleMaitri and FMthat that the places in a planned way. e want election was a conspiracy, according investigation on the rigging. e will . Sapkota told gladly acceptMaitri FM the said. mandate Maitri also and said the such a large scale rigging of the votes decision of the people, another news throughout the country cannot be item of ignored and demanded a re polling. investigationthat ten parties, commission including to investigate the UCPN This item was flagged yellow.ABC channel n ( aoist , had demanded a high level November, again, over the peration Big News programme of the election fraud . the aoists broadcast a feature report where it said that empty ballot n November, UCPN ( aoist leader boxes were found at police posts and Baburam Bhattarai said that ballot questioned their presence there. Such boxes were handed over to the Nepali instances can be found in different parts rmy for transportation for the first of the country and that it was proof that time in the electoral history of Nepal voting was rigged, the channel said. This without any formal decision regarding news item was marked for serious bias. it. If any attempt is made to bring back the ConstitutionNepal ofSamacharpatra , he warned said. eanwhile, athmandu District that there would be a strong counter Election fficer clarified that the ballot action to it, boxes were kept Avenues as backup TV to fill any This was flagged as a neutral item. contingent need in police posts near Avenues TV polling booths, reported. n November, in a neutral item This item was flagged neutral. broadcast at , showed Chief Election Commissioner n November, Barsa an Pun said Neel antha Uprety requesting all not that his party was tricked and conspired to doubt the credibility of the election. against by giving them papers orm No. e said that the election process had that were different from the directives been transparent and that the parties, given by the Election Commission. The candidates and media persons had national and international forces have access to the election process. Uprety saiddone to this Himalayan with the TVpurpose. of not letting had said this in a press conference. them institutionalise their agenda, he ABC eanwhile, on November, other party leaders and international n November, aired the leaders asked the UCPN ( aoist to upcoming review meeting of the accept the results of the election. UCPN ( aoist party. In the meeting, NC leader Sushil oirala and immy spokesperson gni Sapkota said Carter of the Carter CentreHimalayan requested TV that the party reflected on its own andthe UCPNChannel ( aoist Nepal to accept the weaknesses and things that other election results, said parties did to contribute to bring about . The news was the current results. e also said that marked with red and orange for gross the election was rigged. The item was violation of the political code and flagged yellow for slight bias. serious political bias respectively.
Analytical Report on Media Monitoring of the Constituent Assembly Election 2013 The Kathmandu Post said. n November, NC president Sushil demanding annulment of the poll in oirala said the UCPN ( aoist could Solukhumbu, go to theAvenues Electoral TV Court with evidence if they thought that the election was The temporary police personnel Electionrigged, results reported. hired to mind the electionkathmandutoday. processes comwere paid one billion and million rupees, reported on November. The thousand lmost all media outlets focused temporary police personnel hired on bringing out the latest election for the C election of B.S. were results as counting was progressing seen off. KantipurSeventy thousandTV temporary fast in athmandu alley and outside. policemen were hired for the last News items about election results and election, reported. pledges were the main issues in the media after the poll results flowed in. The UCPN ( aoist organised a press The victors took out victory rally and conference to make public the claim made their pledges to the people on that ballot papersJanaabidroha were found in theirUpatyaka development FM plans. Nepalese rmy barracks in hapa, according to on said that the polling that November. was stopped in umla the day before was being re conducted peacefully on f the T items monitored on Himalayan November. TV November, ten were marked for slight violation of the code. ll others said that the UCPN were neutral. Narayan aji Shrestha ( aoist had taken out victory rallies of the UCPN ( aoist party claimed in Saptari after its candidate for that votes had been rigged at the Constituency shok umar andal time of transportation of the ballot managed a slender win over his boxes. The boxes were kept overnight ChoiceNepali FM, Congress Gorkha rival. FM TheNamaste T s andFM in barracksAvenues instead Television of taking them Rupandehi s, providing Radio coverageArgakhanchi included Radio directly to the counting booths, he Buddha Awaj and Machapuchre, FM, said. This report , , was flagged yellow for slight bias. The , CPN (U leader halanath hanal besides other s in athmandu was to address a victory rally to be alley on November. organised to mark the winning of its new parliamentarians in Biratnagar fter winning the last Constituent Politicalon angsir violence: . sabotage ssembly election corrupt ministersTaja misusingKhabar the adhes name were chased away by the people in this election, of November said. There were many incidents of intra party clashes. The clashes erupted after New parliament elects had started one faction of the party accused the to visit villages right after their win other faction of sabotaging the victory of because theRajdhani villagers Daily had complained their own party. This nature of violence about their long absences after each was typical of the post election phase election, wrote. in contrast to the pre poll violence that started when one party clashed with complaint was lodged at the another. The incidences of political Constituent ssembly Court violence were red flagged for violation
Analytical Report on Media Monitoring of the Constituent Assembly Election 2013 of the political code. f course, the code proper investigation. Binod imbu, a had fallen to disuse since the polls. outh orce leader, was attacked by unknown persons in Sunsari for which, karobar.com. n item flagged red for political NC claimed, they were wrongly accused violation of the code was carried by Nayaand made Patrika culprits for the attack. In the news Dirgha aj Sodari, a Constituency NC candidate, of November reported attacked hadga Saud accusing him a U decision to go to the court Hamroof sabotaging Karnali forKhabar the news former s said lossthe against a Nepali Congress cadre for in the election on November. firing a Janaprahar gun on the Election Day in Dolakha. They said it was a criminal Nepali Congress youth force Tarun offense. weekly wrote on whoDal padlocked sabotaged its theown election office in against alikot November that Baburam Bhattarai demanding action against partymen captured poll booths by keeping the media persons and voters out in orkha. their own party. n November, Nepali Congress leader The UCPN aoist obstructed Nepali Sushil oirala met with UCPN ( aoist Congress leader am Sharan ahat in leader Prachanda in athmandu Nuwakot from coming to athmandu requesting him to accept the election In total, 10, 491 news items were monitored. results and to join the Constituent There were 6167 print items, 828 online, 2094 ssembly. The UCPN ( aoist was under pressureOnsnews.com to accept said. the election radio and 1402 TV items. There were 586 items results and join the Constituent that were red flagged in print, 61 in the online The ssembly, Kathmandu Post section and 44 radio and 21 TV clips. s report on the members of the diplomatic community in athmandu, and former US President immy Carter, urging UCPN ( aoist after addressingMountain a victory TV rally said. organised Chairman Pushpa amal Dahal to stay to mark his win from Constituency on within the new Constituent ssembly November, Theprocess Himalayan was yellow flagged. Times
In a press conference, the Nepali reported that US Congress demanded that the mbassador Peter Bodde called on government take action against Unified aoist Chairman Pushpa amal those responsible for an incident that Dahal and urged him to respect the happened during the ero our on people s verdict. This news was flagged angsir and angsir . In the incident, yellow for slight bias. Kantipurmore than of its party workers were injured, some of them critically. This The European Union met with the Ajur daily report was red flagged Chairman of the Nepali Congress Sushil for gross violation of the political code. oirala and discussed the political daily reported that the NC s Sunsari developments. They congratulated unit was going to revolt if their workers oirala for his party s success in the were not released from custody by the election of the Constituent ssembly, authorities. The press release issued according to am SharanAvenues ahat, TV senior by the party on November said leader of the same party. This was a that their workers were put under neutral item from on custody for criminal offense without November.
Analytical Report on Media Monitoring of 118 the Constituent Assembly Election 2013 The Himalayan Times said that the
(U adhav umar Nepal met with Indian ambassador congratulated NC different ambassadors to discuss the Chairman Sushil oirala for leading in political situation and forming of the the vote count at the latter s residence Constitution.Mountain TV said that the in aharajgunj. The same daily said that ex chief of the Indian secret service eanwhile, agency, Peter enen, met Prachanda inister of oreign ffairs remained and Baburam Bhattarai telling them oblivious of the breaches in diplomatic not to panic from the election results protocol even as the diplomats made and briefed them of the future plan they rounds to congratulate the winning were to follow on November. party leaders. This was a neutral item T broadcast on November. merican ambassador Peter Bodde met senior leader of UCPN ( aoist Tamakoshi Sandesh Baburam BhattaraiNTV at the latter s residence in Sanepa on November, ccording to a of according to . This item was flagged November, indigenous people neutral. from the major parties were elected to the Constituent ssembly. Ten women oreign envoys accelerated their candidates were elected in the activities even as the results of the Constituent ssembly election from the proportional representation were first past the post criteria six from the coming in. The ambassadors of India, Nepali Congress, three from the CPN China, andNepal the FM European Union and (U and one from the UCPN ( aoist , the US Upatyaka were meeting FM added different that the according to Nepal . Karobar leaders, reported on November. The Nepalese rmy refuted a ambassadors were putting pressure accusationitem that said that that it wasthe rmyinvolved had in raised vote on the UCPN ( aoist to join the serious objections toHimalayan the UCPN ( aoist TV said Constituent ssembly. rigging. eanwhile, n November, the President of the allegationsthat Election about Commissioner the election yodhibeing Nepali Congress met with apanese Prasad adav, on November , refuted ambassador asasasi gawab at the doubt it. former s NTV residence. They discussed rigged and requested the parties not to the latest political developments of the country, reported. Sushil oirala also met Chinese ambassador u CPN ( aoist discussed the political Himalayan untai and TV was. congratulated for his scenario in the new context after the party s win, This neutral item was from election results in a meetingSagarmatha organised TV. in Budhanagar. This was flagged a Governmentneutral item aired formation by The Chinese government was providing Nepal with . million rupees to buy Ratopati.com six aircraft. n Himalayanagreement TVwas reached between the Nepali and the Chinese s opinion piece on the governments, reported tussle between the Congress and the on November. CPN (U Himalayan over who TV was to be the on Avenues TV president and prime minister received ccording to a neutral news item aired the flag. was also yellow , senior leader of the CPN flagged for slight bias for an item on a
Analytical Report on Media Monitoring of the Constituent 119 Assembly Election 2013 dispute regarding the continuity of the bear a shameful defeat because he went current president and vice president along with the designs of Indian and in their respective positions even after merican secret service agents while it the formation of the new C . The Nepali benefited him. The agents pulled him Congress was saying that the president down from his pedestal later leading to theshould Himalayan continue TV in said. office while other his defeat, the weeklyNational said. News said that parties thought he should be replaced, news item of immy CarterSanghu visited India to be briefed National Election bservers Committee before coming to Nepal as an election (NE C claimed that the election was observer. weekly reported that historic and was conducted in a fair, the negative effect of Nepali Christians free and Himalayan peaceful manner. TV. This was campaigning for UCPN ( aoist another yellow flagged item for slight ultimately resulted in its defeat. The same bias from newspaper said that ethnic federalism is now unacceptable to the people. Chairman of the CPN (U halanath hanal requested president of the indu followers demanded that Nepal HimalayanCongress Party, TV Sushil oirala, to lead be declared a indu nation on the a consensus government. This was a occasion of the birth anniversaryRajdhani of news on Upatyaka November. FM adiababa at adiababa andir In Nepalgunj, according to, In an interview with , a daily s issue of November. Samyukta anamorcha leader said that a national government should be formed f the parties that participated in to include all parties. e claimed that Nepalthe Constituent FM ssembly election, ethnic issues and regional issues, raised parties will not have their representation, by other parties have been defeated. reported on November. ur party has lost but we will not go about crying around after losing the In total, , news items were election. lthough, our party has lost, monitored. There were print the nation has won, he said. This was a items, online, radio and neutral item and was flagged green. T items. There were items that were red flagged in print, in the UCPN leader Prachanda went to online section and radio and T the Dibya election Chakchu without paying Chahara heed to clips. Serious biases totalled in astrologers advice, according to a report print, in online, radios and of weekly. T . Slight biases were in print, weekly reported that Prachanda had to in online, .
Analytical Report on Media Monitoring of the Constituent Assembly Election 2013 STATISTICAL ANALYSIS
1. INTRODUCTION have the right to be able to take stock of the political options, the candida- As is said so often, information is power. cies and their proposals. To ensure that In this equation, the news media play a this indeed happens, it is fundamental variety of important roles. They report that all candidates have access to the on the current events from around the media in equal conditions and with no world, provide frameworks for inter- discrimination whatsoever. Only to the pretation, mobilise the citizenry with extent that the citizenry is able to re- respect to various matters, reproduce - predominant culture and, of course, tion from all options will they be able entertain. Many of these functions are toceive make sufficient a free and and informed rigorous choice informa so reinforced during election campaigns one can speak of substantially demo- and the media become the principal fo- cratic elections. rum where the electoral competition is played out. Freedom of expression is a Nepal has a diverse media environ- human right and an essential attribute ment, with media divided along politi- of democracy pursuant to which the cal lines. Many outlets remain strongly media have the right to broadcast, with no prior censorship, information and few of them succeed in pursuing a more opinions based on their selection crite- independentinfluenced by editorial their owners, policy. and only a ria within the framework of respect for certain principles such as accuracy and Against this background, media moni- impartiality. At the same time, one of the fundamental rights of citizens is the freedom to obtain information through toringÂÂ can be defined as - the mass media. That implies that all tion producing reliable and rigorous those who play a role in social, political results; technique of scientific observa or economic life should be able to make their voices heard through the media. ÂÂ A way to study the production and performance of the media in a sys- In an electoral context, the need to pre- tematic and impartial way; serve pluralism of information takes on fundamental importance, for citizens ÂÂ A tool to promote basic rights re-
Analytical Report on Media Monitoring of the Constituent 121 Assembly Election 2013 lated to freedom of expression and tion on media performance that are of right to participate in public life. growing and changing importance both for citizens and the political classes. For Monitoring involves not only the this reason, it is vital to undertake it by time devoted to subjects but all the employing methodological standards, factors shaping a campaign on the professional commitment, rigor in data media. Elections do not only consist gathering and interpretation. This brief of candidate but also a whole set of overview is not intended to be exhaus- dynamics and groups that play a role tive. Rather it constitutes an attempt to in the elections and are active in the provide media monitoring units with processes and production of mass communication. that can be helpful in their activities and thatsuggestions, can support pointers or increase and reflectionsthe effec- Media monitoring, therefore, focuses tiveness of their work.
onÂÂ different Visibility aspectsof political and targets actors and 2. OBJECTIVES OF MEDIA groups; MONITORING
ÂÂ Quality of their coverage; The purpose of the media monitoring programme at Nepal Press Institute ÂÂ Main bias related to their coverage; news media coverage of the electoral ÂÂ Issue of campaign; campaign,was two fold thereby ne, contributing to monitor to the overall assessment of the electoral ÂÂ Civic education for voters; process in Nepal as per the guidelines
ÂÂ Infringements of the relevant laws Media Monitoring Guidelines, 2013. regulating and protecting media ac- Two,of Election to provide Commission feedback of Nepalto the (ECN media tivity. outlets themselves on their work which may enhance their reporting skills If properly conducted, media monitor- for present and future elections. The ing is a practical and constructive way to support democratic and fair elec- tions. Findings and conclusions of me- i.specific To objectivesobserve howwere the print and electronic media, both govern- on the awareness and behaviour of four ment-controlled and independ- dia monitoring can have an influence ent, covered various aspects of the election campaign. mainÂÂ Regulatory target groups bodies controlling me- ii. To see if the political parties and dia activity; candidates had fair access to the media? ÂÂ Politicians and candidates; iii. To monitor media coverage of political and/or public affairs ÂÂ Citizens, voters and associations of communication during the elec- civil society; tion period, as per the ECN Media Monitoring Guidelines, 2013. ÂÂ Journalists and media professionals. iv. To provide an impartial analysis of the media coverage and help Media monitoring constitutes an effort ECN’s efforts in holding credible, to study and produce reliable informa- inclusive and professional election.
Analytical Report on Media Monitoring of 122 the Constituent Assembly Election 2013 v. To regularly update ECN with the are some of the parameters taken into it to enforce the election code of considerationBased on this to definition, assess electoral the following equity conductfindings for of mediathe mass monitoring media dur for- ing electioneering, voting day and vote counting periods. Rolewith regards of the to electoral the media authority vi. To use the infrastructure set up for the Constituent Assembly(CA) ÂÂ Instruments to monitor the use of elections to conduct media moni- the media and the amount of elec- toring until the local election. toral expenses incurred by political vii. To assess the newspaper coverage parties. of the election campaign. viii. To assess whether the coverage was ÂÂ Capacity to enforce sanctions to those who act outside the law. the electorate to make a fully in- formedsufficiently decision informed on who thus to allowingvote for. Conditions for electoral ix. To monitor and document fully competition incidents of harassment, coercion or intimidation of journalists and ÂÂ Framework for political parties’ ac- publishing houses. cess to the media. x. To assess whether the independ- - ÂÂ Existence or lack thereof of regula- anced view of candidates, mem- - bers,ent media parties reflects and policies. a genuinely bal ing for political parties and their relationtions for to public access and to theprivate media. financ
3. METHODOLOGY OF ÂÂ Existence or lack thereof of regula- MEDIA MONITORING tions on the use of public/state me- dia for electoral purposes. 3.1. Conceptual framework Spending Electoral equity ÂÂ Existence or lack of regulations on For the purpose of this methodology, elec- expenditure caps or limits for media advertising and propaganda. conditions of impartiality and liberty in thetoral Campaign equity is defined Period, as Election the existence Day and of Role of the Media the Counting Period, allowing candidates to participate under relatively equal con- ÂÂ Presence in the media of all political parties participating in the election. - lowsditions candidates for public to office. present Electoral their political equity Freedom of the Media platforms,is defined asdefend balanced their coveragevisions and that pre al- sent their electoral campaigns, with news ÂÂ The freedom to communicate infor- pieces that do not contain bias in the de- mation through the media is vital to scription of the information”, at all times an equitable and democratic elec- in full respect of freedom of expression toral race. for all. (A Manual for OAS Electoral Ob- servation Missions, General Secretariat For this reason, it is the responsibility of of the Organization of American States, the national authorities to provide the 2011). basic conditions for the media to be free
Analytical Report on Media Monitoring of the Constituent 123 Assembly Election 2013 to investigate, publish and inform the Monitoring, therefore, tries to population of the events that transpire quantify and qualify time dedicated during an electoral process, and to do to candidates and political parties by so without fear of censure or retaliation. the media. This analysis is produced Pieces of information include digital in charts to show whether the press, radio and television as described coverage of the selected monitored in this methodology. subjects is objective, balanced and fair. However, not all forms of the 3.2. Methodological framework media coverage could be evaluated either quantitatively or qualitatively. Most voters gain general information on participants in political campaigns been established to measure such through the media. To have a free and eventsTherefore, of specificmanipulations indicators and havebias. fair election, it is very important that Results of quantitative and qualitative the media adopt a fair and objective ap- analyses are important elements proach towards all political parties and that serve for the general public as candidates. The methodological frame- information on whether the coverage work can be given as in the following about political contestants by the media is fair and balanced.
flow chart.
FLOW CHART OF METHODOLOGY OF MEDIA MONITORING UNIT
Methodology
Media Monitors
Daily Data Entry Online Forms
Quantitative Analysis Database Daily Data Analysis Output
Tables Diagrams Charts
Qualitative Analysis
Daily Report on Qualitative Issues Discussing Observation
Quantitative Analysis + Qualitative Analysis
Daily Report Election Commission Nepal
Suggestions Actions
Analytical Report on Media Monitoring of 124 the Constituent Assembly Election 2013 Media monitors are specially trained Given the fact that the qualitative analysis to conduct qualitative and quantitative is rather a subjective form of evaluation, analyses of newspaper, TV, radio and online news coverage to see whether provide monitors with a larger scale of they follow the basic rules of balanced choicethe five grade they are to scale make in is evaluating designed the to presentation of political entities. specially designed monitoring forms and consequently fair journalism. a data They collector fill out Balanced news coverage means that a inputs all the monitored data into media outlet attempts to cover events online forms. in a balanced, fair and objective manner by offering time or space to all subjects All the recorded data and newspapers of a certain item to present their views. are stored in archives for future Such news item is purely informative reference if the results should be and does not contain any one-sided questioned by anyone. evaluating standpoints or criticism.
Data collector controls the monitored In other words, the stories or items sheets and inputs them into a computer. Therefore, it is important that monitors manipulate or affect the public. The write clearly and agree on any acronyms reasonpresented for have creating a specific this intentcategory to for the selected political subjects in was the obvious absence of basic advance to avoid misunderstanding or journalistic principles and standards. incomplete results. Each story, which does not meet the basic requirements for a non-biased In broadcast media, the monitors use stopwatches to measure the actual time of appearance of selected political The purpose of the media monitoring subjects on camera as well as when they programme at Nepal Press Institute was two- are mentioned or quoted by someone fold: One, to monitor the news media coverage else. In newspapers, an area dedicated to the political entities is measured in of the electoral campaign. Two, to provide feed cm2. back to the media.
Sometimes, it is impossible for a political subject to be given a story falls into the category of media measurable amount of time or space, effects. The main criteria for such despite the fact that the subject was evaluation are set as those stories lack mentioned. Such information is called relevance, exactness, transparency, a reference or remark and is also balance, variety and clarity. included into both the quantitative and qualitative charts. To carry out an assessment that is standardised and easy to replicate, the An evaluation mark is also attached to methodology for media monitoring all subjects, in addition to space and and the results in each one of the reference, which provides information applications shall be based on the on how the subject was portrayed. It is attached to all monitored subjects to determine whether the subject followingÂÂ Clarity. general The methodology principles and its re- was presented in negative, positive or sults should be easily understood by neutral light (See A Monitoring Concept is the public at large. The language em- Realised). ployed should be clear and straight-
Analytical Report on Media Monitoring of the Constituent 125 Assembly Election 2013 forward. Using everyday language to Table 3.1: Total media outlets report the results fosters a percep- monitored tion of transparency when analysing SN Media Outlets Number and communicating results. Results should be presented in a simple 1 Online 10 manner, with a clear link between text and graphs, where applicable. 2 Newspaper(daily + others) 547
ÂÂ . It is imperative that 3 Radio 210 the results from the application of 4 TV 10 this methodology be demonstrable - Source: Database of NPI media monitoring essary to store copies of the news piecesand verifiable observed over that time. will It be is necthe ÂÂ S The methodology analysis and consultation. takes into consideration restrictions basis for the final report, for future on space, timeframe, human re- ÂÂ Public availability. The methodol- sources, technology and other fac- ogy and guidelines established for media observation in EMMP should implementation. be made accessible to the public; tors that define the conditions for its whoever wishes can consult the ÂÂ Inclusiveness. The analysis shall document and indicators used. include the most representative me- dia outlets. The selection of media ÂÂ Comparability. The indicators channels arises from an extensive used for this methodology and the prior analysis and takes into account results obtained must be compara- several variables, explained in detail ble across time to other results that below. Producing a comprehensive may arise from the application of media map is imperative for select- this methodology in other electoral ing the best sample for observation processes, in the same country. This and analysis. comparison shall be possible taking into consideration the variables and 3.3. Sample design limitations established and stand- One of the main activities of election ardising the criteria presented. media monitoring programme (EMMP) was monitoring of election and political ÂÂ Impartiality. The media observa- coverage by a nationwide sample of tion team shall strictly abide by the mass media outlets to see how well principle of impartiality when ana- they followed the election code, instead lysing the variables registered. Al- of agenda setting and hate speech, though there is always a risk of sub- jectivity in the observation of the functions. In order to obtain the stated media and assessment of indicators, objectives,for example, the to fulfilNPI team their democraticmonitored the risk must be kept to a minimum. media coverage of the Constituent Any mistake arising in this regard Assembly (CA) Elections, published should be the result of uninten- or broadcast between 1-30 November tional acts. Similarly, this risk may 2013. The media monitoring took place all over Nepal, with a central media - monitoring unit at NPI and four regional tablishedbe identified by thisand methodology. corrected through monitoring units, employing a total of the procedures for verification es 147 media monitors and personnel.
Analytical Report on Media Monitoring of 126 the Constituent Assembly Election 2013 Table 3.2: Names of the media outlets used for including territorial reach, estimated media monitoring at the centre audience/circulation and ownership and/or registration. Table 3.1 shows Name of Media Outlets the different categories of the media Online Print Radio TV outlets used for media outlest used for www. Nepal media monitoring. Kantipur daily Ujyalo FM onlinekhabar.com Television The other different media outlets from www.setopati. Kathmandu Post Sagarmatha FM Kantipur TV com daily all over Nepal are given in Appendix 4. The following table shows the www.ratopati. Nagarik daily Radio Nepal Avenues TV different categories of the media outlets com monitored during the period. www.nepalnews. Republica daily CIN Sagarmatha com The table 3.2 shows the names of www.hamrokura. Kathmandu based media outlets for Gorkhapatra daily Image FM ABC Television com media monitoring for Constituent www. assembly (CA) election 2013. kathmandutoday. Rising Nepal daily Mirmire FM News24 com 3.4. Quantitative and qualitative www.onsnews. Annapurna Post Maitri FM Mountain criteria for media monitoring com daily www. The Himalayan The monitoring of election and pooplesreview. Upatyaka FM Tarai TV Times daily com political coverage was based on both quantitative and qualitative analyses www.ekantipur. Channel Karobar daily Nepal FM com Nepal and it aimed to observe and assess the extent to which media provided fair www. Abhiyan daily Star FM Himalaya and balanced coverage of politicians nagariknews.com and other stakeholders. During the Rajdhani daily election, the project also monitored
Nepal either reported on or originating Samacharpatra fromhate speechthe media or inflammatory themselves, language,to assess daily whether the media acted as agents of Naya Patrika daily increase any potential tension related Source: Database of NPI media monitoring topacification elections. or rather contributed to
The monitoring of hate speech or Media Monitoring Units commenced their activities on 1 November 2013. on or originating from the media Observation contitued on a more themselves,inflammatory aimed language, to assess either reportedwhether reduced scale till the end of November to assess post election media coverage. or rather contributed to increase any NPI carried out media monnitoring of potentialthe media tensionacted as agentsrelated of to pacification elections. 10 online portals, 10 TV channels, 210 This exercise helped monitor whether radio stations and 547 print outlets, the media published or broadcast hate including 13 Kathmandub ased daily speech through and by any political newspapers and 534 other newspapers speaker; whether the media themselves on a daily basis. The media included in promoted violence; the main sources the sample were ramdomly selected of hate speech and the target groups according to a numbers of criteria, affected by it.
Analytical Report on Media Monitoring of the Constituent 127 Assembly Election 2013 This overview of the media headlines sketched the priorities in the public showed slight bias, orange showed discourse as well as representing a serious( reen flagged bias and neutral red drew items, attention yellow complementary element to assess the to gross violation). quality of media coverage of issues of public interest. The main headlines of For example, if an item violates the the major media outlets were collected to denote the item’s priority for the regarding the output and/or the ECN codeto do of the conduct, needful. it isMonitors flagged on a daily basis specific information tailored manner. outlet is seen to violate the media headlines was reported in a specifically codeflag the of itemconduct. not only They when do so a mediaif the 3.4.1. Qualitative component monitored item does not violate the media code, but contains instances The indicators adopted have two of violation of the political code components- one relates to the of conduct by political actors. In sum, all items noteworthy of ECN’s monitored item in question and the secondprofessionalism one is related reflected with the compliance by the urgency (See A Monitoring Concept is with the Election Code of Conduct. NPI Realised).immediate attention are flagged for attempted to gauge the professionalism of the monitored item by looking at the 3.4.2. Quantitative analysis bias and tones it adopted. Quantitative analysis implied the selection of elements of the media news item is biased towards or output that could be counted and a. againstBias Showsa political if party, the particularleader or focused on in the time and space actor concerned. Does the news allocated to different parties or item speak in favour of the actor candidates. Each mention of the subject in question or not? It was not a was logged separately and the amount of time and space allocated was then bias in monitoring. A cursory glance recorded. Each mention was also ofquantitative the item should approach show that this defined to the monitor for him or her to mark it political actor was described according accordingly. toclassified a three-value in terms ofscale tone of in positive, which a neutral and negative.
that the monitor indulged in is the The qualitative analysis was based on b. toneTone in nother which subjectivethe monitored judgement item is presented. An item favourably biased towards a particular actor womenthe systematic and gender observation balance, of coverage specific may not necessarily be written ofthemes election and authorities issues voter and the education, election or aired in a positive tone. Even process, the context and standards of negatively toned items have been media work in Nepal. found to be favourably biased towards an actor. The media plays a major role in keeping the citizenry abreast of current events and raising awareness compliance by the media outlet of various issues in any society. It also c. or lag political The flag actor. is an It indicator is designed of code to notify the ECN of noteworthy items on the public’s views and way of has an extremely significant impact
Analytical Report on Media Monitoring of 128 the Constituent Assembly Election 2013 S O
The data sheet can be designed and worked with using Excel, but of course depending on the resources of each organisation it can be adapted to other more complex programmes like SPSS and STATA software.
thinking. The media are the primary one by one, the variables that have been means through which public opinion selected and that are relevant for this is shaped and at times manipulated. methodology. The online forms for each If this is the media’s role in normal category are presented in the following course of events, it becomes even corresponding categories. more vital in exceptional periods, one of which is electoral junctures, when 3.5. Methodology for television the media becomes a primary player. monitoring Elections constitute a basic challenge to the media, putting their impartiality Pre-election Media Monitoring of and objectivity to test. The task of television channels includes quantitative the media, especially national media and qualitative components. The outlets, is not and should not be to quantitative component includes the function as a mouthpiece for any time allocated to the subject, direct government body,party or particular and indirect speech and the tone of candidate. Its basic role is to enlighten coverage. Components of the qualitative and educate the public and act as a neutral, objective platform for free based coverage, manipulation with debate on all points of views. footagemonitoring and are music. balance, accuracy, fact
All the information is obtained from the Direct and indirect speech differentiates whether the subject is talking in the shown in the following screen view. The news item in person or if he is being resultingonline forms information filled by from the monitorsthe analysis as of each of the stories should be noted on a respondents. data sheet that will be used for collecting talked about by journalists or other the information. It will therefore be The coverage tone is assigned to the subject when somebody is talking about the data sheet in order to understand, her/him indirectly and also when s/ helpful first to visualise an example of
Analytical Report on Media Monitoring of the Constituent 129 Assembly Election 2013 he is talking about himself, about other and music, if the footage or photos used in the news item are represented and there is a music accompanying that footage, neutralsubjects and or about negative. general While issues. counting The flags the which creates certain disposition and timeshow allocatedthree categories to the ofsubject, tones thepositive, tone results in sharply positive or negative of this allocated time is also evaluated. association. Attention is paid to the text of a journalist or a respondent, and also to the overall Monitoring focuses on factual media context of the news item. presentations with respect to a balanced and fair presentation of the Tone-based evaluation of the time facts. The monitoring itself consists allocated to the subjects is given in two of TV programmes that are watched and recorded on videotapes – so the to the subjects on a given channel based recordings can be viewed several times onways the evaluation tone, and of totaltone timeof coverage/ allocated by a monitor entering all the relevant mentioning of subjects by a certain data into the TV monitoring form. journalist. The form for monitoring TV news While performing qualitative monitoring, coverage consists of different heads. The emphasis is laid on the balance, i.e. if subject. The second is for recording data fromfirst contains individual general coverage information and the onlast the is The quantitative component includes the time for media effects and other observations. allocated to the subject, direct and indirect by the monitors. The sample consists of speech and the tone of coverage. Components 10The national following TV online channels. fields Theare to details be filled of of the qualitative monitoring are: balance, the media used for monitoring is shown accuracy, fact-based coverage, manipulation in appendix 3. with footage and music. - mation from TV
there are several different opinions about the covered subject represented information from TV in the news items. The emphasis is also ariables/fields for collecting laid on accuracy, and for evaluating this, 1. Date: the monitor observes if the journalist’s 2. Channel: conclusion and the materials used in the 3. Programme: news items are relevant to each other 4. Protagonist ( source / actor) (footage, comments of the respondents), i. Political party or if there are any mistakes in the names, ii. Election committee iii. Media outlet also observe if the news item refers to iv. Other (government, civil society, anyfigures, particular identity fact, of and respondents. if there is They any internal organisation etc) footage/comments provided in this (A source of information, i.e., one who speaks or gives information; an actor, i.e., the Thenews monitoring item to confirm pays attention this fact. to cases of person about whom the source manipulation of footage and music in the speaks) news releases. It is assumed that there 5. Section was a case of manipulation with footage i. Headlines
Analytical Report on Media Monitoring of 130 the Constituent Assembly Election 2013 ii. Segment 1 iii. Health iii. Segment 2 iv. Security iv. Segment 3 v. Development and environment v. Segment 4 vi. Social policy and poverty 6. Segment (Genre of journalism) vii. Multiculturalism 11. Bias of the issue informational text par excellence i. Favourable i. and ain the material news most News widely is ii. Unfavourable used by the television. Its main iii. Neutral objective is to report in a concise and descriptive fashion a given 12. Image event or situation offering the This is the pictorial aid that accompanies most important data (what, the news item. The image may be who, when, where, why or how). presented in the following ways. i. There is an image but neither a dialogue involving two or the source nor the actor appears ii. moreInterview persons n in interview which one is in it. asks questions and the other ii. There is an image and the actor responds. and source appear in it. iii. There is an image and only the expanded, exhaustive and actor appears in it. iii. documented eportage narrative This isof an iv. There is an image and only the event. In it, resources from source appears in it. other journalistic genres, such as interview, chronicle, and the news, may all be used at 3.6. Methodology for radio the same time. It makes use monitoring of supporting devices such as Monitoring consists of quantitative and images, info-graphs, statistical qualitative stages of research. During tables, etc. the quantitative research the following
response is the response of to the subjects, direct and indirect iv. viewers iewer s of response the program. The viewer s speechindicators and are the observed tone of coverage. time allocated At the v. Other stage of qualitative research a monitor is observing the following qualitative 7. Size /Length Length can be measured in seconds. accuracy, facts-based coverage, timely coverageindicators of facts, balance, and ignorance impartiality, of the 8. Types news. i. Video clips ii. Still image At the stage of quantitative research, the iii. Paraphrase time is calculated (in seconds), when the iv. Summaries subject is talked about by the anchor of 9. Tone (For political party) the news release, radio reporter of the i. Positive news item or any respondent of that ii. Neutral news item. iii. Negative The coverage tone is assigned to the 10. Issue subject when s/he is talked about i. Gender indirectly and also when s/he is talking ii. Education about himself/herself, about other
Analytical Report on Media Monitoring of the Constituent 131 Assembly Election 2013 subjects or general issues. There are If the news release of any channel does positive, neutral and negative. Always, notnames, cover figures, any important respondents fact happening identities. whilethree categoriescounting forthe evaluating time allocated the tone to the subject, simultaneously, the tone is in the monitoring. also evaluated, i.e. the amount of time is in the country, then this is also reflected counted, for how many seconds/minutes While the media landscape is ever this or that subject was talked about expanding and diversifying, radio remains the most prevalent and the tone the emphasis is laid not only on accessible form of media worldwide. thewith contents a specific of the tone. news hile item, evaluating but also Where FM radio is sparse or non- on the context as well. Such evaluation existent, AM radio is often still accessible. aims at determining whether we create The advent of satellite radio has also positive, neutral or negative impression greatly expanded the variety of radio for the audience with regards to the programming available to individuals subject. Besides, it should be noted that worldwide. the tone is not assigned to the whole news item. The monitors divide the In Nepal, FM radio is the most common news items according to the subjects means of media. In 2012/13, there were mentioned therein and then input each 363 FM radio stations regularly going of them into the database according to on air. Out of them only 210 selected the coverage tone, air time allocated to FM stations are monitored. The details them (in seconds), source of information of the media used for monitoring is and topic. This is because sometimes one shown as in the Appendix 4. news item contains various statements of different tones in regards to one or more subjects. information from radio
Direct and indirect speech differentiates 1. Date: whether the subject is talking herself/ 2. Station: himself in the news item or if s/he is 3. Programme: being spoken about. Qualitatively, the 4. Protagonist ( source / actor) monitor observes whether the fact/issue i. Political party covered in the news items is provided in ii. Election committee a balanced way, i.e. whether the audience iii. Media outlet has an opportunity to listen/ watch this iv. Other ( government, civil issue from different angles, and evaluate society, internal organization this event from his point of view. In this etc) case the attention is paid to the sources (A source of information, that of information and the respondents is, one who speaks or gives of various viewpoints shown in the information; an actor, i.e. the news item. Besides, impartiality is also person about whom the source monitored, for which emphasis is laid on speaks). whether any subject/s is distinguished 5. Section and enjoys longer coverage and mostly i. Headlines positive or negative tone. Moreover, for ii. Segment 1 evaluating the accuracy, the monitor iii. Segment 2 observes how relevant the journalist’s iv. Segment 3 opinion and the materials used in v. Segment 4 the news item are (respondents’ comments), if there are mistakes in the 6. Segment (genre of journalism)
Analytical Report on Media Monitoring of 132 the Constituent Assembly Election 2013 vi. Social policy and poverty informational text par vii. Multiculturalis i. excellence ain News and the News material is 11. Bias of the issue most widely used by the radio. i. Favourable Its main objective is to report ii. Unfavourable in a concise and descriptive iii. Neutral fashion on a given event or situation offering the most important data (what, who, 3.7. Methodology for print how, when, where, why) media monitoring
a dialogue involving two or Election media monitoring of the ii. more Interview persons n in interview which one is press consists of qualitative and asks questions and the other quantitative components. The responds. quantitative component includes the space allocated to the subjects and the expanded, exhaustive and tone of coverage. Components of the iii. documented eportage narrative This is of an event. In it, resources from accuracy, fact-based coverage, language other journalistic genres, such ofqualitative the article. monitoring are balance, as the interview, chronicle, and the news, may all be used For counting the space allocated to the at the same time. It makes use subject, the tone is also assessed at the of supporting devices such as same time. Emphasis is laid on the text images, info-graphs, statistical of a journalist or a reporter and also tables, etc. the whole context of the article. On the one hand, there is a distribution of total from the viewer’s are reported area dedicated to the subject based on iv. here. iewer s comment Comments the tone, and on the other the space, where the journalist is writing about the subject, is also evaluated. 7. Sizev. ther /length: Length can be measured in seconds. During the qualitative monitoring, the emphasis is laid on the balance, i.e. at to 8. Types what extent the article provides several i. Audio clips different opinions about the topic of the ii. Paraphrase article and whether the reader has an iii. Summaries opportunity to have a comprehensive impression on the issue. 9. Tone ( For political party) Besides, the monitor evaluates i. Positive accuracy of the article, how the ii. Neutral journalist’s conclusion is consistent iii. Negative with the facts provided in the article 10. Issue or if there are mistakes in the names, i. Gender ii. Education It is also evaluated if the article has iii. Health beenfigures, constructed identities based of on respondents. the facts, iv. Security v. Development and environment information provided by one source has beenwhich double-checked, first of all means and whetherif the reader the
Analytical Report on Media Monitoring of the Constituent 133 Assembly Election 2013 has an opportunity after reading the Each column is designed for entering article to get correct information about data gathered from individual articles. the happening. The focus is on which political subject is presented, whether they were given During the monitoring, attached space or whether they are merely illustrations are also observed, if any mentioned. That is the subject, an evaluation mark and space. On the left in them. Other than determining hand side of the column, a page number theof the space, monitoring tone ofsubjects the illustration are reflected is and the actual headline of the article also assessed based on what kind of is entered. After reading a politically disposition it generates for the reader. relevant article it is necessary to try to evaluate the main subject of the story Another component of the qualitative (or the intention of the writer). Since analysis is the language of the article, the newspapers are more analytical which in some respects, is similar to the in their approach (than the electronic journalist’s tone assessed during the media), it is inevitable to determine quantitative analysis, but the difference which political subject the article is is that more emphasis is laid on the about or whether one subject is a journalist’s words and phraseology dominant topic and others are less during the qualitative analysis not important. However, if the article is only with regard to the subjects of clearly divided into certain segments, monitoring, but also in the whole the monitor should not hesitate article. In some cases, the journalist to allocate those segments to the is not writing about the subject of monitored subjects both qualitatively monitoring, but the text is still notable and quantitatively. If one monitored and interesting for qualitative analysis. subject clearly dominates the article, the monitor should then assign the A reader actively seeks information whole space to him/her. Remarks in newspapers, which is different about other subjects are monitored from the sort of passive reception of as remarks. These remarks are also the news provided by the broadcast given an evaluating mark. Remarks are media. Therefore, the front page is very measured as 1cm2. important – the headlines, placement of photographs, cartoons and other A size of a political photograph, cartoon illustrations. or joke is given cm2. The data is also recorded in the relevant column, but The form used for entering data from instead of headline, we indicate that it monitoring of newspapers is enclosed. is a picture/cartoon etc. The picture or The articles are monitored page by cartoon is also evaluated for its positive, page. Thus the order of monitored negative or neutral content and is also articles is kept in order for later checks given a mark. or corrections. The size of a front-page headline is The print media form consists of two measured in cm2 and indicated in the pages. The front page contains space column right after the headline. It is designed for the data each monitor also possible to create a chart from the enters while monitoring relevant amount of space dedicated to all the articles. The date is entered into the candidates on the front page or in the upper half of the second page. The third form of pictures in the entire newspaper page is designed for media effects. or only from the pictures on the front page. It is obvious that a headline and
Analytical Report on Media Monitoring of 134 the Constituent Assembly Election 2013 picture on a front page attracts readers’ News: News is informational text attention (in a positive or negative way). par excellence and the material most widely used by daily newspapers. Its According to the economic survey of main objective is to report in a concise Nepal 2013, the number of newspapers and descriptive fashion a given event or and magazines registered in different situation offering the most important districts by mid-March 2013 totals data (what, who, when, where, why, 6,590. Our sample consists of 13 how). Kathmandu based daily news papers and 534 other newspapers. The details Interview: An interview is a dialogue of the media used for monitoring is involving two or more persons in shown in appendix 3. which one asks questions and the other responds. print media are as follow; Reportage: This is an expanded, The different fields used in monitoring exhaustive and documented narrative of an event. In it, resources from other information from print media journalistic genres, such as interview, chronicle, and the news, may all be 1. Date: used at the same time. It makes use 2. Name of newspaper : of supporting devices such as images, i. Daily info-graphs, statistical tables etc. ii. Weekly Chronicle: A chronicle narrates a past 3. Protagonist ( source / actor): event subjectively on the basis of real a) Political Party facts and data. It is the most literary of b) Election Committee journalistic genres. c) Media outlet d) Other (government, civil society, internal organization Altogether 10,491 news items were monitored. etc) The table shows that out of total media (A source of information, that is, one who speaks or gives monitored, 828 are online, 6,167 are print, 2,094 information; are radio and 1402 are TV news stories. An actor, i.e., the person about whom the source speaks) Opinion article: Opinion articles 4. Placement represent the position and opinion of i. Front page a person (who may or may not be a ii. Back page journalist) on an issue of social interest. iii. Inner Page Editorial: An editorial represents the 5) Segment (Genre of journalism) position and opinion of the media outlet i. News itself on a matter of social interest. ii. Interview iii. Reportage Other: iv. Chronicle 6. Size: This means the space in square v. Opinion column centimetres (height x width) vi. Editorial vii. Other ( Cartoon photo , features ,mails from readers ) To determine the si e one must follow
Analytical Report on Media Monitoring of the Constituent 135 Assembly Election 2013 7. Spread ÂÂ The total size of the story is obtained i. Single by considering the headline, byline, ii. Double introduction, complete text, photo- iii. Main graphs, info-graphs, tables, and any other graphic aid accompanying the 8. Tone (For political party) story in question. i. Positive ii. Neutral ÂÂ The size of the photo should be add- iii. Negative ed to the size of the text. If several persons appear in the photo, one 9. Issue i. Gender divides the size of the photo by the ii. Education number of persons who appear in it, iii. Health iv. Security to each of them. v. Development and environment and the resulting figure is attributed vi. Social policy and poverty ÂÂ vii. Multiculturalism relationships between source, actor andIn the issue cases in ina single which story we find are several found, 10. Bias of the issue yet in the introduction no reference i. Favourable is made to any of them in particular, ii. Unfavourable the space taken up by the introduc- iii. Neutral tion will be divided by the number 11. Photo This is the graphic or pictorial aid that be added to the size of each of these accompanies the news item. The photo relationships.of relationships, and this figure will may be presented in the following ways. ÂÂ If the source only mentions a po- i. There is a photo but neither the litical actor (or political actors) and source nor the actor appears in does not develop any idea or opin- it. ion about him, her, or them, it is con- ii. There is a photo and the actor sidered a ‘mention’ 2 and 1 cm or 1 and source appear in it. second is attributed to this actor. iii. There is a photo and only the actor appears in it. ÂÂ - iv. There is a photo and only the tiplying the width by the height of source appears in it. the The spacefinal figureoccupied obtained by the after relation mul- ship among source, actor and is- sue is rounded. The size should be 3.8. Methodology of monitoring the online media used. To this end, a simple method The NPI monitoring took place from a whole number decimals are not- 1 November 2013 through 30 Novem- tion is less than one-half, one rounds ber 2013 and our sample covered 10 down,for rounding and when is used it is greaterwhen the than frac or equal to one-half, it is rounded up. most1. www.onlinekhabar.com highly rated news portals ÂÂ Comic strips and cartoons that are 2. www.setopati.com generally presented in the media, 3. www.ratopati.com independent of their frequency, 4. www.nepalnews.com are considered as news stories and should be analysed like any other. 5. www.nagariknews.com 6. www.onsnews.com
Analytical Report on Media Monitoring of 136 the Constituent Assembly Election 2013 7. www.pooplesreview.com of an event. In it, resources from 8. www.ekantipur.com other journalistic genres, such as the 9. www.kathmandutoday.com interview, chronicle, and the news, may 10. www.hamrokura.com all be used at the same time. It makes use of supporting devices such as Information was collected through images, info-graphs, statistical tables, online forms containing the following etc.
Viewer’s Comment/readers’ fields. - comment: In this, the viewer’s or formation online readers’ comments are placed.
1. Date: Other: Cartoons, features, mails from 2. Website: readers 3. Program: 6. Size /length (in percentage) 4. Protagonist (source / actor) 7. Spread i. Political party i. Main ii. Election committee ii. Double iii. Media outlet iii. Single iv. Other (government, civil society, internal organisation 8. Types etc) i. Still image (A source of information, that ii. Audio links ( no of downloads ) is, one who speaks or gives iii. Video clips (no of download ) information; an actor is the iv. Paraphrase person about whom the source v. Summary speaks). 9. Tone (towards political parties) 5. Segment (genre of journalism) i. Positive i. News ii. Neutral ii. Interview iii. Negative iii. Reportage iv. Chronicle 10. Issue v. Opinion column i. Gender vi. Editorial ii. Education vii. Other iii. Health News: News is informational text iv. Security par excellence and the material most v. Development and environment widely used by daily online portals. Its vi. Social policy and poverty main objective is to report in a concise vii. Multiculturalism and descriptive fashion a given event or situation offering the most important 11. Bias of the issue data (who, what, when, where, why i. Favourable ii. Unfavourable displaced on the website on a regular iii. Neutral basis.how. Breaking news and flash news are Interview: An interview is a dialogue 12. Photo/Image involving two or more persons in This is a pictorial aid that accompanies which one asks questions and the other the news item. The image may be responds. presented in the following ways. Reportage: This is an expanded, ÂÂ There is a photo/image but neither exhaustive and documented narrative
Analytical Report on Media Monitoring of the Constituent 137 Assembly Election 2013 Table 4.1: print, 2,094 are radio and 1402 are TV Category wise media monitoring news stories. Figure 4.1 shows the dis- SN Category Total tribution of media monitoring. 1 Print 6,167 2 Online 828 Summary of media monitoring from 1 to 30 November 2013 is given in 3 Radio 2,094 the above pie-chart. It shows the total 4 TV 1,402 monitoring coverage comprised 8% Grand total 10,491 online media, 59 % print media , 20% Source: Database of NPI media monitoring radio and 13% TV news.
4.2. Trend of media monitoring Figure 4.2: Figure 4.1: Category wise media Trend of number of online news monitored monitoring
TV 13%
Radio Print 20% 59% ‐ ‐ ‐ ‐ ‐ ‐ ‐ ‐ ‐ ‐ ‐ ‐ ‐ ‐ ‐ ‐ ‐ ‐ ‐ ‐ ‐ ‐ ‐ ‐ Online ‐ ‐ ‐ ‐ ‐ ‐ 8%
Source: Database of NPI media monitoring Source: Author’s Calculation
the source nor the actor appears in in different categories it. Although all the monitors were ÂÂ There is a photo/image and the ac- tor and source appear in it. through online forms on a daily basis, monitoring and sending their findings ÂÂ There is a photo/image and only the there was a lack of consistency in the actor appears in it. news monitored due to the variable availability of the news related to ÂÂ There is a photo/image and only the election. The daily trend of news source appears in it. monitored is given below.
4. MAJOR FINDINGS OF 4.2.1. Trend of online news MEDIA MONITORING OF stories monitored CONSTITUENT ASSEMBLY ELECTION 2013 by the monitors, the trend of news n the basis of above online form filled 4.1. Category wise media monitored is given in the following graph. monitoring It is seen that the number of online During the period of media monitor- news monitored is at the peak level ing (1-30 November 2013), altogether during the silence period. 10,491 news items were monitored. The table shows that out of total media 4.2.2. Trend of print media monitored, 828 are online, 6,167 are monitored
Analytical Report on Media Monitoring of 138 the Constituent Assembly Election 2013 Figure 4.3: Figure 4.5: Trend of TV news monitored Trend of number of newspapers monitored
‐ ‐ ‐ ‐ ‐ ‐ ‐ ‐ ‐ ‐ ‐ ‐ ‐ ‐ ‐ ‐ ‐ ‐ ‐ ‐ ‐ ‐ ‐ ‐ ‐ ‐ ‐ ‐ ‐ ‐ ‐ ‐ ‐ ‐ ‐ ‐ ‐ ‐ ‐ ‐ ‐ ‐ ‐ ‐ ‐ ‐ ‐ ‐ ‐ ‐ ‐ ‐ ‐ ‐ ‐ ‐ ‐ ‐ ‐ ‐ Source: Database of NPI media monitoring Source: Database of NPI media monitoring monitored The following graph shows the trend of newspapers monitored. Monitoring was started from 1 November 2013. The 1,402 news items have been moni- number of newspaper news monitored tored. n the The basis trends of these of newsfields, monitored a total of - each day can be stated in the following est, one, on the day of Deepawali, the sec- graph. The graph (Figure 4.5) depicts onddecreases biggest from festival offrom Nepalese first day people. to low the trend of TV news monitored. It is seen that the trend is increasing and After Deepawali, the number of news reaches its peak during the counting monitored went up until it reached its period. peak on November 17, the day the si- lence period began. On that day, a total 4.3. Trend of media monitoring in different phases Figure 4.4: Trend of Radio news stories monitored The whole monitoring period was di- vided into four phases as below. 4.3.1. Election Campaign Period (1- 16 November 2013) The campaign is the period when the - dates and put forward arguments to Source: Database of NPI media monitoring persuadepolitical partiespeople to fielded vote for their their candi can- didates and parties. It is intended for the political parties to carry out their of 404 news items were monitored. election campaigns on healthy lines, - 4.2.3. Trends of Radio News sure peace and order during the cam- Monitored paignavoid clashesperiod andand thereafterconflicts and until to theen results are declared. During the cam- The graph (Figure 4.4) shows the trend paign, the number of news monitored of radio news monitored from 1-30 No- increased after Deepawali only. Most vember 2013. It is found the number of of the media houses were closed for radio news monitored is at the peak on the festival. During the campaign peri- the eve of the election day. od, news relating to election increased in all the media -- print, online, radio 4.2.4. Trend of TV news and TV.
Analytical Report on Media Monitoring of the Constituent 139 Assembly Election 2013 4.3.2. Silence period was carried out on 19 November 2013. (17-18 November 2013) On the polling day, the number of news monitored started to decrease, except Election silence operates to allow a pe- for radio news.
casting their votes. During this period, 4.3.4. Counting Period noriod active for voters campaigning to reflect by on the events candidates before (20-30 November 2013)
during the silence period the number of Counting period begins after ballots newsis allowed. monitored The figurereaches . the shows maximum that are collected from various constituen- number. All the monitors were carry- cies. It is a very crucial period during ing out their duties and media houses election. The election results are an- also released news as far as possible. All nounced after counting of votes. After the monitors related to different media categories; Print, online, Radio and TV actively monitored the news during this slowly November decreased. , But theon 24 first and day 25 of period. Media houses also very actively counting, the flow of news monitored disseminated news related to CA election. again started to increase. November the flow of news monitored 4.3.3. Polling Day The graph shows the trends of media (19 November 2013) monitoring under different categories. Monitoring was begun from the 1 No- Polling is normally held on the same vember 2013 and the number of news day by enabling the security forces and events monitored decreased from the those monitoring the election to keep - law and order and ensure that voting mum on the day of Deepawali. during the election is fair. The polling first day and it slumped to its mini It is seen that the trend of news moni-
Figure 4.6: Flow of category wise news monitored
Source: Database of NPI media monitoring
Analytical Report on Media Monitoring of 140 the Constituent Assembly Election 2013 Box 1: News clip Figure 4.7: Total news monitored during the election Campaign Period
TV 9% Online 14% Radio 13%
Print 64%
Source: Database of NPI media monitoring
Figure 4.8: A E election campaign period (November 1 - 16, 2013)
tored is not regular. Initially, the number of news monitored decreases slowly and reaches to the lowest on 5 November,
the day of the second biggest festival in Nepal, Deepawali. After Deepawali, the number of media monitoring increases Source: Database of NPI media monitoring rapidly and reaches its maximum dur- 4.4. Findings of CA election ing the silence period. This indicates media monitoring during that both monitors and the media were Campaign Period: 1 - 16 most active during the period. November 2013
Table 4.2: CA Election Media Monitoring Findings for Election Campaign Period
Date :1-Nov to 16-Nov Bias Tone Flag Unfa- Category Total Favour- Nega- Slight Serious Gross vour- Neutral Positive Neutral Neutral able tive Bias Bias Violation able Online 460 176 57 225 214 108 136 297 128 24 10 Print 2057 1013 402 610 892 621 511 1122 635 211 79 Radio 404 105 49 250 108 196 100 339 47 13 5 TV 304 111 18 175 141 121 42 227 58 11 8 Grand Total 3225 1405 526 1260 1355 1046 789 1985 868 259 102 Percentage 44 17 39 42 32 24 62 27 8 3
Source: Database of NPI media monitoring
Analytical Report on Media Monitoring of the Constituent 141 Assembly Election 2013 Box 2: Example of Biased News
Analytical Report on Media Monitoring of 142 the Constituent Assembly Election 2013 Box 3: Example of Unbiased News
Analytical Report on Media Monitoring of the Constituent 143 Assembly Election 2013 Graph 4.9: Category wise media monitoring during Silence period
TV Online 11% 7%
Radio 25% Print 57%
Source: Database of NPI media monitoring
Box 4: Example of news during Silence Period
Analytical Report on Media Monitoring of 144 the Constituent Assembly Election 2013 This period, not surprisingly, is a thor- oughly preparatory one. This is usually In the pie-diagram (Figure 4.7), it is the phase that is most neglected, de- seen that 14% of the news items have been covered from online, 13% from from past elections. One of the common radio, 64% from print media and 9 % reasonsspite the it numberis neglected of lessons is a lack learned of fund- TV news. ing or resources in general, particularly in countries in transition to democracy Figure 4.8 also indicates that of the to- - tal news monitored, the highest num- ond elections like Nepal. The ECN is ber of news items have netural tone. expectedthat are approaching to be busy focusing their first on or secur sec- In case of bias, the number of posi- tively biased news is the heighest. and so forth during these crucial weeks oring months. funding, This hiring is staff,the time fixing to facilities, conduct 4.5. Constituent Assembly audience analysis, media mapping, election media monitoring S P a comprehensive strategy. In addition, 17 - 18 November 2013 thismessage period testing, is the andtime finally for the to ECN devise to be consulting, communicating and edu- An election silence operates to allow a cating both the media and stakeholders about their rights and responsibilities before casting their votes. During this during the elections, relevant laws and period,period forno votersactive campaigningto reflect on eventsby the regulations, complaint mechanisms candidates is allowed. In connection and so on. The ECN may be involved in with the CA election of 2013, monitor- ing was taking place during the silence issues organised by itself or others. period from 17-18 November 2013. media briefings and trainings on these Table 4.2 shows that during the elec- In Nepal the silence is generally legally tion campaign period a total of 3,225 enforced, though in some countries it is news items were monitored. It is seen that 44% of the news are positively biased, 17% are unfavourable, while just a gentlemen s agreement between 39% are neutral. Considering the tone, 42 % have positive tone, 32 % neutral and 24% negative.
T S
Date : November 16- 18 , 2013 Bias Tone Flag Category Total Favour- Unfa- Slight Serious Gross Neutral Positive Neutral Negative Neutral able vourable Bias Bias Violation Online 142 67 49 26 68 2 71 67 20 12 43 Print 803 350 177 265 358 217 217 464 148 91 100 Radio 371 77 39 255 112 199 60 314 41 11 5 TV 194 42 20 132 64 108 22 155 11 4 24 Grand Total 1510 536 285 678 602 526 370 1000 220 118 172 Percentage 35 19 45 40 35 25 66 15 8 11
Source: Database of NPI media monitoring
Analytical Report on Media Monitoring of the Constituent 145 Assembly Election 2013 F S
Source: Database of NPI media monitoring
leading parties. The following pie- Day (19 November 2013) chart shows the summary of the news monitored during the silence period. Polling is normally held on the same day by enabling the security forces and During the silence period 45% of those monitoring the election to main- the news were neutral bias and 66% tain law and order and ensure that vot- percent news were with neutral tone ing during the election is fair. Polling (Table 4.3). was carried out on 19 November 2013.
Figure 4.10 shows that during the si- This period is guaranteed to be an in- lence period most of the news items tense one, involving preparation for were neutral and unbiased. voting itself, along with a variety of campaign issues. 4.6. Findings of media monitoring on Constituent The total number of news monitored Assembly election on Polling can be seen in the pie-chart(Figure
Box 5: Example of unbiased news
Analytical Report on Media Monitoring of 146 the Constituent Assembly Election 2013 Table 4.4: Summary of media monitoring on polling day
Date : November 19, 2013 Bias Tone Flag Unfa- Category Total Favour- Nega- Slight Serious Gross vour- Neutral Positive Neutral Neutral able tive Bias Bias Violation able Online 26 13 11 2 11 1 14 13 2 6 5 Print 208 73 42 86 78 70 54 136 31 18 23 Radio 92 8 16 68 19 50 23 78 4 4 6 TV 39 2 1 36 5 32 2 36 2 0 1 Grand total 365 96 70 192 113 153 93 263 39 28 35 Percentage 35 19 45 40 35 25 66 15 8 11
Source: Database of NPI media monitoring Figure 4.11: Distribution of media Table 4.4 shows that out of 365 the category on the polling day total news monitored, 192 are neutral and 153 have neutral tone. The same is Polling Day TV Online 11% 7%
shown by the following figure also. of the news are neutral on the polling Radio day.ItThe figure was found . shows that the that news the majorityin terms 25%
Print 57% 4.7.of flag Constituent , tone and bias Assembly are neutral. election media monitoring P Source: Database of NPI media monitoring (20 - 30 November 2013) 4.11). On the polling day, the news monitored comprised 7 % online, 57 % Counting period begins after the ballots print, 25% radio and 11 % television. are collected from various constituen- cies. It is a very crucial period during On the polling day, a majority of news election. The election results are an- items are favourably biased and neutral nounced after vote counting. Transpar- (Box 5). The reason behind this is the ency in vote counting and announce- action taken by ECN against some me- ment of results are some of the most dia houses during the campaign period.
Figure 4.12: Summary of media monitoring on Polling Day
Analytical Report on Media Monitoring of the Constituent 147 Assembly Election 2013 Table 4.5: Summary of media monitoring during Counting Period
Date : November 20- 30, 2013 Bias Tone Flag Unfa- Category Total Favour- Nega- Slight Serious Gross vour- Neutral Positive Neutral Neutral able tive Bias Bias Violation able Online 200 90 50 60 77 49 74 132 41 19 8 Print 2787 1011 563 1195 1037 1115 619 1815 657 234 81 Radio 753 111 74 568 152 477 124 667 61 12 13 TV 475 79 17 379 127 325 23 406 59 6 4 Grand total 4215 1291 704 2202 1393 1966 840 3020 818 271 106 Percentage 35 19 45 40 35 25 66 15 8 11
Source: Database of NPI media monitoring Figure 4.13: Summary of media monitoring during important tasks of the ECN. The elec- Counting Period tion is something the whole country and sometimes the whole world waits Counting Period for with anticipation, and is sometimes
Online TV 5% 11% Dependingmarked by conflictingon the circumstances news reports. and
counting period may last from a mat- specific procedures of an election, the Radio ter of hours to a matter of days, or 18% Print shows that during the vote counting pe- 66% riod,even 66% weeks. of Thetotal followingnews monitored figure . are print,18% are radio, 11% are TV and 5 % are online news stories.
Table no 4.5 shows that during the Source: Database of NPI media monitoring counting period a total of 4,215 news
Figure 4.14: Summary of media monitoring during Counting Period
Source: Database of NPI media monitoring
Analytical Report on Media Monitoring of 148 the Constituent Assembly Election 2013 Box 6: Example of news during counting
Table 4.6: Main Issues of News Coverage Issue Issue Grand Percent- Online Print Radio TV total age Education 0 20 9 6 35 0.370 Health 1 22 3 6 32 0.338 Gender 5 78 42 7 132 1.396 Security 132 412 101 50 695 7.348 Development and Environment 5 60 11 10 86 0.909 Social policy and poverty 3 103 2 9 117 1.237 Multiculturalism 1 50 9 2 0.021 Politics 625 3960 1522 1180 7287 77.046 Others 11 647 285 129 1072 11.334 Total 782 5303 2025 1406 9458 100.000 Source: Database of NPI media monitoring items were monitored. Of these, 200 were favourably biased and neutral (Fig- were online 2,787 print, 753 radio and ure 4.14). The reason behind this is the 475 TV news reports. During the count- action taken by ECN against some media ing period, a majority of news items houses during the campaign period.
Analytical Report on Media Monitoring of the Constituent 149 Assembly Election 2013 Figure 4.15: Main issues of news coverage in all media
Source: Database of NPI media monitoring 4.8. Main issues of news coverage according to media category gender covers only 7% and 2 % respec- tively. These persentage are based on The following table shows news cover- the total newsmonitored on the differ- age by the media on different issues dur- ent issues only, i.e., 9458 as shown as in ing election. Table 4.6 shows that during the following table. the period of 1-30 November 2013, the media focused on the topics of poli- Table 4.6 shows that the issue of educa- tics. About 77% of media coverage was tion, health, social policy and poverty, about politics. The issue of security and gender, security, multi-culturalism, de-
Table 4.7: Tone of news coverage of different parties in print media
Tone Party Category Positive Neutral Negative Online 370 160 295 Radio 46 108 26 NC Print 220 151 134 TV 48 74 6 Online 42 25 48 Radio 49 71 27 CPN(UML) Print 188 132 99 TV 17 32 6 Online 37 15 41 Radio 53 163 135 UCPN(Maoist) Print 36 48 95 TV 47 81 27 Online 5 2 6 Radio 5 10 2 RPP(Nepal) Print 27 25 29 TV 6 15 3 Online 84 42 95 Radio 315 930 152 Others Print 2022 1756 1134 TV 285 704 53 Source: Database of NPI media monitoring
Analytical Report on Media Monitoring of 150 the Constituent Assembly Election 2013 Figure 4.16: Tone of news coverage to different parties on all print media
Source: Database of NPI media monitoring velopment and environment are raised print media by print media whereas the issue of poli- tics is raised by FM Radios. Of the total From the table 4.7, it is seen that online 9,458 issues raised by the media, 7,287 media has highest positive as well as nega- are related to politics. There were only tive tone against NC. Other media outlets two issues related to multiculturalism in the media during the election campaign. Thehave tableno significant 4.7 shows difference the tone in tone. of news Figure 4.15 shows that the issue of edu- media. It is seen that NC has more nega- cation, health, social policy and pover- tive online news and UML more negative ty gender, security, multi-culturalism, news on print media. Similarly, UCPN development and environment were (Maoist) has more negative tone in radio raised by the print media whereas the and RPP(Nepal) has more negative tone issue of politics was raised by FM ra- in print than other media categories. dios.
4.9. Tone of news coverage of news media. It is seen that media outlets different political parties in The above figure . shows the tone of
have no significant difference in media Table 4.8: Allocation of airtime to political parties in news programmes by FM radios (in seconds)
Party Radio Nepal Nepal FM Sagarmatha Mirmire Star Ujyalo NC 5498 600 555 2140 44 1214 CPN (UML) 1432 432 1224 553 34 958 UCPN(Maoist) 3264 21 2179 17721 23 969 RPP 987 568 126 0 0 0 Other 15000 1060 7381 13699 1199 8836
Source: Database of NPI media Monitoring
Analytical Report on Media Monitoring of the Constituent 151 Assembly Election 2013 Figure 4.17: Allocation of airtime to political parties by FM radios (in percent)
Allocation of time in FM to major Political parties
Source: Database of NPI media monitoring
- coverage to NC. Diagram 4.17 shows cant difference in shaded area coloured that Mirmire FM broadcasts news pro- blue,tone. redThe and media green. outlets have no signifi grammes related to Maoist only.
4.10. Allocation of airtime 4.11. Allocation of airtime to among political parties by FM political parties in TV coverage radios (in seconds) by media outlet (in seconds)
FM radios broadcast news and other The table shows media coverage by ma- election related programmes regularly jor Television channels of various par- and intensively covered the election ties. NTV and News24 have dominant process and candidates in a variety of coverage for NC. Similarly, ABC, Sagar- formats and programmes. matha and Avenues broadcast news pro- grammes in favour of UCPN (Maoist). It is seen that NC dominated coverage in Radio Nepal and Nepal FM. On the The allocation of airtime among politi- other hand, Sagarmatha and Mirmire cal parties in news programmes by ma- gave greater coverage to UCPN (Mao- jor TV channels can also be seen in the ist). Star FM has also given greater following diagram.
Table 4.9: Allocation of airtime among political parties in news programmes by major TV channels ( in seconds)
Television Channel Party NTV Kantipur Sagarmatha ABC News24 Avenues NC 1181 10345 19277 745 4960 3792 CPN (UML) 305 790 10162 927 770 623 UCPN(Maoist) 876 11104 20775 15243 3991 14231 RPP (Nepal) 123 2031 2244 577 150 1735 Other 1614 2009 1737 2314 3071 4679
Source: Database of NPI media monitoring
Analytical Report on Media Monitoring of 152 the Constituent Assembly Election 2013 4.12. Allocation of airtime to political leaders by radio and nels are as below; tv (in seconds) The table 4.10 shows that the total time The allocation of airtime among the pres- of news monitored on radio is 1,237,569 indents of four major parties NC, UCPN seconds and on TV 1,479,136 seconds. (Maoist), CPN (UML) and RPP (Nepal) in Of the total time, more time has been news programmes radio and TV chan- given to Pushpa Kamal Dahal (Prachan-
Table 4.10: Allocation of airtime to political leaders in radio and tv (in seconds)
Name of Leaders Name of Party Radio TV
Sushil Koirala NC 6632 20572
Pushpa Kamal Dahal UCPN(Maoist) 33335 149145
Jhalanath Khanal (Prachanda) CPN(UML) 15873 6271
Kamal Thapa RPP(Nepal) 1152 10026
Others 1180577 1293122
Total 1237569 1479136
Source: Database of NPI media monitoring
Figure 4.18: Allocation of airtime among political parties in news programme by major TV channels (in percentage)
100%
80%
60%
40%
20%
0% NTV Kantipur Sagarmatha ABC News24 Avenues
NC CPN (UML) UCPN(Maoist) RPP( Nepal)
Source: Database of NPI media monitoring
Analytical Report on Media Monitoring of the Constituent 153 Assembly Election 2013 Figure 4.19: Allocation of airtime to political leaders by radio
Kamal Thapa
2% Shushil Koirala 16%
Jhalanath Khanal 26%
Prachanda 56%
Source: Database of NPI media monitoring
da) presindent of UCPN (Maoist). About 33,335 seconds of the total time has been given to him on radio and 149,145 on TV. Only 15,833 seconds, 6,632 seconds and 1,152 seconds are given to Jhalanath Khanal (President of CPN (UML), Sushil Koi- rala (president of NC) and Kamal Thapa (president of RPP(Nepal) respectively
Figure 4.20: Allocation of airtime to political leaders by TV
RPP (Nepal) 7% NC 14% CPN (UML) 11%
UCPN (Maoist) 68%
Source: Database of NPI media monitoring on Radio. Similarly, only 6712 seconds, 20572 and 10,026 seconds is allocated to Jhalanath Khanal, Sushil Koirala and Kamal Thapa respectively on television.
Figure 4.21: Allocation of airtime to political leaders by TV and radio
RPP (Nepal) 7% CPN (UML) 11% NC 14%
UCPN (Maoist) 68%
Source: Database of NPI media monitoring
Analytical Report on Media Monitoring of 154 the Constituent Assembly Election 2013 The pie- chart 4.19 shows that on radio and FM programmes, more time has been given to Pushpa Kamal Dahal. About 56 % of the total time has been given to him. Only 26 %, 16 % and 2 % of total time has been given to Jhalanath Khanal, Sushil Koirala and Kamal Thapa respectively.
Figure 4.22: Allocation of airtime to political leaders in radio and TV (in percent)
Source: Database of NPI media monitoring
The pie- chart 4.20 shows that in televi- S sion programmes, more time was given to Pushpa Kamal Dahal. About 64 % of The media coverage of politics and the total time is given to him. Only 11 political actors during the complete %, 14 % and 7 % of total time was given monitoring period (1 –30 November to Jhalanath Khanal, Sushil Koirala and 2013) shared a number of recurring Kamal Thapa respectively. features, which are as given below.
The pie- chart 4.21 shows that on both ÂÂ The media monitors ensured regu- radio and TV, 64 % of the total news cov- lar and intensive coverage of po- erage is for Pushpa Kamal Dahal. Only 16 litical issues, candidates and politi- %, 15 % and 5 % of total time was given cians and issues of public interest to Jhalanath Khanal, Sushil Koirala and through a variety of formats and Kamal Thapa , chairmans of CPN(UML), programmes. NC and RPP(Nepal) respectively. ÂÂ The four main political parties, the Nepali Congress (NC), Communist president of four major parties of Ne- Party of Nepal (CPN-UML), United The above figure shows coverage of Communist Party of Nepal (Mao- CPN (UML) and Rastriya Prajatantra ist) and Rastriya Prajatantra Party Partypal Nepali (Nepal). congress, It is seen UCPN that that ( aoist , there (RPP) dominated the public dis- is greater coverage of Jhala Nath Kha- course and media coverage. This nal on radio and Kamal Thapa in TV. feature was common to both audio- Both Sushil Koirala and Pushpa Kamal visual and print media although the Dahal (Prachanda) have greater cover- press presented a slightly more di- age on TV than in radio. verse range of actors and views.
ÂÂ The Counting Phase (20 - 30 No- 5. SUMMARY OF FINDINGS - AND RECOMMENDATIONS isation not only in terms of political vember confirmed this polar
Analytical Report on Media Monitoring of the Constituent 155 Assembly Election 2013 parties, but also with regards to the of newspapers, radio and television. news agenda of the observed media. It failed on all fronts when tested against the principles of access, di- ÂÂ Transparency regarding the use versity and pluralism. It is evident and payments of advertisements that the present Electoral Law is and propaganda was not ensured throughout the media monitoring media provide balanced and fair period. Many sponsored articles coverageinsufficient of inelections. guaranteeing It is also that evithe- and programmes were not labelled dent from the qualitative research as such, the originators of the mes- conducted that there is a general sage thus being unclear to the audi- consensus that the administration ences. Furthermore, the borderline overtly abused certain resources between the propaganda of politi- and relationships in order to shape cians and editorial news coverage the nature of the media’s coverage was sometimes blurred, as the me- of the elections. dia was inclined to repeat certain statements without any commen- ÂÂ Journalists appear to have been tary, feedback or analysis. closely managed and censored dur- ing the election campaign period in ÂÂ The tone of coverage used by jour- - nalists when reporting on politi- istic freedom and has resulted in a cians was not found to be neutral in highlya process distorted that stifles and unfair their journalbalance the audiovisual media as well as in in media coverage of the election print media. campaign.
ÂÂ All media outlets breached relevant ÂÂ The results of this monitoring sug- provisions regarding the prohibi- gest that the Nepalese media failed tion against covering candidates to effectively serve public interest and campaign activities by report- during these elections. The range ing about the elections on the day of information communicated was before the actual voting began. narrow and unbalanced both in tone and space devoted to the candidates ÂÂ The media demonstrated bias in and parties. The media therefore their coverage of the elections fa- failed to serve democracy and it has vouring the four main parties. failed to reach international stand- ards that have been developed to ÂÂ This trend was evident in all of the ensure that the media cover elec- media monitored, but was more tions according to democratic and pronounced in the state controlled transparent principles. media where the imbalance in cov- erage was overwhelming. 5.2. Recommendations
ÂÂ All broadcast media monitored, es- The Nepalese media law needs to be pecially the privately owned, failed reviewed in order that the public are to comply with basic obligations of better served by a plural media sector balance and equitable coverage of that acts independently of political af- parties and candidates.
ÂÂ The Electoral Law failed to achieve filiationsÂÂ The government and patronage. should encourage - the broadcasting sector to develop dates to access the mass mediums both private and public initiatives so a level playing field for the candi
Analytical Report on Media Monitoring of 156 the Constituent Assembly Election 2013 that television and radio provide an paigns to ensure equity between the independent range of programmes. contestants.
ÂÂ The present election law has failed ÂÂ Self regulatory guidelines for jour- to ensure adequate coverage of the nalists and editors should be devel- whole spectrum of political repre- oped to ensure that there is respect sentation. It is crucial that the elec- for professional journalistic stand- tion law enshrines the principles of ards embodied in a code of conduct access and balance to media out- that is respected by all parties. lets for all political parties. In this respect the law needs to be over- ÂÂ Attempts by the authorities to block hauled and modernised to ensure and suppress alternative media that transparency and access for all of supports the democratic develop- the parties and candidates. The law ment of Nepal as well as foreign me- should develop an adequate frame- dia should be removed as serious work to guarantee consistent imple- infringements on the rights set out. mentation of the legal framework to regulate balanced quality coverage ÂÂ Achieve media independence from with equal access to the media. the state, reformulate laws regu- lating media ownership, and ad- ÂÂ Despite the fact that equal access minister media institutions to to the media is important, other guarantee their impartiality and means and formats should be devel- professionalism. oped to encourage quality coverage of the elections. To guarantee the ÂÂ Exercise care in selecting press public access to in depth informa- leaders from among independ- tion about candidates and parties, ent journalists, establish necessary initiatives need to be developed, in regulations to achieve this, and in- order to support a greater range of clude these regulations in the jour- information available to voters. nalist code of ethics.
ÂÂ The publicly funded broadcasters ÂÂ Reconsider the regulations govern- and newspapers should be obliged ing state-owned television and ra- to serve the public, not political dio, and develop them so as not forces. In order to do so they should to restrict vital, competitive, and - objective media coverage. cial independence. be guaranteed editorial and finan ÂÂ Develop legislation regulating me- ÂÂ There needs to be a clearer separa- dia performance during general tion between programmes related elections that is suited to a com- to the election and other program petitive political environment and formats. Programmes that are not standards of neutrality and equal directly related to the election opportunity, and reinforce the com- should not be used to promote po- pulsory nature of these statutes. litical parties. ÂÂ Include state-owned papers in ÂÂ Paid advertisements should be the laws and standards associated clearly marked and regulated. Fi- with the media and elections. nancial transparency should be guaranteed both for the funding ÂÂ Campaign laws should prohibit of political parties and their cam- the government from issuing de-
Analytical Report on Media Monitoring of the Constituent 157 Assembly Election 2013 crees, announcing policies, or in- b. The public should be made augurating public projects that aware of paid ads, both on air may be seen as campaigning for and in print. members of the government, the president, or the ruling party dur- c. Guarantee the right of timely ing the campaign period, and the response to any candidate or state-owned media should abstain political party deserving of it. from covering such decrees during the campaign period. ÂÂ Activate the journalist code of eth- ics and the role of the journalists ÂÂ Legal and political instruments in monitoring and developing pro- should exist to protect journalists fessional performance. from assault while doing their jobs. ÂÂ Organise training sessions to im- ÂÂ Develop the journalist code of prove the professional performance ethics to include provisions on of media personnel. the professional principles that must be honoured during election ÂÂ Develop training programmes spe- coverage in a pluralistic political guarantee objectivity, fairness, and professionalism.cifically for election coverage to a.system, A clear particularly distinction the following between news related to the activities (See Annex III for the details of media or tasks of the party monitoring findings at the end of the re- leaders or cabinet members and port.) news coverage of them as candidates.
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Analytical Report on Media Monitoring of 162 the Constituent Assembly Election 2013 GENDER, INCLUSION AND ELECTION REPORTING
1. BACKGROUND
Over the past several years, studies 26fielded and Nepal female Workers candidates. and Peasants Nepali have been conducted regarding gender Congress had fielded , CPN U dynamics of election related news coverage. In the media, questions Party had fielded female candidates related to Dalits and children are femaleamong candidates the it fielded. out of the The total adhesi 107 frequently raised. In terms of media constituenciesPeople s ights it orumcontested had from. fielded monitoring during election, the presentation of gender dynamics is Fifty per cent of the total 11,003 crucial. Are the underrepresented given adequate coverage in proportion representation seats by the parties to their population? Have these werecandidates female fielded candidates. under proportional underrepresented groups been duly prioritised? Media experts analyse these trends and exert pressure on 2. NEED FOR MONITORING the concerned authorities to adopt a OF GENDER AND SOCIAL policy to encourage news coverage on INCLUSION underrepresented groups. They also conduct training and orientation for The Election Commission of Nepal journalists on the need to prioritise (ECN) had given high priority to media these issues. This has largely helped during the 2013 CA elections. The ECN bring to the fore the neglected issues of provided training to journalists across gender and social inclusion. the country on the election code of conduct, and media monitoring was Of the total 12,147,865 voters in the carried out to enforce it. As part of 2013 Constituent Assembly (CA) the media monitoring effort, ECN had election, the number of female voters entrusted the responsibility of media was 5,980,881, which is 49.23 percent monitoring to Nepal Press Institute. of the total number of voters. ECN, after long efforts, has adopted a Similarly, in the total 240 election policy of gender and social inclusion. constituencies, the UCPN (Maoist) had As per the policy, ECN had deployed
Analytical Report on Media Monitoring of the Constituent 163 Assembly Election 2013 However, the media monitoring centres across 59 districts. Similarly, in reports presented by the Council Shikshaonly female Niketan officials Secondary in School polling of did not include the gender aspect Morang only Dalits had been deployed of news coverage. for the conduct of elections, while at a polling centre in Dhankuta only the B. In the Constituent Assembly disabled had been deployed. In the election 2070, Sancharika Samuha 2013 CA elections, a total of 76,000 had monitored 12 national dailies from 1 October to 11 November So, the media monitoring effort by the 2013 on a daily basis. The details of Nepalwomen Press officials Institute had (NPI), been monitored deployed. the media monitoring conducted news reports linked to gender and by the Sancharika Samuha are as social inclusion in 2013 CA elections. follows:
Newspapers News Editorials Total 3. MEDIA MONITORING Kantipur 10 1 11 CONCEPTS AROUND Nagarik 4 1 5 THE WORLD DURING Annapurna Post 8 0 1 ELECTIONS Gorkhapatra 8 0 8 Rajdhani 5 0 5 Various countries across the world are found to have prepared reports by Naya Patrika 3 0 3 Samacharpatra 12 0 12 elections. However, most of these Himalaya Times 7 0 7 reportsanalysing are gender based based on the priority trends given during to The Kathmandu 5 1 6 news reports on female candidates and Post whether the words used are denigrating The Himalayan 3 0 3 or not. In this regard, Catherine Shaushi Times Republica 5 0 5 University Merill had conducted a study The Rising Nepal 2 0 2 eeves of Ca ier ibrary of Utahstat Total 72 3 75 presidential elections of the United Stateson media in gender which biasshe inhad the studied vice the Similarly, of the four radio programmes coverage given by the media to vice monitored by Sancharika Samuha presidential candidate Sarah Palin. In her report she claims that the media of the total 483 news reports were had presented the female candidate political.between Of them, November 69 per ,cent were differently than her male counterpart. male related news while only 31 per “The media unconsciously give biased cent of the news reports were related coverage to female candidates instead of highlighting the competence and 492 news reports in 30 news bulletins, potential of the female candidates 93.5to female per cent candidates. were general ikewise, news of and the they focus on physical attributes in 6.5 per cent news reports were related a denigrating manner and present to females. them as losing candidates, which is humiliating to female candidates.” 4. OBJECTIVES A. In the context of media monitoring, Nepal Press Council had conducted The objectives of this chapter of the media monitoring during the 2008 report are to: Constituent Assembly election.
Analytical Report on Media Monitoring of 164 the Constituent Assembly Election 2013 A) Analyse the gender aspect of before or after the election news coverage as seen in the NPI monitoring process. database
B) Analyse the gender aspect of news 7. ANALYSIS OF THE coverage by both the national and GENDER ASPECT OF international media. NEWS COVERAGE DURING ELECTION
agenda in the election manifestos C of Scrutinise the political the parties women centric to inform Gender Neutral news is news that the current analysis is reported in an impartial manner without being biased against any of the sexes irrespective of the 5. METHOD OF ANALYSING cultural, social, economic or political GENDER BASED NEWS IN circumstances of a country. In a THE MEDIA gender neutral news, events are covered by analysing the different Various sources have been used to impacts of society on males and analyse the gender and inclusion females. In terms of the gender aspect aspects in election reporting. The of news coverage, four types of news central database prepared by NPI was reports are found. used profusely for the purpose. 7.i Gender-neutral Timeframe: Gender analysis was done on the news materials monitored over News which contains neither a negative or positive analysis in terms of gender is termed gender neutral. In November . such news, neither the negative nor the 6. LIMITATIONS OF THE positive aspects are mentioned. Facts GENDER ANALYSIS are presented as they are. Most of the news reports during the election were A) Because of absence of training gender neutral. Some of the examples on being gender sensitive during have been cited (see box below). monitoring there remains the possibility of categorising some gender related news reports deployed for the election at the as general news reports due to pollingThis news booths. tells However,it about the does officials not limited knowledge among media mention the number of males and monitors of the gender aspect of news coverage. It also does not mention which kind of placefemales the among males were the election deployed officials. to and B) Possibility of other news reports which kind of place were allocated for related to women to be categorised females. Similarly it does not mention in terms of gender aspect of news if female security personnel were also coverage. deployed. If female security personnel had been deployed it does not mention C) Since data is available only for the if proper arrangements had been month long monitoring period, made for them to stay at the polling there is the certainty of excluding centres. This kind of news items are women related news coverage termed gender neutral news.
Analytical Report on Media Monitoring of the Constituent 165 Assembly Election 2013 EXAMPLE OF GENDER NEUTRAL NEWS REPORTED DURING THE ELECTION
Officials deployed for election Bikram Mashrangi/ Janardan Ghimire Palpa, Kartik 28 The District Election Office Palpa has deployed election officers and assistant election officers at all the polling booths across the district. The election officers have been sent to their respective polling booths along with election materials and security personnel.
Election officers have been sent to all the polling booths in constituency 1 of the district except for Tansen Municipality and the neighbouring villages. Chief election officer of Palpa district Dayanath Kharel said officers are yet to be deployed in some polling booths in constituencies 2 and 3 of the district. He said 1,429 election officials, excluding security personnel, have been deployed for the 206 polling booths in the district.
Deputy Superintendent of Police Sthaneswar Regmi said the district security agencies transported the election officials by providing security escort to polling booths with no transport services. He also said that tight security arrangements have been made to prevent untoward incidents after transport services are halted for the election day.
In the meantime, election offices of Gulmi and Nawalparasi have said that all the preparations for the elections have been completed. The offices have said that they have already provided appointment letters to election officials and deployed them to their respective polling booths. Ballot papers for both the first-past-the-post and the proportional representation seats have already been dispatched to the polling booths, according to the offices. The election officials have already been heading for the polling booths or have been receiving their remuneration before heading for their respective polling centres. The officials deployed for the remote villages of the district have already started leaving for their respective polling stations along with security personnel. The election office has said that the voter identity cards would be distributed from the polling centres. Special arrangements have been made for disabled, women at the polling booths. The district security agencies have claimed that they have made tight security arrangements for the polling day.
Nawa Janachetana, Year 19, Edition 112
8.ii) Gender-sensitive news has the ability to recognise agenda that are traditional. Gender sensitive news Gender sensitive news on the other contains materials which help better hand deals with gender issues and analyse gender disparities.
places, gender sensitivity is used An instance is the news regarding synonymouslyagenda. In a fittingwith gender manner awareness. in most zero participation of females in the However, gender awareness differs with 2056 election held in Gainda Bherpur gender sensitivity in that the former Village Development Committee (VDC)
Analytical Report on Media Monitoring of 166 the Constituent Assembly Election 2013 RAMASAPA CHAIRMAN DEFEATED AFTER 32 YEARS
Jaleshwar Today Mahottari, Mangsir 9 The national chairman of the Rastriya Madhes Samajbadi Party who had fielded candidacy from constituencies 1 and 6 of Mahottari district has lost election in both the constituencies.
This is the second defeat of Bhandari in his 32-year long political career. Before this, Bhandari had lost in the 2008 election. Bhandari a seasoned politician, had won in the first constituent assembly election as a candidate of the Madhesi People’s Rights Forum. He had defeated Nepali Congress candidate Sitaram Bhandari in the first CA election and has been defeated by the same candidate in the second CA election. While Bhandari had defeated Sitaram by a mere 21 votes, the latter has defeated Sharat Singh in the 2013 election with a huge margin of 2,820 votes. In the first CA election Sharat Singh had secured 6,862 votes while Sitaram had bagged 6,841 votes. In the second CA election, Sitaram has secured 9,480 votes and Sharat 6,660 vote from the same constituency.
Similarly, in constituency 1 of the district UCPN (Maoist) candidate Girirajmani Pokharel has defeated Bhandari. Pokharel has defeated Bhandari by a huge margin of 3,846 votes. While Pokharel secured 10,895 votes, Bhandari bagged 7,049 votes. Bhandari, with this defeat, has been relegated to third position. Nepali Congress candidate Chiranjivi Hamal was the closest competitor in constituency 1, whereas Bharat Shah secured second highest votes in constituency 6 of the district.
Bhandari who had become a member of parliament by winning the panchayat election in a young age of 26 in 1981 had also won the panchayat election in 1986.
In the 1991 election, Bhandari who had contested as a candidate of Rastriya Prajatantra Party had lost to Nepali Congress candidate, while he has lost again in the second CA election due to disillusionment of the Madhesi electorate. Bhandari who had won the election even as an independent candidate could not even salvage the party he leads.
of Mahottari district. The news spoke Committee states that only 12 women about how female voters were deprived voters cast their votes even in the 2013 of their franchise rights. The news said election. However, no journalist was that there was a tradition in the VDC for found to have reported the issue in any the leaders of political parties to take of the newspapers. Had the journalists a decision on women’s participation been able to report the news regarding in the election. It was a result of this how the women had been deprived practice that no woman from the VDC of their voting rights, it would have exercised her voting right. However, helped raise awareness of the election half of the women exercised their voting commission, government and the local rights in the election after the news communities regarding women’s right was reported in the media. A report to vote. However, such news stories of the National Election Observation were rare in the media.
Analytical Report on Media Monitoring of the Constituent 167 Assembly Election 2013 8. iii) Gender-blind news The news does not mention if there was The news items that do not deal with the questions of gender equality and Bhandari in the 1991 elections. It also doesany femalenot mention contender if there fielded was against any glance look as if they are gender neutral news.do not However,deal with these gender news issues reports at first are from constituency 6 in the 2008 CA election.female candidate How many fielded female against candidates him the male or female. For instance, this newswritten published in a way in that Janakpur benefits Today either in the second CA election? It could have (year 1 edition 18), “National chairman beenhad fielded mentioned candidacies in the news from whether ahottari the of RAMASAPA defeated after 32 years”, Parshadwad VDC where women are not speaks about Sharat Singh Bhandari. allowed to vote falls in his constituency.
WOMEN OFFICIALS IN 80 POLLING CENTRES OF THE DISTRICT
Today daily November 2013 The Election Commission has said that women election officers would conduct election in 80 polling centres of 41 districts.
With only 56 hours remaining for the crucial vote for the CA election, theElection Commission ( EC) organising a press conference said that woman officers would lead at least one polling centre in each district. Meanwhile, the District Election Office, Triyuga has said only women election officials have been deployed at Bokse polling centre of constituency 2 of Triyuga Municipality -1. Chief election officer Bhojraj Sharma said this practice would not only encourage participation in the election but also boost their confidence.
Election Commissioner Ila Sharma at a press conference organised at the Election Commission said the EC has adopted the policy of deploying at least 50 per cent women officers at the polling centres and said that it was time now for the women to demonstrate their managerial capacity. Sharma also said that despite the policy EC has not been able to deploy adequate number of women as the number of women in civil and educational services is less than that of men. The EC has also made separate arrangements for female voters at the polling booths.
Speaking at the press meet, Sharma said there will be 10,013 polling booths and 18,457 polling centres across the country. Under the proportional representation electoral system, of the total 10,709 candidates, 5,291 are women candidates. Of the women candidates, 1,752 are from the Madhesi community, 508 Dalits, 1,699 from indigenous community, 1,819 from Khas-Aryan community and 72 from other backward communities.
Similarly, under the first past the post system, 667 of the total 6,128 candidates were women. Of the total candidates under both the electoral systems, 35.39 percent were women. It was also informed at the press meet that of the total 12147865 voters, 6166829 were women.
Commissioner Sharma also said that the Election Commission plans to make the elections more inclusive and gender friendly in the days to come.
Analytical Report on Media Monitoring of 168 the Constituent Assembly Election 2013 8. iv) Gender-balanced news political and social discrimination against women. Similarly, women and The issues of males and females are the media are major agenda of the presented in a balanced manner in Beijing work plan passed in 1995 and gender balanced news. These kinds the successive review conventions of news recognise the existence of that passed a dozen related issues. both the genders separately. The news The objective of these conventions published in Today daily of Udayapur is to ensure participation of women (Year 3 edition 120/2070, box item, at the policy making level through omen officials in 80 polling centres of increased access to media and the district) can be taken as an example. information technology. The major objective of the Beijing work plan is This news report informs about the to ensure participation of women number of polling centres and the in the policy making level so as to number of male and female officials increase their access to political, deployed for the election. Similarly, administrative and other important it also mentions the number of male state mechanisms. and female candidates under both the electoral systems. 10. WOMEN’S POLITICAL RIGHTS IN NATIONAL 9. ELECTION RELATED LAW AND MEDIA INTERNATIONAL LAW ON THE QUESTION OF Article 12 of the Interim Constitution GENDER of Nepal speaks about the individual rights of Nepali citizens. Article 13 As per the national and international of the constitution also guarantees standards, citizens from all groups, status and regions have the right to Article 21, under social justice, participate in the election process. guaranteesthe right towomen’s equality. proportional ikewise, Arrangements have also been made representation in state mechanisms to protect and promote the franchise while article 33D (1) of the rights of women. constitution guarantees participation of Madhesi, Dalits, indigenous If the media are to take the people, women and backward groups convention related to elimination of proportional representation in the all kinds of discrimination against state mechanisms. Article 142 of the women(CEDAW), they have to pay constitution makes it mandatory for special attention to giving equal political parties to include women, coverage to women as per the Dalit, marginalised and downtrodden principle of equality. Considering men groups in their executive bodies for and women as equals, women should registration. be treated on par with their men counterparts. CEDAW has envisaged While the government has been improving things to empower making efforts to make policy level, women. It also envisages providing structural and procedural reforms, equal opportunities to women. NPI had made an attempt to monitor media sensitivity to gender issues Article 7 of the CEDAW convention while monitoring election related gives women the right to vote and to news during the 19 November CA participate in election to eliminate election.
Analytical Report on Media Monitoring of the Constituent 169 Assembly Election 2013 11. GENDER AND MEDIA Similarly, UN Women and IDEA had MONITORING DURING jointly prepared a media monitoring ELECTIONS IN VARIOUS manual on election coverage from COUNTRIES a gender perspective in 2011. Utah State University of the United States The media play an important role in of America had also conducted a the society. A journalist can play an research on media bias in the vice important role in highlighting an issue presidential election of 2008. Other and to present it in a way that would such studies include Gender in the 2011 attract attention of many. In journalism, facts are as important as the way they Botswana Election –GEMSA and Getting are presented. Hence, a journalist theSouth Balanced frican Rights ocal ElectionGender inin ,2011 can present an issue which would otherwise have been uninteresting in an interesting and humane manner. The esotho monitoring ocal overnment carried out Elections. by NPI was very different from the monitoring Normally, the news reports published carried out elsewhere. Even though in the media during elections concern the country’s politics. Most of these items related to gender and inclusion, reports relate to political personalities, monitorsarrangements usually were left madethe concerned to flag political violence, corruption and good governance, transparency and of training on this specialised issue. accountability. In all these issues, fields blank. This happened due to lack gender aspects of the news reports In the manual prepared by are also mentioned. What kind of International Institute for Democracy competition is there between male and and Electoral Assistance (IDEA) and female politicians in a party? What is UN Women, it had been directed to the position of women in the political document them by preparing a data dispute within a party? What difference sheet of news coverage regarding is there between the political opinion of elections by the media. In the Media a male and female politician? Why are Gender Bias in the 1984 and 2008 news reports related to male and female politicians not presented in an equal by Katherine Shaunesi Reeves of the manner? A journalist needs to delve into UTAHvice presidential University, the election wordings prepared used all these issues to make balanced news for the male and female candidates had with regards to gender sensitivity. been studied.
Male and female members have Date Number of Sources equal rights with regards to voting, stories participation in an election, freedom Type of candidacy Political grouping Actors of expression, participation in public Sex of actors Type of candidacy Political Group- ing at all levels of the state mechanisms. Issues Location Section affairs and appointment in public offices Journalistic Genre Cm Photo Media monitoring has been carried Bias in relation to Bias in relation to Stereotype out in various countries across the actors issue world taking all these aspects into consideration. The Aaurat Foundation Before women in the United States carried out media monitoring from had been given franchise rights, some gender perspective during the 2013 general elections in Pakistan. demanding voting rights for women. women had frequented party offices
Analytical Report on Media Monitoring of 170 the Constituent Assembly Election 2013 The women had to face criticism in other NGO activities had also been the media for doing so. An agriculture separated. and commerce commissioner had once questioned a woman candidate: Do Gender dynamics in media you know how to prepare a blueberry monitoring with her political candidacy. Male a) Monitoring staff [whether the staff candidatesmuffin Thisnever hadface nothingsuch questions to do from journalists. b) News [whether it is covered from had a good gender mix Similarly, Margaret Chass Smith had 1) Radio 2)the Print gender perspective time in 2008. The Saturday Evening 3) Television Postbeen hadelected published to the senate a picture for the of firsther 4) Online wearing an apron. Newspapers by publishing such pictures show their The media monitoring carried out by stereotypical attitude toward women. NPI had also touched upon issues other than news analysis. These included: Nepali newspapers had published pictures of elected women CA a) Male/female voters and their lawmakers sewing clothes during coverage in media. the 2008 CA elections. The Aaurat Foundation had carried out media b) Inclusion in selection of monitoring by collecting the clippings candidacies. of election related news coverage in Pakistan during the 2013 general c) The number of male and female employees of ECN elections. It had also studied the number of times in which a male or d) Male and female observers and a female candidate was addressed their coverage by media. by mentioning their posts. Similarly, the number of questions regarding e) Voting centres with only women traditional gender roles of females after being elected to their posts was in media. also studied. election officials and their coverage f) Voting centres with only women But in the media monitoring carried security personnel and their out by NPI, the study focused on the coverage in media. following gender aspects of election related news: for election and their coverage. a) The election related news was g ale and female officials deployed
biased, seriously biased and gross GEN ER-BASE violation.classified into four groups neutral, ANALYSIS OF MEDIA MONITORING b) News analysis of gender bias, neutrality and gender favourable NPI mobilised a total of 147 staffers across the country to launch the c) Of the gender favourable news, election related media monitoring. information provided by Election Of them, one coordinator and a team Commission of Nepal (ECN) and leader each in Kathmandu, Biratnagar,
Analytical Report on Media Monitoring of the Constituent 171 Assembly Election 2013 Post Total Number of Number of Female Male Number females males percentage percentage Team leader 1 0 1 0 100 Specialist 5 1 4 20 80 Coordinator 6 0 6 0 100 Monitors 135 37 98 27.41 72.59
Janakpur, Pokhara, Nepalgunj and the radio and FM stations and seven Dhangadhi, and a total of 135 media of the total 1,402 (0.5 per cent) news monitors had been hired to monitor reports on television included gender election related news coverage. issues.
News analysis 13. CLASSIFICATION A total of 10 online portals, 10 television OF THE MONITORING channels, 10 radio stations, 13 daily PERIOD FOR ANALYTICAL newspapers and 20 weekly magazines PURPOSES published from Kathmandu were i) News reports monitored Similarly, a total of 514 newspapers before election (publishedmonitored fromfrom districts), November including . 437 newspapers published regularly, ii) News reports monitored and 77 newspapers published on during election special occasions were also monitored iii) News reports monitored stations in various districts were also after election monitoredduring the during period. the ikewise, period.
Published news reports were also stories of the aforementioned media categorised on the basis of whether were total monitored of , election relatedduring the election news they were sourced from the ECN or monitoring period. Of them 132 news NGOs. It was found that most of the items had considered the gender news reports dealing with the gender aspect of the election process in their aspect of the Election process were reporting. Of these, 828 of these news NGO related news. reports were published by the online media. Five of them or 0.60 per cent 13 (A).Television monitoring of the news reports included gender issues. Similarly, of the 6,167 news Of the total 1,402 election related clips, reports published in the print media, 78 sourced to 10 television channels, or 1.26 per cent news reports included that were monitored, seven dealt with the gender aspect of the election 2,094 (2.24 per,cent) news reports in process. On 13 November, women gender issues. ikewise, of the total News Coverage on Gender Issues
Issue Category Issue Total Online Print Radio TV GenderTotal Percentage Gender 10491 5 78 42 7 132 1.258
Analytical Report on Media Monitoring of 172 the Constituent Assembly Election 2013 rights activists were reported to have their respective roles in the election complained about the political parties’ process. A journalist in order to write an election related news report must candidate list. have proper knowledge of the election failure to present a women friendly cycle and the capacity to analyse the role of male and female members in the government organisation, a woman election process. It is necessary to train candidate t a function complained organised that by even a non her journalists to carry out gender analysis own party has not been fair toward while monitoring election related news. women. Women had also complained As journalists were not trained in this that it was not fair for the party’s top aspect of the media monitoring, it was found that news related to violence under the proportional representation against women were also included in electoralleadership system to field instead their of candidacies contesting the gender aspect of election related coverage. Training to journalists in the electoral system. The complaint gender aspect of election related news appearedunder the to first past the postpoint towards the parties’ ( PTP would help make monitoring more effective in the days to come. thelack FPTP of interest candidates. in fulfilling Thus, thein the perCA 13 (b) Radio monitoring electionscent quota held of on women 19 November, while fielding 2013, of the total candidates only 667 were Of the total 2,094 radio reports women candidates, whereas to ensure monitored during the period, 41 or 33 percent women representation, it 1.71 per cent were related to the gender issue. least 6,128 candidates. Although news reportswas necessary took up for the the issue, parties it was to field found at Of the 41 news reports, a report on rape that not enough pressure was applied of a policewoman who was deployed for election security speaks about the quota of 33 per cent. Additionally, no specialby media news persons report toor fillprogramme the women s had even in public service. Radio Himal FM, been dedicated to women candidates Solukhumbudifficulties that reported women that have a temporary to endure during the election. policewoman deployed for election
A news report regarding Nepali The incident happened in Dadeldhura Congress (NC) leader Sujata Koirala’s wheresecurity the was woman raped had by been a police posted. officer. request to parties to respect women candidates was also covered by the Similarly, Vijayee FM Nawalparasi, media. At a function, Sujata had urged on 28 November 2013, presented the parties to increase representation of women. As the news report focused only election. According to the FM station, on women, media monitors termed the a gender based analysis of the C news as being biased toward women. as no woman was elected to the CA fromwomen the in zone umbini and one as awere result worried their Analysis concerns may not be raised effectively
Before covering the events in all the three stages of the election process, it is in the C . No woman won the first past necessary for the election commission, saidthe post the electionparties from should all six nominate districts government, civil society, journalists womenof the umbini and Dalits one. in Thethe proportional radio report and ordinary citizens to be aware of representative seats in the district. The
Analytical Report on Media Monitoring of the Constituent 173 Assembly Election 2013 same kind of analysis is not found when it comes to male candidates who lose Total FPTP seats 240 elections. Total number of women candidates under 6128 FPTP On 25 November, Sagarmatha FM in a Total number of proportional report headlined “Few women elected 335 representation (PR) seats stated that just 10 women got elected Total number of women candidates under 10,709 under thethe first past the postFPTP electoral system system. Proportional Representation system: According to the report, nine out of the Total number of political parties 10 women are new faces. There were participating in the election under PR 122 apprehensions in the political parties system: Women's candidature in the election 5893 or cause dispute and that the candidate under both systems: 35.39% wouldthat fielding lose the a womanelection. candidate would
During the November 2013 elections, National Women’s Commission was a total of 667 women were candidates prepared to monitor the elections on contesting for FPTP seats. In an interview with Nagarik daily, women rights organisations. The commission candidates said disputes arise in the was deploying November a total through of 700 women selection party when women are selected as observers in all electoral constituencies, candidates and they usually do not get according to the report. Also, Radio due support from the party in their Nepal had, on 16 November, aired a election campaigns, so most of them similar report stating that the National lose the election. Women’s Commission, through 31 women’s rights organisations, would
Chitwan covered the issue of poor performance ikewise, on of women November, in the election adio monitor the post election situation and and stated that just 11 women were the constitution writing process. elected through the FPTP system. on 14 November aired an election awarenessSimilarly, Chitwan basedmessage involving alika a homemaker. The message aimed to November aired an interview with make women aware about the election women’s aski based rights nnapurna activist adio Mandira on process and the election code of Dhakal. She told the radio that in Kaski, conduct. women’s participation in the election was not even 33 per cent, but she felt proud as one woman candidate was elected from the district under the FPTP organisation ikewise, on stating November, that Ujyalowomen’s system. Dhakal pointed out that women rightsaired aactivists report had by launched a non governmental a campaign need to support women candidates. to elect 667 women candidates to the Constituent Assembly. Sagarmatha FM aired a report on 19 On 17 November, Sagarmatha FM highlighted the following facts about aired a report headlined “80 voting women’sNovember participation the Election in the Day , CA election: which centres to be manned by women staffers”. According to the Election On 17 November, Sagarmatha FM Commission, arrangements had quoting the ECN stated that the been made to make sure that at least
Analytical Report on Media Monitoring of 174 the Constituent Assembly Election 2013 one voting centre in each district is A report headlined “UCPN (Maoist)’s manned entirely by women staffers. defeat in election, a loss for women” The FM report stated that 80 women published by Kathmandu Today returning officers and subordinate website stated that in the last CA women staff had already been election, 30 women were elected deployed in 41 districts by that date. from the UCPN (Maoist) and this had ensured their respectable Analysis representation in the CA. In the last CA, a total of 197 women made it Although over 210 radio stations in to the CA with 30 elected through FPTP, 161 selected under PR system reports for a month, very few were and six nominated by the Council of relatedNepal airedto women. election related Moreover, reports news Ministers. unrelated to elections were also aired under the pretext of presenting From the UCPN (Maoist) alone, 79 women were represented in the then monitors have even included reports CA. Of the 43 women FPTP candidates ongender related Madhesi and reports. ethnic Some minorities media from the party, 24 won the election. So it can be said that the UCPN related reports. The monitors (Maoist)’s defeat in the November appearedamong other to be things unaware under about gender the 2013 election was a huge setback for differences between the gender issue women’s representation. and the inclusion issue. Inclusion is only one dimension of inclusion. This time the UCPN (Maoist) had This lack of knowledge also means, fielded 29 candidates under FPTP system but only one of them won. to be sidelined until and unless the mediagender related monitors reports are imparted will continue proper fielded 25 and 27 women candidates orientation on the issues. respectivelySimilarly, NC under and the CPN (U FPTP system, had but only six were elected from the NC 13 (C) Gender issue in online news monitoring the analysis goes, the UCPN (Maoist) lossand threein the from election the CPN (U . led to poor So, representation of women in the new CA. During the month long monitoring of athmandu based news websites, 13 C (i) Women pitched reportsit was found (0.6 per that cent) were election related on gender. against senior leaders reports were dispatched and five After the elections when all the Apart from the defeat of the UCPN (Maoist), another reason for poor media reports said that women were representation of women in the new pressuring PTP and parties P seats to ensure were filled,their CA is that parties pitched women 33 per cent representation in the candidates against senior leaders in CA. This, they said, could be done by many electoral constituencies. The nominating women in the remaining parties, in order to comply with the 26 vacant seats. Currently women’s mandatory provision requiring each representation in the CA is just 29 per party to field at least 33 per cent cent so they had to exert pressure for women candidates, pitched women a greater share, according to women’s against senior leaders of other rights activists. parties. So election win for many
Analytical Report on Media Monitoring of the Constituent 175 Assembly Election 2013 women candidates was difficult or votes while her rival Dasaudi could impossible. secure just 9,374 votes.
NC had fielded Pratima Gautam Among the parties, the most number of women elected were from the NC, which saw six of its women candidates Madhavfrom athmandu Nepal was a Constituency ,candidate, and elected. Sushila Chaudhari of the shewhere lost the CPN U election. seniorIn Kathmandu leader
Congress veteran leader Prakash Man Shantaparty defeatedChaudhari CPN(U s was member Shanta of the SinghConstituency , was a candidate, where UCPN (Maoist) Nepali previousChaudhari CA. in Sushila, Dang constituency . a member of the NC Mahasamiti, has been active in Bidhya Neupane were fielded and the party since1994. bothcandidate lost. enuOutside Dahal Kathmandu, and CPN U s NC
Chairman Jhalanath Khanal in Sarlahi Sushila arki lost against CPN U by ikewise, defeating iran Jayalal umari Rain adav of Rastriya of NC Madheswon from Samajbadi ahottari, Party. Constituency Kiran Kumari NCConstituency , senior leader UCPN Sher ( aoist Bahadur is the niece of President Dr Ram Baran candidate ila Bhandari lost against Yadav. She won 7,357 votes while Rain another UCPN (Maoist) candidate bagged 5,023 votes. Although Yadav DharmashilaDeuba in ailali Chapagain Constituency lost against and was included in the PR candidates’ list NC General Secretary Krishna Sitaula by the NC in the 2008 CA election, she was not selected as lawmaker.
Inin hapathe Constituency .past CA, Purna Kumari Similarly, Parvati DC Chaudhari of Subedi was elected deputy chair NC was elected to the CA from Dang, of the Constituent Assembly while Jayapuri Gharti, Kamala Panta, Revati Raman Ghimire. Chaudhari Thammaya Thapa, Pratibha Rana, securedConstituency 8,719 votes defeating while her CPN U s nearest Janak Kumari Chalise and Kalpana rival Ghimire bagged 7,075 votes. Rana were elected whips of their Chaudhari has a bachelor’s degree in respective parties. But this time, only political science from the Tribhuvan a few women could make it to the CA University. She started her political through proportional representation. career by joining Nepali Congress’ student wing, Nepal Students’ Union, in 13 C (ii) Election winners 1980.
Although 24 women from the UCPN Among other women candidates (Maoist) were elected to the past CA, from Nepali Congress, Sharada this time just one candidate, Onsari Paudel won with 11,661 votes in Ghartimagar, of the party won the
sent to the CA for the PR seat. Gharti, and aski Gyan Constituency , Kumari Chhantyal Sita emerged adav whoelection. was a ast central time, committee hartimagar member was victoriouswon with , with 100,079 votes in votes Siraha , in of the party and had also served as deputy secretary of the party’s Newa State Committee, has been Baglung Constituency . women candidates winning the CA electionsSimilarly, are, among Sita Giri, the who CPN(U won from Dasaudi.elected fromGhartimagar olpa Constituency bagged 14,064 by defeating CPN(U s umar aski constituency with ,
Analytical Report on Media Monitoring of 176 the Constituent Assembly Election 2013 Only fair: A signi cant presence of women voters.
votes; Manju Chaudhari, who won issues associated with the election. 7,534 votes; and Nazma Khatun, who or . per cent covered gender from Udayapur constituency with The reports were based on the securing 12,361 votes. Nazma was information provided by the Election madewon fromelection Bara candidate constituency in place byof Commission, Civil Society, I/NGOs, her husband, who was shot dead in political parties and interview of October, a month before the election. certain individuals by journalists. The news reports were categorised into 13. D: Monitoring of print media reports.three groups pre election reports, A total of 514 newspapers, which election time reports and post election include 13 dailies and 20 weeklies 13.D.1 Pre election news published from the capital, 437 coverage newspapers including dailies and weeklies from outside Kathmandu Valley, and 77 other newspapers, related gender issues included issues were monitored for a month. These like:The reportsareas having that the covered most election number newspapers published a total of 6,167 of voting centres; number of voting centres manned entirely by women; the period. Of the 6,167 reports, 78 and things needed to be done to election related news reports during
Analytical Report on Media Monitoring of the Constituent 177 Assembly Election 2013 increase women’s representation in being women”, which was based on the CA. There were reports on third gender candidates, pressure created organisation with 10 FPTP and 12 PR to increase women candidates candidatesan interaction of Rupandehi by a non governmental district. under FPTP electoral system, and enthusiastic participation of women 13 D.1.d.Gender-sensitive in the election campaigns. electoral campaigning in all three constituencies 13 D 1 a. Election atmosphere sets in A report published by Baruwa Times Daily in Udayapur on 14 November said Fewa weekly of Pokhara on 6 November published a report entitled “Election held in all three electoral constituencies inconstituency level the district by an consultations INGO. The INGO were the enthusiasm of an elderly woman provided training to women and voter.atmosphere The reporter, sets in . The Tara report Acharya, reflected has members of marginalised communities summed up the enthusiasm of the on the ways to vote properly and to the elderly in this manner: (Pic. No.1) candidates of their choice.
13 D.1.b.More women in 13 D.1.e.Three voting centres proportional representation in Jhapa supervised entirely list of parties by women
A report on women candidates included A report headlined “Three voting in the proportional representation centres in Jhapa supervised entirely list by political parties was published by women” was published in Darshan by Gorkhapatra. The report said the daily in Jhapa on 15 November. The number of women candidates is higher than that of men in the closed list of the election centres had all women candidates of the political parties under Election ffice in the district said that the PR system. A total of 5,596 women junior staff. were in the closed list. The Gorkhapatra staff from returning officers to report presented in detail the number of women candidates included in the from Udayapur on 16 November reported list by major political parties. that ikewise, an election aighat Todaycentre daily in publishedUdayapur Constituency Number 2 was supervised 13 D.1.c.Women tools of politics by women alone. Seven women were deployed per booth and there were four Ujyalo weekly published from booths supervised entirely by women. A Taplejung district published an opinion total of 3,076 voters were registered at the voting centre. society has not given due importance article that said the male dominated 13 D.1.f.164 Women in friendly politics will never recognise election fray in Eastern Region theto women s contributions creativity. made It said by the women male who play active role in politics and use According to a 17 November report women merely as a vote bank. published in the Naya Patrika daily, a total of 164 women – including 17 independents – were candidates November published a news report under the FPTP electoral system in headlined ikewise, the“Women echikali are belittled daily on for the 16 districts in the eastern region.
Analytical Report on Media Monitoring of 178 the Constituent Assembly Election 2013 Among the candidates, 42 were from FPTP system from 240 electoral indigenous groups and 62 were constituencies. Madhesi. There were 12 independent 13.D.3.b. Editorials of the candidates were hill Dalits andwomen Madhesi candidates. Dalits and ikewise, three were nine A Gorkhapatra editorial of 22 November Muslim. said the election was conducted in a
Janabiswas weekly on 17 November 13.D.3.c.gender friendly All women manner. candidates publishedSimilarly, a Taplejungreport stating district based that a total lose election deposits of 12 women were in the election fray under both FPTP and PR system in the A report published in Rajbiraj daily on district. 28 November stated that all women contesting the CA elections under the 13.D.2. Election Day news FPTP electoral system in Saptari district failed to protect their election deposits. In the course of monitoring over As none of the women candidates here 6,000 newspaper reports originating was able to secure even 10 percent from across the country, it was found votes, they lost their election deposits. that newspapers did not publish Among those losing their deposits in Even on the eve of the elections, reportsgender based were newsnot onfound Election covering Day. Giri of Nepali Congress, Geeta Gupta of issues such as security arrangement NepalSaptari Sadhbhawana Constituency Party wereand Kalpana axmi for women candidates; how women Chaudhari of Tharuhat Tarai Party. voters, and women election staff and women security personnel deployed in the election centres were treated Sadhbhawana ikewise, in SaptariParty, Constituency ,Mahata Sah during the elections; if there was any of avita Sanghiya Devi Pramanil Samajbadi of Tarai adhes Party and special arrangement for pregnant women, new mothers, sick people and disabled; and if there was any Phaliyadevi ukhiya of CPN ( arxist difference in the level of enthusiasm eninist lost their election deposits. between men voters and women voters and if women were keen about KumariIn Constituency Yadav of Madhesi of the Janadhikar district, voting women candidates to victory, anjudevi Sah of CPN U , Bindu among other things. of orum Democratic, Dalit Janajati Party, shadevi Binadevi TharuniMahato On the Election Day, newspapers were of Tharuhat Tarai Party, etanidevi Sada of Nepali Janata Dal, and Ramiladevi Sahof avk of Rastriya Dal, am Janata Sundari Dal were Devi among adav thedevoid Election of Day, gender based the need for electoral training those losing their security deposits. news. ooking at the news reports on reports was seriously felt. journalists on gender based electoral Janadhikar Forum Nepal’s central 13.D.3.a. Post-Election News treasurerSimilarly, inand Constituency , former minister adhesi Renu Kumari Yadav also could not retain Annapurna Post on 24 November her security deposit. She was elected published report stating that just from the constituency in the previous 10 women were elected under the CA election. Other women candidates
Analytical Report on Media Monitoring of the Constituent 179 Assembly Election 2013 losing their security deposits from the constituency include Pushpa Thakur election news, failed to cover all aspects duringwhile all dispatching the three phases. gender related Kumari Yadav of Rastriya Prajatantra Party,of adhes and Ushadevi Democratic Majhi Party, of Janata alita Media monitoring is about monitoring Party. of the election code of conduct. It is equally important to monitor as to what extent did the election code of conduct committee member Saraswati Kumari pay attention to the gender aspect. ChaudhariIn Constituency , lost her UCPN security ( aoist deposit. central Others losing security deposits from the Not all the news reports that covered constituency include Madhuri Kumari
Republican, Pramila Devi Khang of Nepal clippingsgender related analysed issues, was that were some gender regions MajdoorSah of Kisan adhesi Party, anadhikar and an independent orum sensitive. n interesting finding from the candidate named Soni Kumari Sah. Reports from the Eastern Region were foundwere more very sensitivegender sensitive about gender than others. issues and they covered reports from a variety of aspects of gender, but this was not the YadavIn Constituency of the Sadhbhawana of the district, Party, also the lostonly her woman security candidate, deposit. alita Devi ata case with reports published from id Although over half of the voters were Underwestern media and ar estern monitoring, egions. reports on women in the district, most women election monitoring are also regarded candidates failed to retain their security as equally important. In the reports deposits, according to locals. related to election monitoring, one or two reports were on funds misuse. Biratpath daily on 29 November But reports were silent on questions published a report stating that women like, how many men and women were from the eastern region could not make it involved in election monitoring and to the Constituent Assembly. (Pic. No. 9) were covered by the monitoring. Analysis Although,what aspects newspapers of gender related and media issues outlets dispatched reports that said Of all the news reports published and the National Women’s Commission’s broadcast during the three phases of the election observers would include women only, the media outlets failed to analyse if the recommendations sadelection that only pre election 1.22 per cent phase, covered election the and suggestions of the Commission’s electionphase and news post election from gender phase perspective. it is observers were implemented. Among the published news items, many news reports with ordinary headlines were found to have contained views on MONITORING OF women by important personalities, and INCLUSIVENESS ASPECT OF ELE TION-RELATE NEWS REPORTS reportsthis caused in their difficulty work. forAnd, some this mediais not amonitors very good to incorporatepremise for gender basedan objective analysis of the issue. Of the total 10,491 news reports that received the attention of the Also, newspapers and media outlets, nationwide monitors after they
Analytical Report on Media Monitoring of 180 the Constituent Assembly Election 2013 RADIO, PRINT, ONLINE, TV Another reason could have been that the issue of inclusiveness was not given due priority in the news reports this Inclusive time around because social harmony 1% had suffered during the last election as the issue of inclusiveness was then
Total 99% stronghotly debatedforms andof protests pro inclusion including and generalanti inclusion strikes sidesand shutdowns. had resorted to were printed and broadcast from across the country over the month Although the Interim Constitution of of November 2013, only 67 reports were found to have covered the groups under six categories, there inclusiveness aspect. The reports wereNepal not has enough put the reports varied ethnic basedin the media included issues including federalism, on these groups. It was found that just international concerns with regard 1 per cent of the reports covered the to secularism, election of only two issues associated with these groups. Dalits under FPTP system, defeat of This situation points at the need for many Madhesi leaders and election of conducting training and orientation 18 Tharu members to the Constituent for journalists on gender and social inclusiveness policy of the ECN before Brahman and Chhetri communities the Commission starts election media winning ssembly. most ikewise, number candidates of CA seats,from monitoring in future. many candidates from indigenous communities failing to win FPTP seats, 15. ELECTION in their strongholds, and Madhesi OBSERVATION AND THE candidatesethnic imbuwan pitted parties against eachpoor othershow ISSUE OF GENDER also made news. Also, reports said the election results showed rejection Nepal Election Observation Committee (NEOC) has been monitoring the provinces. election process for the last two of ethnic based politics and multiple years before the elections right from Also, looking at the reports, it is apparent the voter registration process to the that NPI did pay heed to inclusiveness in announcement of election results. the process of hiring monitors and as NEOC’s report stated that the gender a result the reports and analyses were aspect had been given due attention lacking in understanding of complex in the entire election process. The issues such as inclusiveness. This has committee’s report says it had deployed a total of 10,052 election analysing the data made available. This observers – 6,183 men and 3,669 situationindeed presented arose also somepartly because difficulties there in women – for the November 2013
6.1 to 3.9. downswas no fieldlike “inclusion”.for the monitors Instead to fill reports in the election. The men women ratio was weredata upload monitored forms under under the optional “multicultural drop However, the General Election issues” category. This should not have Observation Committee (GEOC) has not stated the number of men and monitors, but an absence of adequate women deployed as observers during trainingposed much did produce difficulty confusions. for well trained the election. But its report also praises
Analytical Report on Media Monitoring of the Constituent 181 Assembly Election 2013 the election process for covering were women, the report stated.
According to a survey by GEOC of There were a total of 10,013 polling 6,989all aspects individuals, of gender sensitivity.55.5 per cent of stations and 18,457 polling centres. the respondents said the election was good from the gender perspective. Strong aspects of news reports (page 31 of CA Election Observation Report, GEOC). ÂÂ It was found that some reporters im
sensitive reports in simple manner. states that 94.41 per cent respondents proved the skill of presenting gender of ikewise, the survey page said ofthat the no same untoward report ÂÂ Reporters outside the capital suc incident happened against women cessfully reported on the issues of regard to the implementation of criminations. theat the gender voting directives centres. ikewise,issued by withthe election time gender based dis Election Commission, 93.5 per cent ÂÂ Even the editorials of newspapers respondents said the directives were stressed the need for increasing implemented. women’s participation in the elec toral process. the election, 52.7 per cent of the total ÂÂ Newspapers published with prior election ooking atcentres women s had participationa minimum inof 10 percent women staff while 72.7 en candidates by political parties. percent of the election centres had at ity the issue of fielding of less wom ÂÂ ports showed that reporters were Theleast electionfive women observers security also personnel. covered Basically, the election time news re the issue of violence against women related issues. in the districts. They found that 41 per becoming more aware on gender cent of the total election centres had Weak aspects of news reports arrangement to receive complaints of violence against women while 33.7 per ÂÂ News reports were lacking in gen cent election centres did not have such centres did not have information about ÂÂ Womender based candidates analysis were not given arrangements. ikewise, . election due priority in news reports com complaints while 7.5 per cent election pared to male candidates. centresthe provision did not allowing respond filing if they of suchhad information about such provision or if ÂÂ More reports were based on inci dents and such reports did not cov GEOC report. any complaints were filed, according to Meanwhile, NEOC report has ÂÂ Womener the gender aspect. candidates from small par categorised women’s participation in ties and independent women candi the election. According to the report, of dates were not given space in news the total 6128 FPTP candidates, 667 or reports. 10.8 percent were women while 35 per cent of the polling staff were women. ÂÂ News reports were almost devoid On the other hand, of the total 10,709 of quotes and statements of women PR candidates, 5,291 or 49.41 per cent politicians.
Analytical Report on Media Monitoring of 182 the Constituent Assembly Election 2013 ÂÂ Televisions and radio stations did APPENDIX 1 not give due space to women in their Election facts as provided by the ECN ÂÂ election related talk programmes. Population: lated Basically, sensitivity there wasamong lack reporters. of gender Women account for 51.1 per cent of the related awareness and gender re country’s population Conclusion Literacy: ÂÂ Among women 51.45 per cent, and friendly, it is important to provide among men 72.25 per cent the In order reporters to make necessary the media traininggender Gender gap: from reporters, the media monitors Nepal ranks in 121st position among on gender related issues. part 136 countries (Global gender report, monitoring. The training should 2013) coveralso need issues training ranging on gender basedfrom citizen Women account for 74.8 per cent of conducting of election, right to con the labour force that does not get shiptest the certificate, election, voter voter registration, education, remuneration for its work. right to electoral campaigning and Total voters: 12,147,865 security – all from gender aspect, Women voters: 6,166,829 and the monitors should be able to Male voters: 5,980,881 study and analyse the aforemen Third gender voters: 155 tioned issues. ÂÂ During the election time, training CAE2013 should have been conducted for journalists on gender policy. FPTP
ÂÂ Although political parties were Candidates: found adhering to the election code Male: 5458 of conduct to a higher degree com Female: 667 pared to the past, it was still insuf Third Gender: 1 Winners: ÂÂ Communicationsficient. media need to give Male: 230 women equal space as men. Female: 10 Third Gender: 0 ÂÂ Communications media failed to give due priority to the reality that 2PR Candidates: didates in the constituencies where Male: 5418 theirpolitical presence parties was fielded weak. women can Female:5291 Third Gender:0 ÂÂ Reports were published about women expressing reluctance to Winners: contest as FPTP candidates, but no Male: 173 such reports about male were pub Female: 162 lished. Third Gender: 0
Analytical Report on Media Monitoring of the Constituent 183 Assembly Election 2013 Analytical Report on Media Monitoring of 184 the Constituent Assembly Election 2013 Analytical Report on Media Monitoring of the Constituent 185 Assembly Election 2013 CAE 2013 District wise FPTP male female Candidate Winner DISTRICT_ NAME_ENG Male Female Third male Female Third CD gender Gender 1 Taplejung 21 2 0 2 0 0
2 Panchthar 33 1 0 2 0 0
3 Illam 37 2 0 3 0 0
4 Jhapa 145 26 0 7 0 0
5 Sankhu- 28 3 0 2 0 0 wasabha 6 Terhathum 17 1 0 1 0 0
7 Bhojpur 26 2 0 2 0 0
8 Dhankuta 30 0 0 2 0 0
9 Morang 244 26 0 9 0 0
10 Sunsari 197 26 0 6 0 0
11 Solukhumbu 12 0 0 1 0 0
12 Khotang 21 2 0 2 0 0
13 Okhald- 26 2 0 2 0 0 hunga 14 Udayapur 53 13 0 2 1 0
15 Saptari 228 22 0 6 0 0
16 Siraha 214 27 0 5 1 0
17 Dolakha 46 1 0 2 0 0
18 Ramechhap 31 1 0 2 0 0
19 Sindhuli 41 5 0 3 0 0
20 Dhanusha 310 24 0 7 0 0
21 Mahottari 235 15 0 5 1 0
22 Sarlahi 232 23 0 6 0 0
23 Rasuwa 12 4 0 1 0 0
24 Dhading 58 5 0 3 0 0
25 Nuwakot 39 9 0 3 0 0
26 Kathmandu 290 75 0 10 0 0
Analytical Report on Media Monitoring of 186 the Constituent Assembly Election 2013 27 Bhaktpur 54 10 0 2 0 0
28 Lalitpur 94 16 0 3 0 0
29 Kavrepalan- 72 5 0 4 0 0 chowk 30 Sindhupal- 47 7 0 3 0 0 chowk 31 Makwanpur 73 15 0 4 0 0
32 Rautahat 251 19 0 6 0 0
33 Bara 222 19 0 5 1 0
34 Parsa 194 16 0 5 0 0
35 Chitwan 97 18 0 5 0 0
36 Gorkha 29 9 0 3 0 0
37 Manang 5 0 0 1 0 0
38 Lamjung 19 0 0 2 0 0
39 Kaski 62 15 0 2 2 0
40 Tanahun 38 11 0 3 0 0
41 Syangja 35 4 0 3 0 0
42 Gulmi 31 4 0 3 0 0
43 Palpa 29 5 0 3 0 0
44 Ar- 20 2 0 2 0 0 ghakhanchi 45 Nawalparasi 153 20 1 6 0 0
46 Rupandehi 227 12 0 7 0 0
47 Kapilwastu 190 18 0 5 0 0
48 Mustang 5 2 0 1 0 0
49 Myagdi 13 2 0 1 0 0
50 Baglung 29 6 0 2 1 0
51 Parbat 26 3 0 2 0 0
52 Rukum 18 2 0 2 0 0
53 Rolpa 23 3 0 1 1 0
54 Pyuthan 19 1 0 2 0 0
55 Salyan 18 5 0 2 0 0
Analytical Report on Media Monitoring of the Constituent 187 Assembly Election 2013 56 Dang 84 23 0 3 2 0
57 Dolpa 9 2 0 1 0 0
58 Mugu 17 0 0 1 0 0
59 Jumla 9 1 0 1 0 0
60 Kalikot 20 0 0 1 0 0
61 Humla 9 2 0 1 0 0
62 Jajarkot 19 0 0 2 0 0
63 Dailekh 28 0 0 2 0 0
64 Surkhet 42 5 0 3 0 0
65 Banke 98 17 0 4 0 0
66 Bardiya 70 14 0 4 0 0
67 Bajura 15 0 0 1 0 0
68 Achham 19 0 0 2 0 0
69 Bajhang 29 0 0 2 0 0
70 Doti 19 0 0 2 0 0
71 Kailali 136 17 0 6 0 0
72 Darchula 12 0 0 1 0 0
73 Baitadi 17 2 0 2 0 0
74 Dadeldhura 15 1 0 1 0 0
75 Kanchanpur 72 17 0 4 0 0
Total 5458 667 1 230 10 0
Analytical Report on Media Monitoring of 188 the Constituent Assembly Election 2013 THE LEGAL PERSPECTIVE
Mass media form the backbone of developed the ECN’s Communication information and communication. The Policy, 2013. The foreword of the said general public expects to get true and policy clearly mentions that it was accurate information through them. promulgated to manage the collection, They are important for the institutional processing, analysis and distribution development of the modern democratic of information and news about the system through the medium of a election, to provide true, factual and legitimate governance process. Article reliable information to the citizens, to 27 of the Interim Constitution of ensure proper coordination with the Nepal, 2007 has given the people mass media and to regularise and make their right to information. On the other effective the entire election-related side, periodic elections are important internal and external communication. means to institutionalise democracy. Information management has a key The ECN, in exercise of the powers role to play in creating a clean, free, conferred by Section 46 of the Election fair and reliable electoral management. Commission Act, 2007, issued the Proper management of information is Mass Media Monitoring Directive, necessary to address the interest of the 2013 to implement the management of general public and the government in monitoring of the mass media to have a the electoral system and process during free, fair and credible CA Membership the pre-election, election and post- Election, 2013, as mentioned in the election periods. It is the responsibility Election Commission Communication of the nation to provide factual and Policy, 2013. The main objective of the accurate information about all the mass media monitoring was to ensure activities during the election process to the fairness, reliability and authenticity national and international media and of the information provided by the true, factual and reliable information mass media, which was imperative to the general public through the mass to manage the elections in a fair and media. reliable way; and to monitor if the Code of Conduct to be followed by the Months before the Constituent Assembly general mass media as mentioned in (CA) election of 19 November 2013, the ‘Paragraph 5 of Constituent Assembly Election Commission Nepal (ECN) had Membership Election Code of Conduct,
Analytical Report on Media Monitoring of the Constituent 189 Assembly Election 2013 2013’ was observed or violated in the ÂÂ The Election Commission, in con- CA Election, 2013. sultation with concerned stakehold- ers, has issued the Election Code of Nepal Press Institute (NPI) carried out Conduct in exercise of the powers conferred by the legal provisions of the above mentioned objective. CA Sub-Section (1), Section 28 of Elec- Election,the ass 2013 edia the onitoringNPI monitored to fulfilthe tion Commission Act, 2007. This mass media by adhering to the norms Election Code of Conduct is to be of Mass Media Monitoring Directive, observed by the Government of Ne-
Section 78 to 95 of CA Election Code and semi-government organisa- of . Conduct, Simplification 2013, as ofit applied provisions to the of tions,pal, offices human and resource staff of governmentinvolved in mass media, was done and provided election work, political parties, can- to media monitors of the NPI during didates and people associated with the mass media monitoring process. them, and the government mass The incidences and facts received media and the private sector mass regarding violation of the Act, rules, media in order to hold the election policies, directives and Code of Conduct in a free, fair, transparent and fear- pertaining to the CA Election during free environment. It is legally bind- the process of mass media monitoring ing for the mass media to abide by and the legal action taken about them this Code of Conduct. were studied and analysed. This report is prepared to suggest reforms in the ÂÂ The Government of Nepal has made existing policy and legal provisions to arrangements in the Constituent improve effectiveness of legal action in Assembly Election Code of Conduct, relation to the code of conduct. 2013, by which it can announce new policies, plans, and programmes to
The main objective of the mass media monitoring fairness of the elections, mobilise was to ensure the fairness, reliability and humanpositively resource influence and impartiality resources and ban government vehicles from be- authenticity of the information provided by the ing used by political parties for elec- mass media, which was imperative to manage the tion campaigning against the spirit elections in a fair and reliable way. of the Election Code.
ÂÂ It is the duty of all concerned to observe the Code as issued by the Commission. Provision for this is 2. LEGAL AND POLICY made in Section 28 (3). PROVISIONS FOR MASS MEDIA MONITORING ÂÂ There is a provision by which, the ECN, during the course of imple- a. Election Commission Act, mentation and monitoring of the 2007 - gated in accordance with Section 28 Following are the provisions of the iscode, followed to find or out not, if thecan, code as and promul when Election Code of Conduct issued in required, have suitable mechanism, accordance with the Election Commission as prescribed, in district and elec- Act, 2007 to manage and conduct clean, tion areas and conduct inquiry and free, fair and reliable elections. monitoring.
Analytical Report on Media Monitoring of 190 the Constituent Assembly Election 2013 ÂÂ A provision has been made in Sec- During the analysis of data collected by tion 29 (2) by which during the the NPI at the time of monitoring of and course of inquiry or monitoring, the implementation of Section 29 (3), if anyone is found not to have fol- a problem was found. When any media lowed or violated the code, the ECN outlet violates the code, in spite of having is authorised to give high priority a provision of recommending action to issue directives to the concerned by concerned body under concerned political party, candidate, person, law like National Broadcasting Act - 1993, Press and Publication Act 1991, continue or annul such work. Radio Act 1957, due to the provision organisation, official or body to dis in Section 15 of Interim Constitution of ÂÂ If any political party, candidate, per- Nepal there is a problem in immediately prohibiting the concerned programme found not discontinuing or annul- for violating the code. The only action son,ling theorganisation, activity as official per the or directive body is possible is to punish such offender with given in accordance with the Section 28 (2), there is a provision in Sec- legal provision of Section 29 (3). tion 29 (3) by which the ECN may a fine of up to NP . as per the Right to Publication, Broadcasting and up to NPR 100000.00. Press : punish such offender with a fine of ÂÂ There is a provision by which, if ÂÂ There is no anticipatory ban on any - publication or broadcasting of any tion is not going to be free and fair news, editorial, article, composition andthe ECNmay be is confidentmarred by that unrestrained the elec or any other written, verbal or visu- behaviour or miscreants due to the al material through any medium like violation of the Code of Conduct electronic publication, broadcasting announced by the ECN by any can- and printing or any other medium. didate, the ECN, by providing clear But nothing shall be deemed to pre- evidence and reason, may cancel vent the making of laws to impose the candidacy of such candidate. It reasonable restrictions on any act shall provide a fair chance for clari- which may undermine the sover- eignty and integrity of Nepal, or before such cancellation. which may jeopardise the harmoni- fication to the concerned candidate ous relations subsisting among the The legal provision of Section 29 (3), peoples of various castes, tribes or communities, or on any act of sedi- NPR 100000.00 on any political party, tion, defamation, contempt of court of punishment with a fine of up to or incitement to an offense; or on body that does not discontinue or annul any act which may be contrary to thecandidate, activity person, in accordance organisation, with theofficial order or decent public behaviour or morality. given by the ECN is applicable in case of ÂÂ If any material is published or media outlet up to NPR 100000.00 if it broadcast or printed using any au- doesmass not media abide also. by the The Section ECN can 78 fineto 95 any of dio, audio-visual or electronic me- the CA Election Code and may recommend dium, registration of such radio, to the Nepal Government to take action television, online or any other digi- against it by concerned body and under tal or electronic, press or any other concerned laws like National Broadcasting media publishing or broadcasting Act 1993, Press and Publication Act 1991, or printing such material shall not and Radio Act 1957.
be cancelled, closed or confiscated.
Analytical Report on Media Monitoring of the Constituent 191 Assembly Election 2013 ÂÂ The registration of any newspaper, cannot be prohibited immediately and magazine or press shall not be can- the ECN is not authorised to do so, it is - proved from the data collected by the ing published or printed any news, NPI during the CA Election, 2013 that article,celled, closed editorial, or confiscatedcomposition for or hav any the media had played a strong role in other reading material. the ECN’s work and caused serious problems in managing the elections in ÂÂ Except on conditions as referred to a free, fair and reliable manner and also in law, any press, electronic broad- in information management. Therefore, casting and communication equip- it is imperative to have constitutional ment like telephone shall not be provision to empower the Election subject to impediment. Commission to prohibit, throughout the election period, the publication of As this provision is made regarding any program of any media that is not freedom to mass media in response to following the Code of Conduct. positive media freedom, media should follow it sincerely with self motivation. B. Election Commission’s A constitutional provision must be Communication Policy, 2013 made by which, in case of violation, Provisions are made regarding the to enforce the observance of the ECN’s policy to ensure management Code of Conduct, in case of violation and conduction of clean, free, fair and of the Code of Conduct, the Election reliable election: Commission can immediately prohibit ÂÂ Background of the Election Com- As this provision is made regarding freedom mission’s Communication Policy, 2013: Information and communica- to mass media in response to positive media tion are very important for the insti- freedom, media should follow it sincerely with tutional development of democracy. self motivation. Interim Constitution of Nepal, 2063 (2007) has laid emphasis on right to information to every citizen. Pe- the concerned programme that had riodic election is very important for committed violation from continuing. institutionalisation of democracy. Information management plays an Though the Section 15 of National important role in managing and Broadcasting Act 1993 and Section conducting clean, free, fair and relia- 15 of Press and Publication Act 1991, ble election. Proper management of state that the Government of Nepal information is necessary to address may, in view of the national interest, by the interest of the general public in electoral system and process dur- Gazette, issue an order prohibiting ing the pre-election, election and thepublishing publication a Notification of any inprogramme the Nepal post-election period and of the gov- violating the Code of Conduct; there ernment. It is the responsibility of must be a constitutional provision to the nation to provide factual and empower the Election Commission to accurate information about all the immediately prohibit publication of any activities of the election process to program violating the Code of Conduct national and international media in order to enforce observance of the and provide true, factual and reli- Code of Conduct whenever any media able information to the general pub- is found violating it. If publication of lic through dissemination by these any programme violating the code media. It is mentioned that this
Analytical Report on Media Monitoring of 192 the Constituent Assembly Election 2013 policy was promulgated to manage storage and distribution of the work of collection, processing, electoral information and news. analysis and distribution of infor- mation and news about the election, communication system of to provide true, factual and reliable the ake ECN the simple internal and and easy external for information to the general public, to dissemination of true, factual have proper coordination with the and reliable information to the communication media and to regu- general public in a prompt and larise and make effective the entire organised manner. internal and external communica- tion process of the election. disseminated information by the ECN Classify on the basis the of subject, regularly area, target group and geography ÂÂ Objective of the Election Com- and gradually use different mission’s Communication Policy, languages, styles and medium 2013: The main objective of the to provide access to the citizens Communication Policy, 2013 was to of backward class, area and ensure management and conduct of marginalised communities. clean, free, fair and reliable election. This meant how to: Code of Conduct to have free, fair Include the mass media in the external communications of the from the media sector and to ECN anage and the provide entire true, internal factual and restrainand reliable the activities flow of information of the mass and reliable information to the media during the election time. general public through effective medium in a prompt, effective capacity development for the and trustworthy way. management Institutional of management information and communication of the ECN shall processing, analysis and be enhanced. distribution anage the workof of collection,electoral information and news. persons of the ECN shall be solicited Cooperation whenever with the required concerned to ÂÂ Election Commission’s Communi- make the information system cation Policy 2013: strong and effective.
Communication Policy, 2013 to Policies ensure ofmanagement the ECN sand ÂÂ Strategy and Working Policies of conduction of clean, free, fair and the ECN’s Communication Policy, reliable election : 2013: Strategy and Working Poli- cies of the Election Commission’s the activities and functions of Information Policy, 2013 were to the Disseminate ECN in a informationsimple manner about in ensure management and conduct of accordance with the essence of clean, free, fair and reliable election: the Interim Constitution of Nepal 2007 and Right to Information system shall be reviewed and Act, 2007. updated The ECN s and existing one window information policy enforced to ensure the right of Management Communication the general public to election System Establish to and manage operate theand Election make information. effective, the work of collection, treatment, analysis, production, used to make the process of atest technology shall be
Analytical Report on Media Monitoring of the Constituent 193 Assembly Election 2013 collection, treatment, analysis to disseminate information and distribution of electoral about all electoral process and information and news systematic activities carried out for elections and effective. management.
disseminated by the ECN shall Committee shall be formed beInformation analysed to classify and and select news to Communicationanalyse and coordinate Coordination the the medium for dissemination of information, news published and information on the basis of area, broadcast during the election nature, accessibility, medium, time by mass media and to time etc. provide directives.
published through press media workshop and interaction shallInformation be published and in national notices requiredProgrammes for like training,capacity newspapers in the centre and in development of human resources local newspapers and magazines associated with the ECN’s at the local level. information and communication management, and mass media’s be broadcast from Radio Nepal human resources shall be atElectoral national audio level and material local shallFM/ launched. radios at the local level. many local languages as possible to broadcast visual material withNews the shall cooperation be transmitted from in the as from rrangements Nepal Television shall beand madeother local stakeholders to increase channels at national level and the reach of electoral news and from local television channels at information to the people from local level. backward areas and marginalised classes. if it becomes necessary for the ECN toSeparate publish criteria informative shall be notices prepared in Information Centre shall be set publication materials like weekly, up n and Electoral it shall be Education provided with and monthly, fortnightly, quarterly, latest technical and physical half yearly, yearly magazines, support for the effective periodical newspapers, calendar, management of the ECN’s pocket diaries; after taking information archives, records and informative material. requirements like the number ofinto population consideration (readership), specific communication sector shall be area, origin, frugality, quantity madeThe technology up to date employed and modern in the of publication, regularity of by carrying out necessary publication, and distribution coordination and cooperation method. with national and international mass media. technology and other social networks nline shall portals be used of to publish latest ÂÂ Institutional provisions of the and broadcast informative ECN’s Communication Policy, notices and advertisements. 2013: Institutional provisions of the ECN’s Communication Policy, centres, media monitoring, 2013 were made to ensure manage- video ebsites, conference media shall centres, be callset ment and conduct of a free, fair and up, operated and modernised credible election :
Analytical Report on Media Monitoring of 194 the Constituent Assembly Election 2013 ÂÂ Coordination in the ECN’s Com- munication Policy, 2013: Provi- Committee : There is a provision sions for coordination in the ECN’s to Communication set up a Communication Coordination Communication Policy, 2013 were Coordination Committee with made to ensure management and an Election Commissioner, conduct of free, fair and reliable looking after communication election: The ECN can coordinate portfolio, as its convener, to with Nepal Government, the me- analyse, coordinate, facilitate, dia, experts from the communica- and issue directives regarding tion sector, other organisations and news, information, notices stakeholders to facilitate implemen- disseminated by the mass media. tation of this policy.
Committee: There is a provision The data collected by the NPI during to edia set onitoringup a Media anagement Monitoring the course of media monitoring Management Committee with an and implementation of ECN’s Election Commissioner, looking Communication Policy, 2013 was after communication portfolio, analysed. The data collected by as its convener, to ensure the the Nepal Press Institute during fairness, reliability and honesty the course of media monitoring in the CA Member Election, 2013 through the mass media which is has proved that if the programmes necessaryof the informationto conduct clean, flowing fair violating the Code of Conduct cannot and reliable elections. be prohibited from continuing the activity throughout the election period be regularly improved upon to or since this authority is not given make Institutional it up-to-date management to facilitate shall to the ECN; whenever media did not constant communication and oblige the Code of Conduct properly; coordination with the mass media the media became more powerful in during pre-election, election the elections and there were grave and post-election periods and problems in the management of clean, capacity building of employees free, fair and reliable elections and of election commission as well as in the information management. For of journalists associated with the the effective implementation of ECN’s election. Communication Policy, 2013, in order to manage and conduct clean, free, fair conference centres, websites and reliable election, it is necessary to etc edia shall centres, be set call up centres, to transmit video follow the Code of Conduct. electoral information and news in a prompt and smart manner. C. Constituent Assembly Members Election Code of Conduct, 2013 ÂÂ Fiscal provision in the ECN’s Com- Provisions of code of conduct for the munication Policy, 2013: Fiscal pro- mass media given in the CA Member visions of the Election Commission’s Election Code of Conduct sought to Communication Policy, 2013 sought ensure management and conduct of to ensure management and conduct clean, free, fair and reliable election: of clean, free, fair and reliable elec- tion: The Election Commission was ÂÂ Preamble: The Preamble states to provide necessary resources for that this Code of Conduct was prom- implementation of this Policy. ulgated since it is necessary to en-
Analytical Report on Media Monitoring of the Constituent 195 Assembly Election 2013 sure free, clean, fair, transparent information, that matter shall and reliable conduct of CA election also be disseminated. and to regularise the conduct of all stakeholders and thus the ECN, in shall be accepted, nor shall exercise of the powers conferred by anything No undue be benefits done that from is anyoneagainst Section 28 of the Election Commis- professional ethics and norms. sion Act, 2007 after consultations with the stakeholders, has promul- dissemination that suggests gated this Code of Conduct. discrimination Use of language or incites at the violence time of in any way, or that may adversely ÂÂ This Code of Conduct came into affect the goodwill among force from 22 July 2013. Dalits, oppressed caste/ethnic indigenous groups, backward ÂÂ Constituent Assembly Members regions, Madhesis including Election Code of Conduct, 2013 gender, linguistic, religious and shall be applicable for the mass me- political or other groups shall dia. It has explained the mass media not be permitted. as governmental, public or private sector electrical/electronic, print be done in a way that will play communication media. conducive Dissemination role into electionsencourage shall the participation of different castes, ÂÂ To ensure management and conduct religion, gender, language and of clean, free, fair and reliable elec- community. tions, mass media must abide by the following arrangements of the Code has been detected in already of Conduct throughout the election published If any error andand misinterpretation disseminated period in accordance with Chapter materials, high priority shall be -5, Section 78 to 95 of Constituent given by the concerned media Assembly Members Election Code house to carry out the correction of Conduct, 2013: on the report.
dissemination of detailed, true ÂÂ Conduct of the governmental mass and ocus unbiased shall information. be on the media to ensure management and conduct of clean, free, fair and reli- to election shall be disseminated able elections. properly Information without and being news biased. relating
and news shall be hidden or or broadcasting agencies shall suppressed No necessary or prevented information from not The write governmental or broadcast publication editorials being disseminated. in favour or against any political party or candidate. shall not be published or broadcast Electoral newsin such and a information way that shall provide opportunity to confuses the general public. political The governmental parties or candidates mass media to express their opinions, policies the dissemination of news and programme to the voters. related igh priority to the shalleducational be accorded news. If any person causes obstruction shall give priority to publish and or hindrance in the collection broadcast The governmental materials mass relating media to and dissemination of such voter education.
Analytical Report on Media Monitoring of 196 the Constituent Assembly Election 2013 ÂÂ Free transmission facility: Period” shall mean period starting forty eight hours prior to the polling day till the last polling centre closes. to provide free of cost time on The ECNradio has and made television arrangements for ÂÂ Maintain record: All materials re- transmission services to political lating to elections disseminated by parties regarding their policies the mass media shall be safeguard- or canvassing for Constituent ed for 35 days from the day of dis- Assembly Members Election in semination of that information. proportion to total candidates of the concerned party contesting ÂÂ Monitoring of disseminated in- the election in accordance with formation: The ECN shall carry out the proportional representation regular monitoring of all informa- election system. tion disseminated by the mass me- dia. ÂÂ Free time provided by the ECN in accordance with Section 90 is provided in three stages as given if Code of Conduct is found below : violated During the by coursedissemination of monitoring, of any material, the ECN shall instruct the concerned media house to minutes to be allocated for radio carry out the correction on such transmission In the first stage, to make five publicto twenty the disseminated material. manifesto of the political party, shall carry out the correction on such The disseminated concerned media material house on transmission In the second time stage, for election two to receipt of the directive. canvassingfive minutes and ofin the television third stage one minute each to every The data collected by the NPI during political party before beginning the course of media monitoring and of the silent period in accordance implementation of Constituent Assembly with Section 93 for television Members Election Code of Conduct, transmission service for last 2013 were analysed. The data collected minute chance to express its have shown that if the programmes opinion. violating the Code of Conduct could not be prohibited from continuing mentioned in the stages of throughout the election period and Article aterials 91 shall for be dissemination prepared by since this authority was not given to the the concerned party and given ECN whenever media violated the Code to the concerned transmission of Conduct; the media became more service provider. powerful during the elections and there were grave problems in having a clean, free, fair and reliable elections and in ÂÂ No canvassing in the silent pe- information management. riod: Mass media shall not dis- seminate any information about the For an effective implementation of the political parties or candidates dur- Code of Conduct, the ECN must be given ing the silence period. This Section constitutional authority to prohibit shall not prevent dissemination of the programme violating the code of material prepared by the ECN. Ex- conduct from operating throughout the planation: In this Article, “Silence election period
Analytical Report on Media Monitoring of the Constituent 197 Assembly Election 2013 To implement / have implemented the international media having authorised Election Code of Conduct effectively, it essential to give the responsibility Nepal. of monitoring of the Election Code of representatives or liaison offices in Conduct and of media to a single ECN member. This will prevent duplication guideline as; in jurisdiction. Some problems are Information has been defined in this seen in an effective implementation of “Information” means the thematic monitoring the Constituent Assembly issues and messages desirable for being Membership Election Code of Conduct, conveyed to the general stakeholders 2013 due to dual jurisdictions. by the Commission. D. MEDIA MONITORING Institutional Arrangement of GUIDELINE, 2013 Monitoring By exercising power conferred by Section 3 of the Media Monitoring Section 46 of the Election Commission Guideline, 2013 has made provisions Act, 2007, the ECN enacted the “Media for the institutional arrangement Monitoring Guideline, 2013 in order to of monitoring. The following Media manage and hold elections in a clean, Monitoring Committee has been free, impartial and reliable manner and provisioned at the commission for in order to monitor whether provisions the purpose of monitoring news, of the code of conduct applicable to information and activities published/ the media as mentioned in the Code transmitted/ broadcast by the media of Conduct for Constituent Assembly during the election period. Member Election, 2013 has been duly complied with or not. The following ÂÂ provisions have been made in this (Media)- Convener guideline for monitoring of the media. onourable Election Commissioner ÂÂ Secretary, Election Commission- The Preamble says; Member
Whereas, it is expedient to ÂÂ Secretary, Ministry of Information enact guidelines regarding the and Communication- Member implementation of provisions relating to monitoring of the media as ÂÂ - mentioned in the Media Policy of the partment of Journalism, Tribhuvan Election Commission, 2013 in order ead of Department, Central De to make the Constituent Assembly member election, 2013 free, impartial ÂÂ SpokespersonUniversity ember (Joint-Secretary), and clean the Election Commission, Election Commission- Member has, by exercising power conferred by Section 46 of the Election Commission ÂÂ - Act, 2007 enacted this guideline. er, Election Commission- Member- Secretary.Information/Communication ffic
guideline as; ÂÂ It is provisioned that the expert in edia has been defined in this “Media” means all the electronic - and paper media recognised by sionthe related may be field invited or subjectin the meetings and the the Government of Nepal, and this ofstaff this officer committee serving as atnecessary. the Commis term also includes online media and
Analytical Report on Media Monitoring of 198 the Constituent Assembly Election 2013 ÂÂ The functions of this committee It is provisioned that this committee have been prescribed as follows: shall perform the following functions;
ÂÂ To formulate required standards for ÂÂ To send correspondence to the monitoring of media, concerned authority for execution of action as per the decision of the ÂÂ To make arrangements for the ori- commission regarding complaints against the media, persons of monitoring groups, entation of monitoring officers and ÂÂ To make coordination and cooper- ÂÂ To determine the scope of subjects ate with the Media Monitoring Com- of media monitoring and proce- mittee and the Media Support Com- dures thereof, mittee,
ÂÂ To submit analysis of report and de- ÂÂ After completion of action, to in- tails received from the media moni- form the same to the Commission toring to the Commission, through the committee,
ÂÂ ÂÂ To perform other functions as pre- monitoring, that any media or me- scribed by the Commission. diaIn case person of any had finding, breached at the code time of conduct; to recommend required action to the Commission by men- Media Support Committee tioning grounds thereof, Section 5 of the Media Monitoring ÂÂ To perform other functions as pre- Guideline, 2070 (2013) has scribed by the Commission. provisioned for a Media Monitoring Support Committee comprising the following members in order to Implementation Committee provide the required support to the Section 4 of the Media Monitoring Media Monitoring Committee in the Guideline, 2013 has provisioned the monitoring of the media. following Action Execution Committee in order to force action relating to ÂÂ Spokesperson (Joint-Secretary) of infringement of the Code of Conduct as the Commission- Convener found by the monitoring unit. ÂÂ Director-General, National News ÂÂ Commissioner, Election Commis- Agency- Member sion- Convener ÂÂ Chairperson, Federation of Nepali ÂÂ Chairperson, Press Council- Mem- Journalists- Member ber ÂÂ Chairperson, Television Broadcast- ÂÂ ers Association- Member Party Division- Member oint Secretary, aw and Political ÂÂ Chairperson, Community Radio ÂÂ Director-General, Department of In- Transmitter Association- Member formation- Member ÂÂ Chairperson, Broadcasting Associa- ÂÂ - tion of Nepal- Member ber-Secretary Chief, edia onitoring Unit em
Analytical Report on Media Monitoring of the Constituent 199 Assembly Election 2013 ÂÂ Chairperson, Valley Radio Transmit- that the committee shall constitute ter Forum- Member convener Joint Secretary (Media) of ÂÂ Chairperson, Nepal Cable T.V. Con- thea edia Election onitoring Commission- Unit underin order the federation- Member to make the media monitoring works systematic, effective and achievement ÂÂ Chairperson, Nepal Cable T.V. Entre- oriented. preneur Confederation- Member The functions of the Media Monitoring ÂÂ Chairperson, Nepal Paper Media National Network- Member UnitÂÂ To have monitor been the prescribed media, to as submit follows dai- ÂÂ Chief, Media Monitoring Centre ly reports and analysis to the moni- toring committee in coordination ÂÂ with consultants, experts, monitors’ Member-Secretary group (monitoring centre) and to oint Secretary or Under Secretary inform about the daily activities of There is a provision that the committee monitoring to the committee/Com- shall prepare a roster of experts related mission, to the media. ÂÂ To inform immediately to the com- There is a provision that the experts mittee in case of infringement of listed in the roster of experts may be code of conduct and receiving com- invited as invited members in the Media plaints about such infringement Monitoring Committee and Media during the media monitoring, Support Committee formed pursuant to Section 3 and Section 5 respectively ÂÂ To perform other functions as pre- as per necessity. scribed by the committee.
It is provisioned that the functions of the Media Monitoring Support Monitoring Centre Committee shall be as follows; Section 7 of the Media Monitoring ÂÂ To provide support to the commit- Guideline, 2013 has provisioned that tee in determining the required there shall be a central monitoring standards for media monitoring, team comprising an expert and a consultant of the related subject ÂÂ To motivate all media for their com- and monitors for performing works pliance to the election Code of Con- of media monitoring. It has been duct during the election period, provisioned that notwithstanding anything contained in sub-section (1) ÂÂ To provide advice and support to of Section 7, the committee may assign the committee by reviewing func- any institution or person working tions performed by the Monitoring Centre from time to time. anyin the time. concerned field in monitoring works by affiliation with the same at Media Monitoring Unit There is a provision that the committee may assign an expert amongst the Section 6 of the Media Monitoring experts of central monitoring group as Guideline, 2013 has provisioned the team leader.
Analytical Report on Media Monitoring of 200 the Constituent Assembly Election 2013 Monitors consult before deciding on a story at Nepalgunj centre.
The job description of the Central lished/transmitted by adversely af- Monitoring Group has been fecting the election environment or prescribed as follows; not,
ÂÂ To monitor whether the media have ÂÂ To receive notice and information published/transmitted election communicated by the Commission related material by being neutral, and to provide such notices to the without favouring or going against monitoring centres established in any political party while publish- the regions and districts for moni- ing/ transmitting such material toring, and to arrange monitoring from the Regional Monitoring Centres ÂÂ To receive daily updated reports of and from the District Monitoring materials published/transmitted Centres as prescribed by the Com- from the regional media from the Re- mittee, gional Monitoring Centre, to appraise
ÂÂ To monitor whether the media have report and to submit it to the com- complied with the code of conduct mitteethe same as recorded and to prepare through an the unified unit, issued by the Commission or not, ÂÂ To submit daily updates and moni- ÂÂ To monitor whether news, articles toring reports to the committee and interviews have been pub- through monitoring unit,
Analytical Report on Media Monitoring of the Constituent 201 Assembly Election 2013 ÂÂ To study election related notice, ÂÂ news, articles, compositions, views, reaction, events published/trans- ÂÂ Representative egional Election of fficer Regional Convener Journal- mitted through the online media ist Federation- Member and to keep the record of same and to monitor, ÂÂ Reporter of any governmental me- dia- Member ÂÂ To make site monitoring and ap- praisal of publication, transmission, ÂÂ - exhibition and collection of notices retary by conducting spot visits of the me- onitoring fficer ember Sec dia as per the necessity, There is a provision for a monitoring
ÂÂ To keep records of the views and in each Regional Monitoring Centre messages expressed by the politi- forofficer media and monitoring an assistant by andsetting a helper up of cal parties and members and candi- a monitoring unit, and the Commission dates of parties in the media, shall arrange resources required for monitoring works. ÂÂ To receive daily monitoring report from monitoring units established The functions of the Monitoring in the Regional Monitoring Centres Centre have been prescribed as and from the District Monitoring follows; Centres; to study and observe moni- toring reports as received on a dai- ÂÂ To monitor whether the media have ly basis and to submit them to the published/transmitted election re- committee along with recommen- lated materials by being neutral and dation and feedback reviews, without favouring or going against any political party while publish- ÂÂ To coordinate and cooperate with ing / transmitting such material the committee and unit, and to arrange monitoring from the District Monitoring Centres as pre- ÂÂ To coordinate with the Regional scribed by the committee, and District Monitoring Centres, ÂÂ To monitor whether news, articles ÂÂ To inform about problems seen in and interviews have been pub- the course of monitoring and meas- lished/transmitted by adversely af- ures to settle problems to the com- fecting the election environment or mittee, not,
ÂÂ To perform other functions as pre- ÂÂ To receive notices and information scribed by the commission and communicated by the monitoring committee. centre and to provide such notices to the monitoring centres established Regional Monitoring Centre in the districts for monitoring,
Section 8 of the Media Monitoring ÂÂ To receive daily updated reports of Guideline, 2013 has provisioned that materials published/transmitted the committee shall constitute the from various media of the area, to following Regional Monitoring Centres appraise the same and to prepare a - monitoring works of the media. cord to the monitoring centre, in all five regions for conducting effective unified report and to submit the re
Analytical Report on Media Monitoring of 202 the Constituent Assembly Election 2013 ÂÂ To submit daily updated monitoring in such centres and units. reports to the monitoring centre, A unit comprising a media monitoring ÂÂ To keep records of views and mes- sages expressed by the political par- has been arranged for each District ties and members and candidates of officer, an assistant staff and a helper the parties in the media, Since the following equipment and otherElection merchandises ffice for media are required monitoring. for ÂÂ To receive daily monitoring reports media monitoring works, there is a from the District Monitoring Centres: provision for arrangement of those to study and observe monitoring re- equipment and other merchandises. ports as received on a daily basis and to submit them to the monitor- ÂÂ Equipment having facility of online ing centre along with recommenda- record capable to record transmit- tions, feedbacks and reviews, ted matters as per necessity, televi- sions, radio sets etc. for the moni- ÂÂ To coordinate and cooperate with toring of all channels, the monitoring centre, ÂÂ Computers having a fast-speed in- ÂÂ To comply with the directions of the ternet facility capable of receiving committee and the monitoring centre, information immediately from the districts monitored and to monitor ÂÂ To perform other functions as pre- information/news and thematic is- scribed by the monitoring centre. sues transmitted from various on- line news portals, faxes, telephones The committee may constitute the and printing machines, District Monitoring Centre in the prescribed districts in order to support ÂÂ Equipment capable of recording the Regional Monitoring Centre. There television channels in the districts is a provision that the same monitoring monitored, and equipment capable centre shall monitor articles, notices, of recording radio transmissions, news, compositions, views and reactions computers with internet facilities, published and transmitted by the media faxes, televisions, printing machines and to submit daily reports, thereof, to and telephones, etc. the Regional Monitoring Centre and to comply with the directions received Duties of the Media from the Regional Monitoring Centre. The following duties have been Human Resource and prescribed for the media and Equipment for Media representatives of the media in the Monitoring Media Monitoring Guideline, 2013 in order to manage and hold elections The Media Monitoring Guideline, in a clean, free, impartial and reliable 2013 has provisioned that the manner and in order to effectively monitoring centre and unit shall have implement the provisions of the Code human resources as decided by the of Conduct for Constituent Assembly commission for effectively conducting Member Election, 2013 and in the media monitoring. Apart from this, order to implement provisions of experts of social networks, televisions, media monitoring mentioned in the radios, newspapers and online sites Media Policy of the Election shall work as communication experts Commission, 2013.
Analytical Report on Media Monitoring of the Constituent 203 Assembly Election 2013 Media and representatives of the The Nepal Press Institute had, subject media: to aforesaid provisions of the Media Monitoring Guideline, 2013 conducted ÂÂ shall have to comply with the pre- monitoring to determine whether vailing law relating to the election the Code of Conduct for CA Member and election Code of Conduct, Election 2013 had been complied with or not in the CA Member Election, ÂÂ shall have to be courteous to the 2013 and had conducted the media voters, candidates, observers, po- monitoring containing all details that litical parties and their agents and needed to be mentioned in the report employees involved in the election pursuant to the format of monitoring and all other stakeholders, report- mentioned in Annex-1 of the Media Monitoring Guideline, 2013 and ÂÂ shall not be involved in activities to had submitted details and reports to provoke voters or candidates in fa- the ECN. The following details had been vour of or against any party, contained in that report.
ÂÂ shall not take interviews of voters, ÂÂ The prescribed area for monitoring observers, candidates or agents or ÂÂ Date of monitoring within the polling booth, office bearers of any political party ÂÂ Details of monitored media such ÂÂ shall not take photos and videos of as name of the media, type of the the activities in the premises of the media (paper/electronics), details polling booths without acquiring thereof
shall respect secret information of ÂÂ Time of monitoring thepermission polling booths,of the polling ballot officerboxes and personal secrecy of all, and ÂÂ Whether the notices and informa- tion of the ECN had been published/ ÂÂ Shall not create any hurdle or inter- transmitted as they were or not, vene in the election process by any and if not details the name of such means. media and date, the page number in case of the print media, time and
CA Election Media Monitoring Findings for Election Campaign Period
Date : 1-Nov to 16-Nov Bias Tone Flag Favour- Unfavour- Slight Serious Gross Catagory Total Neutral Positive Neutral Negative Neutral able able Bias Bias Violation Online 460 176 57 225 214 108 136 297 128 24 10 Print 2057 1013 402 610 892 621 511 1122 635 211 79 Radio 404 105 49 250 108 196 100 339 47 13 5 TV 304 111 18 175 141 121 42 227 58 11 8 Grand Total 3225 1405 526 1260 1355 1046 789 1985 868 259 102 Percentage 44 17 39 42 32 24 62 27 8 3
Source: Database of the NPI media monitoring
Analytical Report on Media Monitoring of 204 the Constituent Assembly Election 2013 programme in the case of the elec- complied with or not. While analysing tronic media had been mentioned. the statistics received in the course of monitoring, the state of compliance of ÂÂ The details of whether news, ar- the provisions of the Code of Conduct ticles, comments, interviews etc. of Section 78 to Section 95 of the Code were focused on a single political of Conduct for CA Member Election, party or all the political parties had 2013 applicable to the media- had been covered while publishing/ been found as follows. The events of transmitting the same in the elec- complete violation of those provisions tion period, and if they focused on of code of conduct were found to be a single party, details-name of such three per cent. media and date, the page number in case of the paper media, the time The events of serious violation were and programme in case of electron- eight per cent. Events with some ics media, of what happened had biasness were 27 per cent. These been mentioned. statistics received in the course of monitoring had been obtained by ÂÂ The monitoring had been conducted to see whether news, articles, inter- comprehensive details, thereof, have views etc. were published/transmit- beenusing given different in table coloured (CA Election flags. Media The ted by obstructing the environment Monitoring Findings for Election of the election or not. If published/ Campaign Period). transmitted, details-name of such media and date, the page number While analysing the statistics received in case of the paper media, the time during media monitoring by the NPI and programme in case of electronic and the state of implementation of the media, of what happened- had also Media Monitoring Guideline, 2013 it is been mentioned. the media monitoring of Constituent ÂÂ The monitoring had been conduct- Assemblyshown, by theMember figures Election,received during2013 ed determined whether the code of conducted by the NPI, that in case conduct issued for the election pe- the media had violated the code of riod had been fully complied with conduct and the concerned programme or not. In case of not being complied violating the Code of Conduct was not with, details name of such media halted immediately or temporarily and date, the page number in case during the election period, and, if this of the paper media, the time and right to enforce action is not conferred programme in case of the electronic to the ECN for managing and holding media of what happened- had also elections in a clean, free, impartial been mentioned. and reliable manner and for effective implementation of the election code By pursuing provisions of Section 78 of conduct, then the media might go to Section 95 of the Code of Conduct beyond their mandate in the election for Constituent Assembly Member processes creating serious problems Election, 2013, issued by the ECN in in the management of a clean, free, order to manage and hold the election in impartial and reliable election and in a clean, fair free, impartial and reliable information management. manner- applicable to the media as indicator of monitoring, the monitoring That is why, in case the media violates had been conducted about whether the the Code of Conduct; the Election same code of conduct has been fully Commission might, constitutionally,
Analytical Report on Media Monitoring of the Constituent 205 Assembly Election 2013 need to halt the concerned programme “Media” means all the electronic that violates the Code of Conduct and paper media recognised by the immediately or temporarily during Government of Nepal, and this term the election period for a clean, free, also includes online publication. impartial and reliable election and for Section 3 of this guideline has the implementation of the Code of Conduct provision of establishment of the of the Media Monitoring Guideline, Media Coordination Committee. There 2013 and its institutional arrangements is a provision for the establishment of to be effective. a coordination committee under the convener- the Election Commissioner It will be appropriate to arrange the (Media) for analysis, coordination, functions of monitoring of the election facilitation and direction of information, code of conduct and monitoring under messages and news to be published and the Media Monitoring Guidelines transmitted from the public media. The under the responsibility of the Commission may acquire the service of same commissioner for the effective an expert of the concerned subject upon implementation of the election recommendation of the committee. Code. This will avoid duplication in jurisdiction. The duplication in jurisdiction has created problems in the Functions, Duties and Powers effectiveness of implementation during of the Committee the monitoring of the CA Member The functions, duties and powers of Election Code of Conduct, 2013. the committee have been prescribed in Section 4 of this guideline as follows: E. MEDIA CENTRE OPERATION AND MANAGEMENT GUIDELINE, ÂÂ To enact and modify policy, guide- 2013 line, procedure, standard etc. relat- The fact has been mentioned in ing to information and communica- the preamble of this guideline that tion and to recommend the same, the ECN has, by exercising power conferred by Section 46 of the Election ÂÂ To analyse and classify information Commission Act, 2007 enacted this relating to the election, guideline in order to manage and hold elections in a clean, free, impartial ÂÂ To recommend information, mes- and reliable manner and to make the sages and advertisements transmit- process of election management more ted by the commission for approval, transparent and to make the functions of acquisition, processing, storage ÂÂ To coordinate between information and distribution of information - effective and to implement provisions ing the media centre, call centre, of the Media Policy of the Election duringflow utilisation the election mechanism, period, includ Commission, 2013 and for the purpose of achieving the objectives ÂÂ To coordinate and facilitate infor- of the Constituent Assembly Member mation transmitted by the media, Election Ordinance, 2013. The following provisions have been made ÂÂ To issue required direction, to coor- in the “Media Centre Operation and dinate and facilitate other mecha- Management Guideline, 2013. nisms, including units constituted under this committee, for the man- agement of information and com- guideline as: munication of the Commission, edia has been defined in this
Analytical Report on Media Monitoring of 206 the Constituent Assembly Election 2013 Section 5 has made the following volved in the context of develop- provisions in connection with the media ment, construction and use of the centre operation and management: media centre,
ÂÂ There is a provision that a media ÂÂ To convey transmitted information centre shall be established for pro- relating to activities of the commis- viding election related informa- sion promptly to the general public through the media, through the media by maintaining coordinationtion in a unified amongst way to the the Commis citi ens- ÂÂ To keep details of the communica- tion sector and the various media and to coordinate with them, thesion, national the District and international Election ffices, me- dia,the fficeand the of centrethe Election shall perform fficer and its ÂÂ To provide information of public functions under the direction of the interest relating to the election to Commission and the committee. the media as per the direction of the commission, ÂÂ There is a provision that this media centre shall comprise the following ÂÂ To perform other functions as pre- human resource; scribed by the commission,
ÂÂ To prepare reports and to submit the same at the commission through Convener the committee. Co convener Information fficer Section 7 of this guideline has edia Coordination fficer prescribed functions, duties and powers edia Centre anagement of the convener of the Media Centre fficer IT Engineer/Computer fficer spokesperson of the commission shall Computer perator perform anagement functions Unit as as the follows convener The of Non a etted irst Class Clerk Editor Photographer theÂÂ Invite edia media Centre for anagement collection Unitof news, and udio ideo Technician discussions and interactions, ÂÂ The ffice committee ssistant shall perform func- tions of direction, coordination and ÂÂ Arrange regular press meetings, facilitation in connection with the operation and management of the ÂÂ Issue press releases as necessary, media centre. ÂÂ Function as contact person between ÂÂ There is a provision that the work- the commission and the media, ing hours of the media centre shall be as necessary. ÂÂ Coordinate with the Ministry of In- formation and Communication, Section 6 of this guideline has prescribed functions, duties and ÂÂ Ensure authenticity of notices of powers of the media centre as follows: the commission and notices pub- lished in connection with the com- mission or subordinated bodies ÂÂ To perform functions by being in- and persons,
Analytical Report on Media Monitoring of the Constituent 207 Assembly Election 2013 ÂÂ There is also a provision that in case Section 11 of this guideline has of absence of the convener, the co- prescribed the functions, duties convener shall perform all his/her and powers of the media centre functions.
Section 9 of this guideline has prescribed managementÂÂ To support officer and coordinate as follows in func- the functions, duties and powers of the tions of the media centre,
ÂÂ To prepare required documents for informationÂÂ To coordinate officer theas follows functions of the transmission, media centre, ÂÂ To perform other functions required ÂÂ To prepare draft of press release in for proper and effective manage- coordination with the spokesper- ment of the media centre. son, Section 12 of this guideline has ÂÂ To keep up-to-date information and prescribed the functions, duties and to select important information to powers of the Information Technology be conveyed to the voters and to (IT) engineer as follows: maintain them in the priority list, ÂÂ To construct and manage an inter- ÂÂ To keep the activities of the Com- nal computer network in the media mission in the media centre for dis- centre, tribution, ÂÂ To arrange security of network, ÂÂ To respond to queries and informa- tion and to do the required prepara- ÂÂ To maintain up-to-date computers tion related to the same. and peripherals in the media centre by installing and repairing the same, ÂÂ Section 10 of this guideline has pre- scribed the functions, duties and ÂÂ To supervise hardware, software powers of the media coordination and other computer and peripher- als used in the media centre,
ÂÂ Toofficer establish as follows a regular contact and ÂÂ To install, repair and maintain and maintain coordination with various manage communication equipment divisions and sections of the secre- placed in the media centre,
ÂÂ To make arrangements for keeping tariat of the Commission, offices of information and statistics of the me- the election officer, district election dia centre secure, ÂÂ Tooffices make and arrangementsstakeholders, for using of the media centre as the contact ÂÂ To settle technical problems, point for all stakeholders, ÂÂ To perform other prescribed func- ÂÂ To submit reports daily and as per tions.
There is a provision that the media centre ÂÂ Tonecessity establish to thecontact information and coordinate officer, shall transmit the following information with communication cells constituted pursuant to Section 13 of this guideline; in various ministries and central bodies.
Analytical Report on Media Monitoring of 208 the Constituent Assembly Election 2013 ÂÂ The activities and views of the com- ÂÂ Provision that the media represent- mission in connection to the next ative shall have the right to receive election of Constituent Assembly information and service provided members, by the media centre,
ÂÂ The authentic notice of the commis- ÂÂ Provision that he/she shall have to sion, abide by the election code of con- duct and the code of conduct which ÂÂ The result of the election of the Con- are to be obeyed at the media cen- stituent Assembly member, tre, and he/she shall have to show the press pass distributed by the ÂÂ Other information having permis- Department of Information upon sion to be transmitted of the com- recommendation of the Commis- mission and the media coordination sion. committee. Section 14 of this guideline has made Section 17, 18 and 19 have made a provision that the media centre shall provisions that the media centre shall not transmit the following information: provide the following services:
ÂÂ Matter carried on for action process, ÂÂ The media representatives shall be able to use computers placed within ÂÂ Matter affecting national security, the media centre. They shall have crime investigations, sovereignty to send information to their media and integrity of Nepal and the for- from the media centre. eign affairs or election works, ÂÂ The photocopy and print of essen- ÂÂ Matter jeopardising peace and secu- tial information and materials relat- rity or provoking violence and jeop- ed to the CA members’ election can ardising relations subsisting among be made free of cost with the per- the peoples of various castes, tribes and communities, ÂÂ Theremission is ofa anprovision officer ofthat the in centre. case of ÂÂ Matter which may create improper occurrence of any problems with gain or loss to any person, institu- the computers placed at the media tion or organisation, political party centre; the Information Technology or candidate, - tacted. ÂÂ Matter relating to personal secrecy, fficer of the centre could be con ÂÂ ÂÂ Matter prescribed to be kept secret- computers placed at the media cen- ly pursuant to the prevailing law, tre.No personal files can be saved in the
ÂÂ Matter prescribed as secret by the ÂÂ There is a provision for the arrange- commission. ment of a suitable room for photo journalists and cameramen in order Section 15 of this guideline has to take photos and scene during the prescribed powers of the media press conference and other pro- representative and Section 16 has grammes. prescribed the following obligations to him/her; ÂÂ There is a provision that no me- dia representative can use the tel-
Analytical Report on Media Monitoring of the Constituent 209 Assembly Election 2013 ephone service placed at the media jurisdiction has created problems in the centre for personal works. effectiveness of implementation during the monitoring of the Constituent While analysing the statistics received Assembly Member Election Code of during the media monitoring by the Conduct, 2070 (2013). Nepal Press Institute and state of implementation of the Media Centre Operation and Management Guideline, 3. LEGAL PROVISIONS 2013 , it is shown, by the statistics RELATING TO ELECTION CODE received during media monitoring of OF CONDUCT AND ANALYSIS the Constituent Assembly Member OF COMPLAINCE OF ELECTION Election, 2013 conducted by the NPI, CODE OF CONDUCT that in case the media violate the code of It is found that the ECN has called conduct the concerned code of conduct violating programme cannot be halted initiated action on the basis of facts immediately and temporarily during receivedfor clarification by the ECN from and the the mediaNPI during and the election period, and if this right is the media monitoring on compliance not conferred to the ECN for managing of legal provisions relating to the and holding elections in a clean, free, election code of conduct and some of fair ,impartial and reliable manner and representative incidents among them for the effective implementation of the are as follows. election code of conduct, then the media will be operating without check in the NEWS 24: Since NEWS 24 channel election processes creating serious had transmitted news defaming the problems in the management of a clean, free, impartial and reliable election Party and its chairperson in the and in information management. POWERNEWScharacter of Chure programme Bhavar at oktantrik July 26, Therefore, in case the media violate 2013; a correspondence calling for a the Code of Conduct; the ECN might, reply had been sent to that channel constitutionally, have the right to and a reply had been received from the halt the concerned code of conduct concerned channel. Afterwards, the violating programme immediately and ECN had called the presenter of that temporarily during the election period programme to the commission, and he for a clean, free, impartial and reliable had expressed his commitment to not election and for the implementation violate the code of conduct in the future of the code of conduct, creating after discussions with the honourable problems in the effectiveness of the chief commissioner/commissioners. implementation of the Media Centre Operation and Management Guideline, RATOPATI.COM: While 2013 and its institutional arrangements correspondence had been sent to will also become effective. ratopati.com, the reply received from that media was not found satisfactory, It will be appropriate to arrange the functions of monitoring of the election not be taken had been placed with that code conduct and monitoring under media;thus, clarification and, later, on reply why wasaction received should the Media Monitoring Guidelines from the media concerned. under the responsibility of the same Commissioner for effective T.V. Filmy Channel: Since this channel implementation of the election Code of had been broadly campaigning for RPP Conduct. It will not create duplication Nepal, the Monitoring Section had sent in jurisdiction. Duplication in correspondence in this regard.
Analytical Report on Media Monitoring of 210 the Constituent Assembly Election 2013 Regarding the election campaigning in the media. In fact, the Code of Conduct the silence period against the Code of was violated due to the weak provision Conduct, it was seen that the media had of media self-regulation. The culture of conveyed, published or transmitted media self- regulation is not developed. notices or news campaigning for It has to be fully implemented by political parties and candidates making provisions in the law. This during this period. The silence period is contradictory with jurisprudential started from 12.00 pm in the night 16 norms and principles related to media November, 2013 to the closure of last self-regulation. Serious problem occurs polling booth on the day of polling. in the implementation of the election Correspondence had been sent to code of conduct due to the influence Gorkhapatra Corporation, Nepal of the political parties in the media Samacharpatra daily, Naya Patrika daily, of developing and undeveloped Aarthik Patrika daily, Nagarik daily, countries where the culture of media Rajdhani daily, Karobar Rastriya daily, self-regulation is not developed and Janamanch weekly, Chhalphal weekly, campaigning is conducted on the basis Deshantar weekly, Janadesh waily, The of party influence.
Kathmandu Post daily, Annapurna Post daily imalayan calling time them daily, to reply epublica within daily, 24 Commission had, pursuant to Section hours, along with evidences, if there 34 and 83 of the CA Member Election was any cause for not taking action for Code of Conduct, 2013, provided their act against the code of conduct. information of the starting of the silence period from 12.00 pm in the ABC Television : Since that television night of 2070/8/1 B.S. (November had transmitted an interaction with 16, 2013 through a press release and Pushpa Kamal Dahal Prachanda, the public notice of 16 November, 2013 This channel had been transmitting August 7, 2013 from Pokhara while programmes for campaigning of the sendingChairperson correspondence of the UCPN in ( aoist , this regard, on candidates and party against the the same had given a unsatisfactory code of conduct and provision of reply that it had not transmitted a restriction on campaigning during the live transmission. Furthermore, the silent period. Thus, a correspondence mentioning serious action would be taken pursuant to the prevailing law if the ABC television failed to abide by the While observing the Code of Conduct, order - had been sent accordingly. policy and guideline to be complied by the media and state of compliance, As Star F.M. Station had transmitted thereof, it is found that the efficacy election related programmes conducted in implementation of the aforesaid policy, code of conduct and guideline has increased in this election of CA Pradhanwith imal of Sharma,the Nepali candidate Congress of theat members 2013 as compared to 8.15UCPN am ( aoist and 8.30 andam in Bhimsen the morning Das previous elections. of 17 November 2013 an order had, pursuant to Sub-Section (2) of Section It is evident that self- regulation of 28 of the Election Commission Act, the media has to be made efficient 2007, been issued to immediately for effective implementation of the stop the act of conveying, publishing election code of conduct applicable to and transmitting notices or news of election campaigning of any political
Analytical Report on Media Monitoring of the Constituent 211 Assembly Election 2013 party or candidate during the period ÂÂ Failure of media organisations in starting from 12.00 pm in the night making self-regulatory arrange- of 16 November , 2013 to the closure ments effective, of the last polling booth on the day of polling. A correspondence mentioning ÂÂ The provisions for freedom of press that serious action would be taken mentioned in Article 15 of the In- pursuant to the prevailing law if the terim Constitution of Nepal, 2007 station failed to abide by the order - have been used wrongly rather than had been sent accordingly. its principle, and the ECN is unable to make effective intervention in the Though it is found that the ECN had acts directly performed against the election Code of Conduct. and taken action in connection with thecalled (non) for clarificationimplementation from of the the media legal ÂÂ provision relating to the election Code election Code of Conduct in the po- of Conduct as mentioned above, on the litical ack of parties, culture and of compliance its impact ofis thedi- basis of statistics received during the rectly seen in the media. media monitoring conducted by the ÂÂ - by taking action against the media sources, resources and institutions whichECN and failed the to NPI, comply no fine with was the charged code of for ack media of enough monitoring. skilled human re conduct- pursuant to Sub-Section (3) of Section 29 of the Election Commission ÂÂ Act, 2007 . It seems that there is a lack regulate the social media during the election ack of adequateperiod. law and policy to
of efficacy in implementation of the law. 5. CONCLUSION 4. CHALLENGES IN COMPLIANCE AND In the context of Nepal, the culture IMPLEMENTATION OF LEGAL of media self-regulation has not PROVISIONS RELATING TO THE ELECTION CODE OF CONDUCT SEEN DURING MEDIA culturedeveloped of media efficiently. self-regulation Until takes and MONITORING place,unless the efficient state shall development have to operate in the The challenges in compliance and special programmes focusing on self- implementation of legal provisions regulation by way of concrete efforts for relating to the election code of conduct stopping activities against the election seen during media monitoring were as Code of Conduct of the media operating follows: self-regulation and not abiding by the ÂÂ electionin line withCode partyof Conduct interests. has adversely ack of Nepalese media, affected the activities of the ECN mainly ack of self regulatory culture in because the media operate mostly on ÂÂ The media have been used for party the basis of partisan interests. Clear interest, provisions in the law should be made in order to stop such acts. ÂÂ and control many media, Though it is found that the ECN had Political parties indirectly influence ÂÂ and taken action in connection with the due to culture of impunity, implementationcalled for clarification of the legalfrom provisionsthe media Decline in the efficacy of rule of law
Analytical Report on Media Monitoring of 212 the Constituent Assembly Election 2013 relating to the election code of conduct, monitoring under the Media Monitoring as mentioned above, on the basis of Guidelines under the responsibility statistics received during the media of the same commissioner in order to monitoring conducted by the ECN effectively implement the election Code and NPI, no action was taken against of Conduct. It will not create duplication the media which failed to comply in jurisdiction. This duplication in with the Code of Conduct pursuant to jurisdiction has created problems in the Sub-Section (3) of Section 29 of the effectiveness of implementation during Election Commission Act, 2007. It the monitoring of the Constituent Assembly Member Election Code of implementation of the law. Conduct, 2013. The capacity of media seems that there is a lack of efficacy in persons and institutions working in While analysing statistics received during the media monitoring by the for effective media monitoring. NPI and the state of the aforesaid the field of media has to be enhanced implementation, it is shown, by the statistics received during the media 6. RECOMMENDATIONS monitoring of the CA Member Election, The following recommendations have 2013 conducted by the NPI and the been proposed to be implemented in state of aforesaid implementation, order to cope with the challenges of in case the media violate the code compliance and implementation of the of conduct. The concerned Code legal provisions of the election code of of Conduct violating programmes conduct of the election commission Act and transmissions cannot be halted 2007 and election code of conduct 2013 immediately and temporarily during found during the media monitoring the election period, and if this right is and to enhance compliance and not conferred on the ECN for managing implementation of the legal provision and holding elections in a clean, free, of the election code of conduct of the impartial and reliable manner and for election commission Act 2007 and the effective implementation of election election code of conduct. Code of Conduct, then the media will be operating without check in the ÂÂ Since the culture of self-regulation is election processes, and it creates lacking in the Nepalese media, until serious problems in the management of a clean, free, fair impartial and the culture of media self-regulation reliable election and in information takesand unless place efficientthe state development has to oper of- management. That is why, in case the ate special programmes focusing on media violate the Code of Conduct; self-regulation by the media by mak- the ECN might, constitutionally, have ing concrete efforts to stop activities the right to interrupt the concerned against the election code of conduct Code of Conduct violating programme of the media operating in line with immediately and temporarily during partisan interests. It has implica- the election period. The laws, policies, tions to the activities of the ECN guidelines and procedures have to when the media operate on the basis of party interests. A clear provision same grounds and in line with the in the law in order to stop such acts constitutionalbe amended provisions. and modified on the should be there.
It will be appropriate to arrange ÂÂ In case the media violate the code the functions of the monitoring of of conduct; the ECN might, consti- the election Code of Conduct and tutionally, have the right to halt the
Analytical Report on Media Monitoring of the Constituent 213 Assembly Election 2013 concerned Code of Conduct violating ÂÂ The Press Council Nepal and the programme immediately and tempo- Federation of Nepali Journalists rarily during the election period for should strive for gradually remov- a clean, free, impartial and reliable ing the culture of the media being election and for the implementa- used for party interests. tion of the code of conduct. The laws, policies, guidelines and procedures ÂÂ The Press Council Nepal and the Federation of Nepali Journalists the same ground and in line with the constitutionalhave to be amended provisions. and modified on for gradually removing indirect in- should perform functions efficiently ÂÂ The ECN should be empowered parties over the media. more institutionally, functionally and fluences and control of the political ÂÂ It is essential to make and imple- ment laws to end the culture of im- independencefinancially as per and the autonomy. principle of Forthe thisinstitutional, purpose functionalall the election and financial related is required in this regard. acts, rules, guidelines, procedures punity. The efficient role of the state and manuals need to be reviewed in ÂÂ The Nepal Press Council and the line with the principle of the institu- Federation of Nepali Journalists - should work for making self-regula- pendence and autonomy of the ECN. tion provisions comprehensive and tional, functional and financial inde ÂÂ It will be appropriate to arrange the functions of the monitoring of the ÂÂ Theefficient. law and policy to regulate social election code of conduct and moni- media in the election period have to toring under the Media Monitoring be enacted and formulate Guidelines under the responsibility of the same commissioner in order ÂÂ It is essential that the political par- to effectively implement the election ties focus on the development of the code of conduct. This duplication in culture of compliance of the election jurisdiction has created problems in Code of Conduct. the effectiveness of implementation during the monitoring of the Con- ÂÂ It is essential that the state itself stituent Assembly Member Election provide special support in capacity Code of Conduct, 2013. It will not enhancement and arrangement of create duplication in jurisdiction. human resources required for mon- itoring the media. ÂÂ The capacity of media persons and institutions working in the media sector should be enhanced for effec- tive media monitoring.
Analytical Report on Media Monitoring of 214 the Constituent Assembly Election 2013 THE SOCIAL MEDIA PLATFORM TRENDS FOLLOWED BY ELECTION TWEETS
1. INTRODUCTION This article explores the manifest characteristics of the tweets in the Throughout November 2013, short corpus. It then describes the quantitative texts about Nepal's bid to elect the and qualitative features of the election Constituent Assembly (CA) regularly tweets in terms of key variables--handle, appeared on the walls of a popular text and time. Language of tweets, micro blogging site, Twitter, enriching followers and friends help inform the the social discourse on the crucial vote. A analysis in a rather less direct way. few authors dominated the conversation by sending assorted election messages, Several past studies have analysed from witty, funny or silly comments, for tweets for their ability to predict the example, to interesting and important election outcome. As news, public pieces of news, views and ideas. Most opinion and knowledge adapt to this others chipped in with just one tweet or new frontier of human behaviour, the two in the month's election talks, making article also suggests, albeit tangentially, their participation hardly audible in the the need for further research on Nepal's digital echo chamber. The texts generally election time social conversation. featured notions of fact, doubt, fear and hope for their followers and friends to In the last quarter of 2013, Nepali discover during the different election people were generally talking about phases. festivals, mainly Tihar and Chhath, and games, mainly, Nepal's participation Technically, each election tweet was capable of reaching the voters. People 2013. The mainstream media covered with interest, Internet access and search thesein ICC topics. orld So Twenty did the social ualifiers media, skills could tune in to a stream of what including Twitter. At the same time, the the talking handles publicly shared in authors of tweets, with Nepal in their the online network. They could as well text string, increasingly took part in the archive the tweets for viewing later. election conversation. Put together, the A similar personal archive of 39,292 tweets in the network, each within their Nepal tweets, built in the last quarter 140–character limit, would highlight of 2013, yielded a corpus of 9,533 some aspects of the real world over others. For example, as the election election specific tweets for November.
Analytical Report on Media Monitoring of the Constituent 215 Assembly Election 2013 campaign picked momentum around 19 November 2013, doubts persisted again as to whether it could convince on 16 November 2013, the texts of the dissenting parties, including CPN- the November period talked aboutand officially the campaign ended Maoist, which questioned the legitimacy atmosphere and the mood of the voters. of a non-political government to solve For another two subsequent days, 17 the country's political problems. More November 2013 and 18 November than 30 allies joined hands with CPN- 2013, Election Commission Nepal Maoist in the street protests. (ECN), the main election management authority, had ordered the political Swiftly yet steadily, ECN made elaborate parties and candidates to stop their preparations, from registering the campaign and the mainstream media political parties and candidates for to stop their coverage of the campaign the election showdown to collecting for 48 hours to allow the vote to take ballot boxes and counting votes. Until place in a free and fair manner on 19 the campaign built up, waiting for the November 2013. During this campaign festivals of Tihar and Chhath to be silence period, when the key actors, that over, the media messages noted the is, the political parties, candidates and doubts about the possibility of holding mainstream media generally observed elections and feared violence during the the code of conduct, the daily count of campaign. The 33-party alliance owned election tweets went up. The Election up the violent protests, such as burning Day received the highest number of of a passenger bus during a bandh tweets compared to any other day in [shutdown], and bomb blasts. Scattered the entire month's archive. Between tweets, mostly from journalists and their 20 November 2013 and 30 November institutions, shared these predicaments 2013, the counting of votes sustained within the network all along. the interest of authors sending the election tweets. Early days of vote These social media texts were capable of counting featured a number of tweets travelling fast among millions of people. talking about how the political parties In its report for the last quarter of 2013, responded to the surprise results, Twitter boasted about 241 million which relegated the then largest party, average monthly active users and UCPN-Maoist, to third place after the timeline views of 148 billion (Twitter, vote. Gradually, then, the interest as 2014). In May 2013, a survey of Twitter measured by the number of election users (Acharya, 2013) suggested some 7 tweets waned. out of 10 handles posting Nepal related tweets were based in Nepal with the A few prominent handles received remaining three posting from Canada retweets, replies and mentions within (20%), Europe (16%), India (12%), and their network. For an overwhelming Arab countries (12%). Of the seven, four majority of others, however, their tweet would be in Kathmandu. The remaining echoed back at themselves. three would be in less urban Lalitpur, Bhaktapur, Chitwan and Kaski. Hence, a Until the announcement of the elections, safe bet was to expect tweets could travel the common people had expressed among urban and rural Nepali voters. doubts if the election government of former bureaucrats, headed by Chief Strangely, however, given the typical Justice Khil Raj Regmi, would be able disconnect of tweets with the touchy- to forge consensus among the political feely world of humans, who were parties to call the elections. When it living long hours of #loadshedding, the actually announced the election date as messages were equally poised to get
Analytical Report on Media Monitoring of 216 the Constituent Assembly Election 2013 lost forever. Even in the United States ÂÂ Which words appeared the most of- with far greater access to electricity and ten in their texts of different phases Internet, a Pew research had found, only of election? a few adults used Twitter for news. ÂÂ Put together, what narrative did the Recent efforts elsewhere had assessed tweets suggest about Nepal's Novem- the predictive power of tweets in the ber 2013 election? elections of USA, UK, Germany, Australia A conclusive or generalisable (Gayo-Avello, 2012).and India. Unlike et thein thefindings case wereof snap far polls,from of tweets as undermining the veracity ofThe the findings real world: will assume, in certain ofcritics election pointed prediction. out flaws inTo the survey sampling the respects, the tweets reflected an aspect tweets, instead of people, to be able to ÂÂ It was hard to tell who was who, ex- say who will win or lose vote, all studies, cept for some of the few hundred by deduction, boiled down to suggesting handles that dominated the election this: we would need a lot of preparation, talk. Thousands took part in the con- including skill, resource, tool and time, versation with just a tweet or two way before the beginning of the election each for the entire month. campaign. ÂÂ On the different phases of the elec- In Nepal, few instances of public tion, the authors mostly sent enun- research had examined the election ciative and narrative texts on topi- tweets, which erupted around the clock cal themes for their followers and thanks to the work of many humans friends to discover. and automatons, making even a modest effort to understand the engagement ÂÂ Together, the tweets showed the of social media with electoral politics early doubt about the possibility of urgent as well as novel. holding election and fear of violence in different phases gave way to con- 1.1 The objectives and afterwards. Therefore, to make a beginning, rather fidence and hope on the Election Day than examine the tweets to assess R their predictive ability, this after-event exploration generally surveys the handle, text and time, associated with Any systematic effort at understanding the election tweets, within a network of the social media texts about elections friends and followers. It will transform would potentially shed light on the the text strings into numbers and visuals nuances of Nepal's expanding digital to support a narrative unfolding over citizenship, participation and political the key phases of the CA election in November 2013. interesting to know for its own sake what theengagement. men, women Specifically, and machines, it would tweeting be about the crucial vote of the nation, the following questions: were like and what they were sharing in Specifically, the exploration will answer different phases of the national polls. ÂÂ Who authored the tweets and re- tweets about Nepal's Constituent As- A survey of the Nepali public (Media sembly election in November 2013? Foundation Nepal, 2012) had found
Analytical Report on Media Monitoring of the Constituent 217 Assembly Election 2013 social media networks, like Facebook Authority, 2013), these social networks and Twitter, were growing popular were assuming increasingly central place among Nepal's young and urban people. in the daily life of urban Nepalis and The number of blogs and micro-blogs played a role in fermenting the public by individuals and professionals had opinion. It was commonsense knowledge gone up drastically. Online journalism, that the social media had supported the another facet of the new media, had also seen a surge. Most traditional many Nepali users active in the recent publications or broadcast outlets, the campaignsfight to end violenceon Facebook against andwomen, Twitter. with report said, had their online presence. They also played a role in mobilising Scores of online news portals, which public opinion in favour of a well- included those operated from outside the meaning doctor, who went on a series country by members of the expanding of fast-unto-death protests for reforms Nepali diasporas, enabled readers and in a teaching hospital of Kathmandu users to directly post their comments (SolidarityForProfGovindaKc, 2013). and feedback, making participation and engagement a reality. Barely two years old in 2008, Twitter had only a few local authors sending
information company, Alexa, placed Among the early adopters, Nepalis, if facebook.comIn the first quarteron top ofof ,the websites a web thetweets name on of Nepal s the few first handles C elections.found in people visited the most in Nepal. It that regard, lama_2b @lama_2b, Deelip ranked Twitter 11th, after Google, Khanal @deelipk, and harikarki @ Youtube, Onlinekhabar, Yahoo, Ekantipur, harikarki, etc., suggested nationality, Blogspot, Wikipedia, and Nagariknews, were apparently very few. In 2012, a among others (Alexa, 2014). newspaper article (ekantipur, 2012) waxed eloquent about Twitter saying Prominent social and political leaders, that the platform could put you directly such as Devendra Raj Pandey, @DRP39; in touch with those that were shaping and Nilambar Acharya, @nilacharya; and the news and views—you no longer election candidates Baburam Bhattarai, even had to rely solely on the traditional @brb_laaldhwoj; Ram Sharan Mahat, @ media. "It gives you breaking news, ramsmahat; Kamal Thapa, @KTnepal; often straight from the horse’s mouth. and Gagan Thapa, @thapagk; among And particularly in Nepal, where others, for example, were posting tweets journalism is so centralised, it’s become during the election time. Former prime minister Bhattarai had made some on far away from the centre, not just important announcements and offered froma great journalists, medium to but find anyone out what s who going has access." resigned for Chief Justice Khil Raj Regmi @KhilRajRegmi,clarifications through to take tweets over as before the head he Twitter was clearly beginning to drive of the election government. Bhattarai's some portion of news and social handle, @brb_laaldhwoj, was among the conversation. Nepali print and broadcast top gainers of follower for a good while. outlets increasingly referred to social Journalists and tech enthusiasts were media in their news and comments. also swelling the Twitter users lists by Some online 'newspapers', such as the day. Setopati, (Setopati, 2013) routinely sampled what the social, political and In the ten years of Facebook and government leaders were saying on the seven years of Twitter, as the Internet new media platforms and published penetration rate grew (Nepal Telecom their views on a daily basis.
Analytical Report on Media Monitoring of 218 the Constituent Assembly Election 2013 Monitoring or archiving the tweets of the Facebook and Twitter serving their election time also made sense because need for news tips or as platforms to the people tended to share a quick hint share scoops. ECN, @ECNepal, was also through the platform about what they gearing up to inform the candidates had on mind. A little while earlier, as and voters of its electoral education and ECN prepared its mainstream media preparations through the use of several monitoring framework, an important media, including Facebook and Twitter. donor organisation had posted a tweet in a casual manner saying that the "Whether you are on Twitter or not, Election Day in Nepal coincided with the the messages you will be hearing from Toilet Day. Before it deleted the tweet in politicians will be shaped by it," said a the next breath, a prominent lady author noted PR man and blogger (BBC, 2012). commented in this thread, "but Nepal's election day, Nov 19, is still World Toilet Nepalis, the CMR survey (Acharya, Day", bringing the human folly to the fore 2013) suggested, were on Twitter through what critics have also dubbed for news and information (85%), to is a kind of pointless babble, a coinage understand public opinion on current generally bandied about in describing news (59%), for gossiping (56%), to much of the social media content. express feeling (50%), for networking (46%), for professional works (31%) Several users, however, were seriously and to spend leisure time (30%). The making their business or politics better survey reported they tweeted anything by employing the social media. Reputed they found okay to tweet, although their organisations, including the UN and most popular topics comprised social World Bank, ran their social media sites, issues (44%), interesting news (42%), Facebook and Twitter, among others, politics (37%), profession (26%) and competing with other organisations and media (23%). individuals for real world attention and followers. Almost all daily newspapers, The most popular inspirations behind several television channels and FM sending political tweets, another stations had online presence, with study showed, were to support (26%),
Analytical Report on Media Monitoring of the Constituent 219 Assembly Election 2013 to ridicule (15%) and to provide government, the analysis picked up the information without any emotional thread in how the early tweets showed content (13%). A computer scientist and doubts about the possibility of holding his team at Canada’s National Research successful elections and fears about Council had started with a million tweets election violence. As the campaign related to America’s 2012 election, picked up and vote happened, the fears analysed hashtags like #gop, #Obama and #RomneyRyan2012 and, with cheers. fi led out, giving way to confidence and a sample of about 2,000 tweets, with A few tech-savvy enthusiasts, with access multiplethe help readers of crowd assigning sourcing, one classified of 11 to codes, tools and applications, analysed purposes to each message. Mostly, they the campaign tweets and shared their found, the tweets showed: negativity– criticism, venting, charges of hypocrisy dominant topic, via the social media (Mohammad, 2013). (Simplify360,findings, such 2013). as the These bomb analyses being had a limited their scope to focusing on a few The social media manager of one days of the campaign and voting. Independent Voter Network said there were now more tweets sent every two By planning ahead of the peak campaign days than had ever been sent prior to period, the current effort gradually 2008. Since its creation, Twitter had built the main archive of tweets, pulling impacted the news cycle considerably. Suggesting the reasons why Twitter election and the last a month after it. mattered in elections, the voter network Withinthe first the tweet constraints almost aof monthlimited before time, manager said tweets meant: return skill, resource, tool and technique, to retail politics, real time reaction, tweet handle @japokh used free online #trending topics, debates, fact check, applications in tracking and archiving voter participation such as by way of the tweets with 'nepal' and 'Nepal/ re-tweeting, acceleration of the news- Election' strings. cycle, personal engagement, inclusion of voters, and real time journalism Hence, the scope of this work will be (Susskind, 2012). tweets for their manifest content On top of all, in a country where the characteristicslimited to reading and theinterpreting, election specific mostly penetration of social media among the through a visual exploration, who people was expanding, it was necessary authored them and what they read like to make some modest beginning in in different stages of the election process. the direction of exploring or gauging the pulse of public opinion about the T CA election on social media, starting, perhaps, with Twitter. The previous sections gave a quick summary of the assessment of Nepal's 1.4 Scope of work recent election tweets, spelled out the objectives, reviewed the general context The main line of interest that delineated to justify the study, gave a gist of the the search, collection and analysis of the tweets was to see how the authors study to a reading and visual exploration were using the platform to talk about the findings and limited the scope of the election. Done after the vote counting section offers a transition for the readers was over and an elected government toof see the the election specific key thrusts of tweets. some Thispast of politicians replaced the election studies in the intersection of tweets and
Analytical Report on Media Monitoring of 220 the Constituent Assembly Election 2013 electoral politics. A brief description of more positive relationship (Andranik the data, tools and methods, touching Tumasjan, 2010). and desktop tools, variables, and data, A Stanford study highlighted the follows.on the specifics The next of search section strings, highlights online feasibility of using election tweets to replace traditional polling. It had analysed the US republican primaries in andthe findingsmake some and recommendations discusses them. Thefor the manner of snap polls (SNAP, 2012). furtherfinal section research. will arrive at a conclusion Near home, in India, the talk of the tweeple favoured Narendra Modi in New Delhi elections. 2. PAST STUDIES OF ELECTION TWEETS The Hindustan Times, reporting the
With hundreds of millions active more and more young Indians went users worldwide, Twitter was an online,findings social of two media surveys, could predictedswing 3-4% as emerging frontier of human behaviour votes in India's April 2014 general inviting scrutiny, exploration and elections (Hindustan Times, 2014). better understanding. A growing body of literature had looked into the In the context of the United States, a relationship between Twitter messages caveat came from a journalist: "Since and electoral successes. Computer everyone in the D.C. bubble is following science, communication and sociology everyone else on Twitter; it's an departments of universities in the electronic echo chamber. And that echo United States, Europe, and Australia, for chamber often forgets that just 8 percent example, were studying tweets. of the public gets its news from Twitter and only 16 percent of the public uses In 2013, Indiana University researchers Twitter at all (Washington Post blog, studied a random sample of 537,231,508 2013)." tweets from 1 August 2010 to 1 November 2010 alongside the data from For several studies in the intersection of 406 competitive U.S. congressional tweets and politics, forecasting election elections. They found more tweets meant results was a tantalising proposition, more votes, even while accounting for thanks to Barack Obama's prudent use the control factors (DiGrazia, 2013). of social media for his election victories in 2008 and 2012 as the US president. Another study, which analysed tweets The Obama tweet, 'Four more years', from the run-up to 2009 German for example, received the record federal elections, however, saw no direct number of re-tweets ever. correspondence between the candidates' success on Twitter and electoral success. On the other side of the brouhaha is The researchers explained the results this caution by a Spanish university researcher about any extraordinary connection between the metric of choicemight show(Twitter a deficiency messages) in theoreticaland the sentiments of the people who sent outcome of interest (electoral success) them,ability giving of important Twitter to clues reflect about the or the methods the proponents of the things people intend to do, like voting predictive ability of tweets used to in elections. In the title of his review collect and analyse the underlying data of past claims about the predictive (Jungherr, 2013). Earlier study of tweets power of Twitter, the author concluded: from the same election had shown a I Wanted to Predict Elections with
Analytical Report on Media Monitoring of the Constituent 221 Assembly Election 2013 while political pundits might have been cutting them short. Meanwhile, some predictions, such as a Maoist leader made on Facebook giving his party a thumping majority, came a cropper, way off the mark.
Some studies explored what in the tweets drove people's engagement. The diagram developed with data from the
shows interactive features in tweets boostedofficial Twitter engagement blog (on in differentthe next page areas variously (Twitter blog, 2014).
Twitter and all I got was this Lousy Paper: "A Balanced Survey on Election Prediction using Twitter Data. (Gayo- Avello, 2012)". The review challenged anybody working in this area: “There are elections virtually all the time, thus, if you are claiming you have a prediction method you should predict an election in the future!” As many journalists were sending Back home, a Nepali Times story tweets on government and politics, reported a survey, of people, not those who were more interactive tweeple, though, that predicted Nepal's among them, therefore, were more election 'in the future' as shown in the likely to engage the audiences and following bar diagram. moment. In a newspaper article, media scholarreflect theDr. Dharma mood andAdhikari, milieu however, of the to say the poll made a reasonably close wrote a caution: "Some commenter's prediction, ith the benefit with Sushilof hindsight, Koirala itactually is safe are bemused that the social networks replacing Chief Justice Regmi from the now help to easily track journalists' Prime Ministerial chair (Nepali Times, political leanings... there are many 2013). Election predictions, from @ news portals today that are far too ushaft and @akhanal, for example, also biased, blatantly ideological, constantly circulated in the Twitverse, ironically, spitting out vitriol against perceived during the campaign, and blackout, opponents (Adhikari, 2013)." when the election code of conduct required the mainstream mass Surprisingly, yet, some reactions in media to remain silent about parties tweets seemed to be fairly in line and candidates and publish no poll with the election results, an author predictions. noted, citing an analysis by a staff at Simplify360: Positive words in tweets The tweets analysed as part of this were associated with Nepali Congress exploration showed the key party and Gagan Thapa (Neupane, 2013). leaders were making tall claims about "Only 9.97 percent of women took part election victory of their candidates in online discussions. This too is in line
Analytical Report on Media Monitoring of 222 the Constituent Assembly Election 2013 300 250 Music 200 Sports 150 Government & Politics 100 News 50 TV 0 All areas Digit Hashtag Photo URL Quote Video URL
with the number of women elected in T the CA, which was dismal," she wrote. Amidst several such possibilities, the Data collection # Collection date Tweets range risk of fatigue setting in for Twitter was also likely, just as it had been the Online spreadsheet 11041 24-10-013 to 25-12-013 case with Facebook lately (Today Tech, Monitoring service 28251 31-10-013 to 23-11-013 2013). Total tweets in 39292 24-10-013 to 25-12-013 archive Election-speci c 9533 01-11-013 to 30-11-013 3. THE DATA, TOOLS AND tweets METHODS Unique tweets 7,087 01-11-013 to 30-11-013 Unique authors 5,237 01-11-013 to 30-11-013 W The alphanumeric text strings were in several languages, en= english (8972), Two search strings, #nepal and Nepal/ zh-cn=chinese (8), ar=arabic (11) , Election, pulled matching tweets into ko=korean (2), el=greek modern (13), two separate online archives for @ pt=portugese (39), ru=russian (17), japokh to collect election time tweets it=italian (77), th=thai (2), de=german for monitoring and analysis of their (35), hi=hindi (1), fr=french (75), content features. A month-long free id=indonesian (50), es=spanish trial version of an online hashtracking (144), nl=dutch (7), ja=japanese (45), application, hashtracking.com, da=danish (5), pl=polish (3), sv=swedish fetched 28,251 #nepal tweets between 1 and 23 November 2013. no=norwegian (6), ro=romanian (2). Another spreadsheet, a free copy The( , quantitative ca catalan analysis ( , fi finnish of handle, ( , of @mhawksey's tweets-archiver, text and time looks into all these routinely harvested tweets with 9,533 tweets originating in November, Nepal/ Election string in their texts, irrespective of their language. Of the bringing a total of 11,041 cases total, 8972 tweets were in English between 24 October 2013 and 25 such as, "#natsec Gasoline bomb attack December 2013. The merger of the on bus injures 13 during transport two collections gave 39,292 tweets as blockade in Nepal ahead of election @japokh's universe of data. From that http://t.co/Id733sL709, Fri Nov 15" archive, 9,533 election specific tweets or a mix of English and Nepali such as, of November 2013 were extracted "c?sf] b]z aGb} 5, d]/f] b]z aGb 5 Û #Nepal :/ to build the election corpus for this #Election #NepalElects #NepalVotes." analysis. Nepali text also informed the textual analysis. In all, the data contained 7,087
Analytical Report on Media Monitoring of the Constituent 223 Assembly Election 2013 unique texts originating from 5,237
unique authors. The sample of tweets in the Nepal topic corner of that online space, even by a liberal estimate, was too small to be worth generalization. Assuming a worldwide 218 million active users, who had tweeted something until a few months ago, the entire Nepal archive available for reference during 1,500, it began to make sense that the current exploration was only digging a bit deeper might yield more 0.0017 per cent of the Twittersphere. insights into the handles and texts, interestingly without involving too The election tweets were analysed much cost at all. over four segments of time in November, starting with 1-16 Another online application November 2013, as the first time hashtracking.com, in a trial run, span. This was to take stock of how collected tweets which were initially the election campaign mood on meant to corroborate with whatever Twitter built up. After the campaign had ended up in the spreadsheet picked momentum, official campaign archive. The merger of the two blackout, that is, 17-18 November archives built a universe of 39,292 2013, was taken as the second band. Nepal tweets, from which election The actual voting day, 19 November tweets were extracted for November 2013, was the third band and the to build a corpus for analysis, of 9,533 vote counting from 20-30 November tweets. 2013 formed the fourth time band for analysis. Plotted over time, the T election-specific tweets produced a graph peaking around the Election Several online and desktop tools, all Day and immediately after it. freeware or trial runs, helped the quantitative and textual analyses. W They were mostly search, analysis and semantic engines, including twitter.com, google.com, SocialBro, A free copy of TAGS v5.0.7, with code SocialBaker, SocialMention, Topsy, written by @mhawksey, routinely Tweet level, etcML, NodeXL, Tableau, pulled tweets into a spreadsheet Atlas.ti, Rapidminer, Weka, Trops and archive for @japokh over 62 days from RStudio. 24-October 2013 to 25-December 2013. The initial attraction of the tool was in its capability to adapt to an online network visualisation The key variables in the data were application, the Tag Explorer handle, text, time, language, follower (Hawskey, 2013). So, coinciding and friend. For this analysis, language, with the election campaign, @ follower and friend are taken only japokh shared the visualisation with as some sensitising concepts, used colleagues via some social media. sparingly in the analysis, to elaborate Only when the archive swelled daily, on the findings in relation to handle, within Twitter API rate limit of text and time.
Analytical Report on Media Monitoring of 224 the Constituent Assembly Election 2013 DEFINITIONS OF SOME IMPORTANT CONCEPTS USED IN THE ANALYSIS unique handle. the username of the author who sent tweets that landed in the spreadsheet and online tweet monitoring archives. the frequency with which it appeared over the phases of election time was one measure of the handle size or importance. other measures were the number of its followers or friends, mentions and re-tweets unique text. the body of a tweet containing unique alphanumeric character strings, mainly #nepal or Nepal/ Election, the search terms that built the archives. the frequency with which certain words appeared in the collection of texts in the archive for different phases of the election time was one measure of the importance of the text. the number of re-tweets was another measure. processing the text at word and phrase levels, with select codes, gave numbers for further comparison and analysis time. the year, quarter, month, day, hour, minute and second in the timestamp records for each tweet post. the main variable to organize the handles and texts across phases of the election time followers. all twitter account holders who followed the author of the election tweet during the time it was posted. friends. all twitter account holders the author of the election tweet followed during the time it was posted. verbs, expressing facts of action, were grouped into factive verbs, such as “to do”, “to work”, “to walk”, etc. stative verbs expressed states or concepts of possession such as “to be”, “to stay”, etc. reflexive verbs expressed a statement about circumstances, beings, objects, such as, “to think”, “to believe”, etc. performative verbs expressed an act through the language and contained within the language, such as, “I promise”, “I demand”, etc. connectors, the coordinating and subordinating conjunctions and conjunctive phrases, linked various parts of the discourse together through the concepts of condition (“if”, “in as much as”, “in case”, etc.), cause (“because”, “in consequence of”, “therefore”, etc.), goal (“so that”, “in order that”, etc.), addition (“and”, “moreover”, “along with”, etc.), disjunction (“or”, “either... or”, “whether... or”, etc.), opposition (“but”, “nevertheless”, “however”, etc.), comparison (“as”, “like”, “as well as”, etc.), time (“when”, “while”, “since”, etc.), place (“whereby”, “whereupon”, etc.) modalities, adverbs or adverbial phrases, enable the speaker to get involved
Analytical Report on Media Monitoring of the Constituent 225 Assembly Election 2013 in what he says, or to locate what he says in time and space, through concepts of time (“now”, “yesterday”, “tomorrow”, etc.), place (“there”, “here” , “below”, etc.), manner (“directly”, “together”, etc.), assertion (“absolutely”, “certainly”, etc.), doubt (“maybe”, “probably”, etc.), negation (“not”, “never”, “nothing”, etc.), intensity (“very”, “much”, “strongly”, etc.)
adjectives are either objective, that is, enabling the text to characterize beings or objects, regardless of the speaker’s standpoint (color adjectives, for example); subjective, that is, indicating judgement on something or on somebody, thus enabling to express the speaker’s standpoint (“beautiful”, “small”, “nice”, etc.), or numeral; that is, grouping together numbers (in letters or in figures), along with ordinal and cardinal adjectives.
personal pronouns are displayed in gender (“I”, “You”, “He”, etc.) and in number (“They”, “We”, etc.). The middle/old English “Thou” form is also searched and counted here.
The analysis grouped the handles in The article relied on a mixed approach several ways into [4.11] 'All handles to data: no prior rule or rigor made in the archive', that is, the handles any demand on the data collected generating 39,292 tweets available in the archive for both quantitative in the archive, [4.12] 'Handles in the and qualitative interpretations. The election corpus', all those who sent spreadsheet data were transferred, at least one election tweet or re- merged and cleaned up in worksheets. tweet during November 2013, [4.13] Example cases were extracted and 'Most interactive handles', those who sorted manually. Quantitative analysis received the most mentions and replies focused on three main variables, namely, in the tweets; [4.14] 'Elect handles', the handle, text and time, with followers handles that ended up in the corpus and friends occasionally used to suggest for containing 'election' string in their abstract ideas such as the reach of a label, and [4.15] 'Funny handles', those tweet. Qualitative analysis involving who feigned as others and sent funny the +ve and -ve context or facts, doubts, or silly tweets and [4.16] 'Real world fears and hopes were derived from the authors', those whose real name or data through manual selection and on identity was clearer. A category [4.17] the basis of some personal judgment 'Handles back then' went outside of @japokh, who created the visuals to the archive to look into the handles help interpretation. tweeting about election in 2008 for an idea of how the social media found local users increasing by many folds in 4. FINDINGS AND going from 2008 to 2013. DISCUSSION A The following section highlights the In the archive of 39,292 Nepal tweets, time in words, numbers and visuals. It a total of 12,071 unique handles sent findings around the handle, text and 30,134 unique tweets, replies or re- the help of diagrams. tweets about Nepal and election also briefly discusses the findings with
Analytical Report on Media Monitoring of 226 the Constituent Assembly Election 2013 between 24 October and 25 December, over 62 days, in the last quarter of 2013.
As shown in the scatter plot (diagram All handles that sent at least three 1), the density of their appearance over or more election tweets are in the the period of archiving is the highest for following handle cloud. The font sizes the Election Day. Clearly, more authors group handles sending more than 100 sent tweets on that historic day and days tweets, between 20 and 99 tweets, closer to it, in the campaign blackout between 10 and 19 tweets and less and immediate vote counting periods. than 10 tweets in the descending order This suggests more handles were using of their frequency of appearance. the social media megaphone in talking politics in November than they did in the Nepalvotes other months of the last quarter of 2013. LeoWhitmanNepal BullFightTaruka Their participation in the conversation on electoral politics is also evident in RepublicaNepal AsiaDailyNews that the authors posted more texts on npPoet Gopal_Birahi Nepal_ the Election Day compared to any other travels aakarpost milijulidotcom single day over the 62 days of monitoring storysouthasia NewsFromNepal News_ (diagram 2). Addicted_ DeepakAdk NowInNepal
Analytical Report on Media Monitoring of the Constituent 227 Assembly Election 2013 weeklynepal xBot AlinaHangma BeritaGw BerkleyBearNews Businessnewsca CA_NW_World CA_NewsWaver CanIndiaNews WarshingtonPost elecnep ushaft CarterCenter ChandrusWeb ConstTrans Electric__eye Farooqtariq ImNepalblog japokh BreakingNewsNEP FaziraAlHusien FidaSyahadah GamalSelem GdnDevelopment GeorgetownDG Gloomyguyarjun HumanityNews InNewsNet TheAntariksha arpanshr jhyal InsJournal JapanTodayNews JhattaiNews JwForum KevinWhipp prashantktm CrespiEnrico KirstenGeelan MFMURMIND MuthuKrish NCElection NationSecurity NehaRaySays New_updates NewsUpdte OmarShabbi PakistanFeed PatrioticVirtue Phanindra ReutersIndia ReutersWorld RichaShivakoti N_H_Asia Nepal_Bot dwdRAJU happyhippopotam RijalDr Sbasnyet SolheimDAC StanCrutiz Subhadraman SuryaRay siromanid GlamourNepal akannampilly TOPNEWS TheBiddhut Ucena Vincent__Patel Watcherone WorldRSSfeeds YeleMoni _prakashit_ advctMaheshwar agnibhandari anilbhattarai drbishnuhnepal TheNepal bullet ahhthatswhy amndasnellinger antloewenstein binitbhattarai blogdai sagar__subedi nepalnewsfeed myganthan csmonitor daulatjha dayasinghnp dhilipYo dineshkark dwatchnews nepalkonews EvaSanchez TheTomar Ujyaalo elites_nepal emagazineindia eoiktmnp gcmcNepal geshan ghalegroup ranjitpandey suzataz Aandhikhola KhushiS happyshiv iWorldRSS ians_india imdibyesh jgjhdar jitendraraut MeNingFull Sahadevision SharadChirag kancha kapshaltist kguragai khadka_prakriti kinsu krismyth THTNepalVotes Aibkhadka RoshGhimire VoteNepal march mediafound mistu_ife navinshakya nepalisanchars nepalst anilkarkie arunbudhathoki bhaktapuronline neutralnewskshtkr leyl lkafle nisapandey maila saau ooda manesacharya pan_kaji paramendra manjushreethapa pasapelectoral
sapangoyal saroose sbsigdelsantosh stNepali sumatee telegraphnepal bibekbhandari chapagain irfan_nurhakim itscoolsky peterfrancon pigreen praik sajjmh samrakchan samushr sanjaykafle jamesgreiddhungelnischal pdpbasyal suyogps sagartim nup aphle halid afiq thisismacdesign tommy_onsent weaker ADAMPLOW AbAnil AlaeLunaeDharma AmazingnepalNet AmitAgrhere Amy____Jones AoiroPlatform Ariane_Wilson AsiaRonn AslamChandio_ AsmitCFC AccountLab AdkRamen ElectionTweets GhimirePrashant RaviNepal AuliaRahmanFc AvinashMalla Bhuvanbagga BigPupazzoVerde SatishKTM SulavKarki WorldNews XinhuaNepal dipak_drleplan BlogsOfWarAsia Blogus_Maximus BraboAlfa CMcGranahan neemeshe nirmalacharya parexitpokhrel pearl_nepal thstrytllrprjct CNNaab CPAryal CSMWorldDesk ChamSumanapala Cloro_Graph votesafe Jane_Samuels MizoNews NepaliSagar Tukang_Update CommonBro DRP DTNFashion DTNIndonesia DanielCampbellp WorldHeadliners aavaas_ dpoudyalaya drishtikhatri ewickeri Deonguillory DesanBenz DevirupaM DilBhusanPathak DileshAryal kashishds sushilpokhrel troll_nepal twitt_manoz AnnabellePerez Disaster_Update ElRicky EquipeNicoleBR EstherCassady AsiaPacNews EricWRandolph Mrophiophagus Nepal_Monitor FlorianKrampe GEanalyst GiriGiri GudangRizki GurungSanto
SapphireG ShiwaniNeupane Sirish_Paudel ThePeakOilPoet bishaldhakalNkkcNirmal ficial i y bnnNEWSLIVE oneSN breaking_news_ PathakSharad himnp PrenitPokhrel ibnamra KailaKaur arlemshakes fi KamalFaridi Iam alex y KanchanOjha Indianews Kazi_Australia InfoDINE Isabella bregom Kazi_Canada ilhamfahryh khabarJP kishorenepal madhumarasini nepalnews NC esu paul itendrakshrest umlaNepal afleShristi newstrackindia pramodbhagat secondago testrssnews thedatanepal Kazi_UK Kevin___Taylor Krittivasm LAHURNIPNepal Love_ youthpradip ActivismRocks AllTheNewsIsNow BaarahK BallavTweets World_Live Maktratap Marie____Taylor MinutePost MissRotasia BeingPrabesh BiKuKo BuchiBskillzs CollectedN Dipakpoudel MySathiyamTV NG_DailyNews NTrekker Naharnet Nahomirachellw EurasiaReview LekhnathPathak Mrs_Jamarkattel OTGNCanada Nbh NepalNetwork NepalSamachar Neshaant NeutralityPolls ObiWanKenobl POMI_LoyalFan PalpalIndia PrachandaLife RauniyarIshwar Save_Delete ShivaThapaMagar SonamOngmo Nischal Oceane_Rodrigue PallaviDhakal PawanDulal PrabinRokaya TejshreeThapa TheWorldNews UN_Piper VisualCSW VotingNews PrajBaralNews eed son PunKaurat Newsflashindia Rajanghimire Newss orld RajneeshB Nili ajumder Rao_Krishna RealYeti WWNby WYFKERIS WillordCapulong WorldNews_ Zmerch_ ReutersChalmers RidhoHnf Rjushrestha RupaPokharel RyanJSuto beingnep beshow bhaskargyawali chennaivision chhantyal damakant SHADI_ALKASIM SLRCtweet Saatdobato SambidPant Scrpn dipakbhattarai live_nepal mylovedotnp nepaldiary npsanjal Suffolk_Saxon Sunkesharee TASIBO TeamNpal TextSafal TheAsianist pchilimzam ramghimiregulmi reuterswire sanjish seniormacuser ThePatriotGuard ThejasMysore ToddSteinICT UN_Nepal US_NW_ sgviews sulthinar trpansh updatenewspaper we_magar wildromeo World US_NewsWaver UjjwalAcharya VJMallet Velezinee VictorCloro_ WickedPromos WorldUSNews YetimNepal aaja_nepal aaryaavart DaniellePreiss DnAppeal Ghulam_Rasool GyaNeupane JPandhak abhishek_aditya acharyapramod adiadhikari adkys airnewsalerts Kazi_USA akarTech Kyodo_News_EN BPasianews Bammy fficial Lo_Nepal Madhu Bhabasagar MathGuyProblems Charis andyluis ansarim arjunkhadka aryaltanka asimkc asthaghim avseq NepaleseAvenue NewsBlogged Newschomper Ojha_Tika Prabkhadka RECUROUSA SameerDilip SwetaBasnet Yami_LalSalam abicup bhust bimalmaharjan bipul blairglencorse bnogr cazym_dx chalfal all_latestnews banusharma bhadrarukum bkamatya fanuet hijas_ chirandulal chuhaizhou cnstimes csapkota cybersansar devicpokhrel djsuraj dpali dyingregime e_coastalworld famousshyguyII mughalbiz myakami mynepal nepaltroll nparaju numbanil prashanna fantastic_fan frankietaggart freeNYTimes freeUnnamedNews gggioli qaerdsrdfftgjyhshrestha himalikiran rdewan jagannathlc redditnepal jprat sanjogdutta kaflemed keshuvkosardogsnepal luinteljaya globalnewsu gndemexchanges guardianworld gunaraj hamronepal shashikoirala shyy_guyy sxc_tu thaitvnews tu_wilber tweetjapan hazespore hsibar iTommo_Queen ihiergeist ilovesuba inthecuttime
Analytical Report on Media Monitoring of 228 the Constituent Assembly Election 2013 isharaaryal jay_ulfelder jitendra_ johnparajuli johnxiethor kamzang kingwale knightktm kulvinator kylunmedia lenatara lreesorkeller M luni_ba luzanb mR_aMoo mandeepkarpall manish mbahree mdarvas mikaness mohancb myPoliticaParty najushrestha narayanghimire Some handles received more mentions ndtv nepalmonitor newmatilda newsblaze nissanpokhrel notifeed pbhattarairabin pcs photobu podin_ pollyinthecity in the tweets than others. About 100 prakas_KP pratikgyawali qvjirj rachelmsavage rajstha ramupangeni most mentioned handles are in the bar randysetiawan razivc realacc_ rightnowio_feed rijalsam riyaaaaantiw rsettles rssworldnews rubeenaa sagarmaathaa sameermdixit diagram (diagram 6). sanpokh santoshempire saul__AD sauravrt shoutyoursite smitaprakash sudeeppaul sudghimire sudipoudel sunOhigh svbel The diagram (diagram 7) shows some udhungel ujwalthapa ultramutra veraescaliente viajandoperdido worldnewsthikey timesofindia xmilitaire tm insider triben il triomacan twanchor of the handles receiving the most replies from friends and followers. The most interactive authors, frequently Handles talking about Nepal election in November 2013 formed network the tweets across the election phases, clusters for different phases of the areappearing given below. in handle and text fields of election and some threads cut across clusters. The following is a visualisation E of the clusters, with tweets of 16 days of the campaign period, two days of Some authors had chosen to include blackout, one day of vote and 11 days of text string 'elect' or 'vot' or 'poll' in counting (diagram 3). their handle names. The search pulled these strings into the archive for their AVERAGE SHARE OF ELECTION new posts. Some of these are in the TWEETS BY EACH UNIQUE HANDLE following list.
ElectionNepal13, NepalElection, ElectaEditore, Election_USA, 4% FIRST 100 electionguide, ElectionTweets2, 15% NEST 502 ElectoralReport, NCElection, pasapelectoral, UK_ElectionNews, LAST 4635 elecnep13, Election_Watch, electionista, Cleanelection, NeutralityPolls, 81% F_A_Polls, Polliticko, Nepalvotes, Vote4Nepal, THTNepalVotes, votereportindia, votenet, votesafe, 14votes, Voter_In, Vote3rdPosition These handles may have skewed the results for election related codes. However, their uniform control over the 81%Tweeting of the often, buzz, the while first the last unique 4,635 different phases of election must have handleselection specific sent just handlesone or two generated tweets minimised the effect. each (4%) for the month of November. Other 502 unique handles, in between, F contributed 15 % of the buzz. The pie chart (diagram 4) shows how the As the archive showed, some people talkative few sat in the corpus with the had mimicked handles with somebody silent majority. made funny, silly or simply sinister A scatter plot for the top senders of most tweets.else s names @Plaid_Regmi or identifier was strings a parody and tweets appearing over the campaign, account for election prime minister blackout, voting and vote counting Regmi as was @krr_baaldhwoj which periods looked like this (diagram 5): had placed a hairful head in a mugshot
Analytical Report on Media Monitoring of the Constituent 229 Assembly Election 2013
Analytical Report on Media Monitoring of 230 the Constituent Assembly Election 2013
of Regmi. Examples below (diagram 8) show some of these handles and use your Twitter account. There’s no their texts. harmthat reflects in being you totally and howprofessional, you ll try but to a little bit of character will make you R seem more human (TweetLevel, 2013) (Diagram 9)." The variety of ways in which a user could choose the name of the handle made it would be helpful in some cases, but, the author's real identity in some way. inThe many information others, inthe the authors profile simply pages difficult to say for sure if each reflected avoided showing their real identity. to create their usernames. That, however, doesTwitter not asks guarantee users for emailthe verificationuser and few authors, who contributed the username have similarities on which most eading election-proper the profiles tweets of the to topthe to draw conclusions. Moreover, many spreadsheet archive, shows the nature people have multiple email accounts. When they sign up for the micro-blog, they can choose handles that leave no of the problem as in the figure here. trace in the name of who they are. identiyEven these of the profileauthors. details Only by are piecing not Even those who follow the guidelines always helpful to establish the fleshy may choose a variety of usernames. picture, the description for the handle together the handle name, profile username is this: there’s no harm in known author. usingThe officialyour actual advice name on choosing of course, the and some tweets could one confirm a provided someone else hasn’t taken Complicating the matter, according it already! "If your desired username to the CMR survey, one in 10 Nepali has been taken, choose something users maintained multiple accounts.
Analytical Report on Media Monitoring of the Constituent 231 Assembly Election 2013 Handle Text Time
@YAMI_LALSALAM a]h6 ÛÛ a]h6 ÛÛÛ d afpgsL >Ld6L efsf]n] ;fob 0f]jf/x?n] ef]t 8]gg\ ÛÛÛ #Nepal- 11/20/2013 Yami_LalSalam Votes #Nepal_Election #nepalelections
Maane mero bhaasan ko demand ta @KimKardashian ko sex tape bhanda @PRACHANDANEPAL Nov 18 charko cha ta. Harek mahina leak huncha. #lalsalam
@ LAL_PRACHANDA Jite #dhoti leJhur khelyo #Nepal leRamro khelera harya vaye ni chitta bujhthyo 11/19/2013 _prachanda baru#india... 11/20/2013 PrachandaLife @KTnepal This will not last! Baburam promised. #Nepal #NepalVotes
@BRB_KAALDHWOJ RT @aakarpost: Great Analysis on Nepal CA Election Results by @akhanal in 11/26/2013 brb_kaaldhwoj Tough Talk / @DilBhusanPathak. http://t.co/P4OAm1TDLJ [Must Watch…
@WARSHINGTONPOST #Nepal election puts Maoists, and a nation’s disillusion ... #GaganThapa 11/18/2013 WarshingtonPost #NepaliCongress
caps on the number of texts, to pull and push as tweets instead of the Twitter verification would enhance fleshy author sending them (dlvr.it). inthe the confidence case of a few about Nepali the handles, person being such asknown @AnupKaphle, offline but it@prabalgurung was applicable onlyand The following network view (diagram @DeepakAdk of the analysed archive. 10) shows the nodes of some top handles in terms of the number of election Even with knowing all this, one tweets they posted in November 2013. needed other guarantees that these persons were posting the tweets Some other handles, such as, @Nepal_ by themselves. Individuals and Time, despite being present during the organisations deployed some device, campaign period, sent tweets containing software or application to send the chronology of nothing but time tweets on their behalf. The sources itself: l6+u Û l6+u Û l6+u Û l6+u Û l6+u Û clxn] g]kfndf of tweets that came to the archive laxfgsf] % ah]sf] 5 #TIME #NEPAL #NST. via the #nepal string indicated that @PowerCutAlert also contributed authors were using mobile devices regularly to expand the archive but its and tweet scheduling applications. contents were obviously about load- Some had clear markers like @ shedding information. japokh's UPDATE prefix and END suffix or even better, for example, The handles in the corpus, with their [auto tweet] or satimage, etc. Several indicative total size of followers (42.64 handles, it was visible, pulled texts million) and friends (6.79 million), from online tools for containing used several languages to send texts certain character-strings and auto- about Nepal election: en= english (8972 pushed these to their Twitter pages, tweets), zh-cn=chinese (8), ar=arabic creating a heady soup of text strings (11) , ko=korean (2), el=greek modern produced by humans and automatons (13), pt=portugese (39), ru=russian of various persuasions. On behalf (17), it=italian (77), th=thai (2), of the collector of these tweets, @ de=german (35), hi=hindi (1), fr=french japokh, most election tweets over (75), id=indonesian (50), es=spanish the 62 days of archiving came from (144), nl=dutch (7), ja=japanese (45), an online push message service, with da=danish (5), pl=polish (3), sv=swedish
Analytical Report on Media Monitoring of 232 the Constituent Assembly Election 2013
Analytical Report on Media Monitoring of the Constituent 233 Assembly Election 2013
E AMPLE TE T no=norwegian (6), ro=romanian (2) (Library( , ca catalan of congress). ( , fi finnish ( , ÂÂ monarquía: Nepal dejará de ser hoy Some top handles, shown at random, in una EP Nepal Monarquía pone fin para hoy pasar a a conve..a os de terms of the number of their followers, with the dates on which they sent ÂÂ Nepal Poised for Rebirth as a Repub- Nepal election tweets, are shown in the lic http://tinyurl.com/4uy6zt network graph (diagram 11). ÂÂ At Least 8 Killed on Eve of Nepal Vote If each follower, or friend, for that matter, http://tinyurl.com/4skpd6 of the handle looked up each tweet that came their way, the potential reach of ÂÂ Heavy turnout for Nepal elections: all the tweets in the archive could have UN: Landmark elections in Nepal been immense. seem to have got off to a strong start..
The table (diagram 12) shows the ÂÂ Nepal abolishes monarchy: Nepal's King Gyanendra has been given 15 and examples of what they were days to v.. http://tinyurl.com/5yazx2 tweeting,topmost five in which by the languagesi e of their and followers when. ÂÂ Final results from Nepal's elections T A show Nepal resultsformer affirm M.. aoisthttp://tinyurl. victory com/3oysvp The following are some of the handles which were tweeting about Nepal's Campaign 2008, a public report of Media CA election back in 2008. Most were Monitoring Programme 2008, shows international media organisations. that Nepal's major media monitoring (diagram 13)
effort during the first C had covered
Analytical Report on Media Monitoring of 234 the Constituent Assembly Election 2013
Handle Text Time Lan- Follower guage Nepal’s election may not lift country’s permanent sense of Tue TIME En 5160530 crisis http://t.co/ih3D51DqwK Nov 19 Nepal's oldest political party is leading a rst set of results Mon AP En 2696543 from last week's election: http://t.co/zkJJNL2FJ1 - VW Nov 25 RT @AnupKaphle: Nepal's election puts Maoists, and a Mon washingtonpost nation's disillusion, in spotlight -- my story, pix from Kath- En 2224538 Nov 18 mandu. http://t.co/3QlWZM… Protests heighten tensions ahead #Nepal's elections http://t. Mon guardian En 1582496 co/t4yc8rC1yq #nepalvotes Nov 04 Nepal’s oldest party leads rst election results http://t. Mon ndtv En 1348977 co/1qF2N1sdIf Nov 25
Analytical Report on Media Monitoring of the Constituent 235 Assembly Election 2013 accept ballot chink cricketer draw frabjuos holiday legislate mission oqqhogy punish schedule sunri uncertainty account base chndcwi criticism dream freeunnamednew hoolqce lesson missionary organization push school supervise unhappy accountable bbcnew choice cross drive friendycall hop let mmwlawtao other put scratch support unit accredit become choose crow dry frustrate hope lgemrxllg modify outcome que seal supporter unite achievement begin christian crush dunyanew frustrating hotel lie moist overshadow queer season suppress unsurprising acro belong circulate cue eager frustration hour like monitor paint question seat surprise unveil action billion citizen cuqliqqb economist fsouqkhw house limitation month pamphlet queue secure surround updat activity blast city dalit e ort f**k http limp mountain parent quote security sweep update actor blight claim dat elect function httweet link move participate raise see swing urge address block clash decide election gadget hurl lion muppet party rattle seek switch urgent advocate bold class declare electionresult gain hype list muscle pass reach seem system use a air bomb classroom decrease elite gamble illustrate listen myconstituence path reaction select take vehicle a ect book clog defeat emerge gardinerharri implication livetweet name pattern read sell talk verify age boost close defend emurk garnu impose loan nation peacebuild reason set tantrum veye agency booth code defy end gcrwdcg inch lock near peaceful rebel share teacher victim agree border collapse delay enem generation incident londoner need peak recet sharethi technology vie alarm box colleague delight enter get increase look neglect peel recommendation shout tell view alert boycott collection deliver entertain gift india loom neharaysay people record show tensino vignette allegation bpasianew college delivery enthusiast give indicate loose neighbor perform reference sideline tension violate allege break combine demand error gmklec in uence lose neighbour persecutionnew register sign terrorist visitor allow bring come demobilize estimate go infographic loser nepal person reinforce sink tgobjx vnssrb ambassador browse commence democratize event grandparent injure loss nepalcount photo reject site thailand voate americanew buddy comment deny examine grant injury lot nepalelection photojournal relative smell thaitvnew volunteer animal bullet commie depend excited grassroot insight love nepali pic release smfuiy theirfan vote announce buoy commissioner deploy exclude grenade interact maddicharle nepalitime place rely snatch think voter annoy bus communi derrotado exhibit group interview make nepalnew plan remain socme thrash wait answer buy communist desert exhilarate grow investigate maker nepalpolitic plant remark soldier threat wane apology buyer complaint deserve expect gsrxiano invite maldive nepalsmaoist play remember solve threaten want appeal cadre complete destroy expend guarantee involve manage nepalvote player remind something throw wash appear call comrade detail explain guess irregularity mande nepvote polarize remove sound tht waste apple campaign concern develop explode guest issue manifest nfdn politician report source thtnepalvote watch apply cancel concession development express gun itczxx maobadi nigeriandailynew politics represent speak thump website appreciate cand conclude device extend guruda japantime maoi nmiunbo poll representative spend ticket week approach candidate concratulation die face guy job maoist norm ponder require sponsor tobymathi welcome approve capoll conduct di culty fact hail join map nytime pool resolve sta today win archive capture confuse direct faction halt journalist mar observe portion respect stand tomorrow winner area car congratulate disability fail hand jrvnrx mark observer pose respond start topic wish arrange care congre disappear family happen jungle market obstruct position response stat tourist wolve arrest case connection discover fan happening kashishd material occur post result state track wonder arrive cast consolidate discuss fast have khan mathguyproblem o cer poster return station trail wood asemb cause constituency discussion fear head kick matter o cial postpone reuter stay travel work ask celebration constituentassemb disrupt feature heart know meeting okkfujr procure rival stop trek worker assembly center contest distribute ght heighten ktaatcy member one program road story trend worldnew asset chance continue district nd helicopter kufrtltqw menifestoe open progress route strategy trouble worldrssfee associate change continuous divide nger here kyodonew mention operate projection ruin stream trust worldwidenew assume channel contradict do nish hero lack merge opponent promise rule street try wound assure charge contribute doc re hill landscape midterm oppotun promote rupee stress tuesday write attack chepang correspondent document ight him language mika prayer property save stretch tune yahoonew attempt cherish count dominate focus hint launch mile pre propose say strike turn yell attract chill country donate follow hit law million predict protect successfu struggle tvanouvelle author conversation cover doubt footgae hitch le mind prediction protest successful student tweet authority cook crash downloade foreigner hiwdzdj leader minister preparation prove suck suggest tweeter avoid cooolrim create dozen form hmnqoorti leave minority prepare publish sucssesful sum type await correct creep draft foxnew hold led miss problem pull su er
only the mainstream media outlets, leaving social media and online news sites outside its routines (Nepal Monitor, 2008).
T
The text contained words frequently appearing over the election phases to refer to various concepts. These included mention of handles and several undeciphered text strings. Stemming all these and removing duplicates, about 700 English words were found frequently used to build the most tweets sent in the election time. They are in the picture (diagram 14).
Most frequent among the words across election phases are shown in the following diagram.
Analytical Report on Media Monitoring of 236 the Constituent Assembly Election 2013 The table below lists some of the most frequent election related concepts with their frequency of appearance over November 2013.
Concept Frequency Concept Frequency Nepal election 469 Maoist leader 20 Election o cials 267 NepalVotes Nepal 19 election results 213 Nepal Election Nepal 19 constitutional assembly 193 19th Nov 18 2nd election 190 great news 18 Election Commission 140 Highest participation 18 Charge Election Fraud 131 security forces 18 election day 130 national election results 18 revolutionary leader 124 pre-election strike 17 oldest political party 116 political parties Government 17 Politics election sports 107 Oldest Party Leads 1st Election Results 17 Maoists demand election investigation 98 gasoline bomb attack 16 Constituent Assembly election 93 proportional election system 16 oldest party 90 Constituent Assembly 16 political gridlock 76 little hope 16 Maoists face struggle 74 Nepali woman 16 CA election 70 other details 15 election demand vote count 68 French news agency 15 other news 63 good turnout 15 Himalayan country 63 post-war election 15 NepalVotes RT 61 Voter turnout 15 Social Media Buzz Analysis Report 61 former rebel leader 15 election result 60 social media 14 nepal votes 58 Assembly election day 14 Partial results 58 RT DeepakAdk 14 Permanent Sense 55 favourite countries 14 chance vote 55 free amp 14 Election day bomb 53 Vote Fraud 14 election violence 52 nal Nepal election result 14 peaceful amp 52 powerful Maoists 14 Nepal Constituent Assembly election 52 successful election 13 story pix 51 Election fever 13 election Vote 51 Nepalese people 13
Analytical Report on Media Monitoring of the Constituent 237 Assembly Election 2013 crude bomb 50 peaceful Nepal election 13 election show Communist Party 49 Election boycott 13 bomb blast 48 political party 13 Assembly Election 46 polls Tuesday 13 last week 46 election silence 13 reject election results 46 bombing threats 13 demand halt 46 Nepal Election Violence 13 rst set 46 UPI -- More 13 election o cial 42 major channel 13 largest Maoist part 42 accurate poll-predictions 13 Election campaign 41 election code 12 Vote Results 41 new constitution 12 long-awaited election 40 capital hours 12 charter assembly 40 historic day 12 RT FuadThaufeeq 39 RT prabalgurung 12 Nepal Signal 39 election crisis 12 key election 38 strong man 12 Oldest Party Leads 1st Election Results 37 Maoists claim 12 Nepal new pragmatism 36 RT PrachandaLife 12 historic election 36 Nepalese election 11 election rally 35 Election Nepal 11 revolutionary leader Prachanda 35 Nepal Election Nov 11 chief alleges election fraud 35 Nepal Army 11 political parties 34 constitutional assembly election 11 hope lot 34 upcoming election 11 Election Live Nepal 34 heighten tensions 11 Sunday WashingtonPost 32 anti election campaign 11 day bomb 32 spark fears 11 election demand vote count suspension 32 Carter Center 11 Nepal protests 31 army soldier 11 Peaceful election 31 busy street 11 election Mountains 30 rst general election 11 RT AnupKaphle Nepal 29 historic success 11 delivers baby 28 happy day 11 fair election 27 victorious one 11 United Communist Party 27 political certainty years 11
Analytical Report on Media Monitoring of 238 the Constituent Assembly Election 2013 Civil War 26 least Hindu people 11 rst election results 26 Maoist politics 11 vote names 26 demand suspension 11 Election http 25 permanent sunris 11 general election 24 demand election investigation 11 peace process 24 election updates 10 Interesting election week 24 national election 10 Many reasons 24 nepalvotes election 10 good news 24 ElectionNepal13 NepalVotes 10 Maoist party 24 splinter group 10 Jimmy Carter 23 little support 10 Election NepalVotes 23 Maoist leader Prachanda 10 successful conduct 23 happy today 10 Nepal CA Election 22 Best day 10 latest updates 22 powerful Maoist leader 10 voters Party 22 RT DFIDNepal Duncan Waiting 10 FF graphic 21 MJF D 10 Nepal election result 21 Party Win Lead NC 10 Nepal RT 20 Political Right Turn - New York Times 10 eastern Nepal 20 second C 10 Election May 20 excellent news 10
T
These hint that routine topics, weather, load-shedding, travel, sports and festival were also part of the ongoing election conversation.
Analytical Report on Media Monitoring of the Constituent 239 Assembly Election 2013 N
Top nouns are given in the following plot.
The colours and lines indicate a general pattern of mention for the name of concepts.
4.2.2 Verbs
Tweets used action words to describe what they had in mind about the election for the people in the network. The following plot shows the distribution of the verbs across time.
Analytical Report on Media Monitoring of 240 the Constituent Assembly Election 2013 A
Some top adjectives to appear in the text across the phases are the following.
T
The word clouds show the salience some topics received over others during the electionThis section phases. shows the findings across election phases about handles and texts.
B
Analytical Report on Media Monitoring of the Constituent 241 Assembly Election 2013 of fear. The list and size of fear words grow on the campaign blackout period with bombIn the andfirst blastcloud, prevailing on the top over left, other clash, words. strike, Theattack bomb are continueswords that to evoke threaten a sense the Election Day mood as well.
Some less desirable standalone words frequently appearing in the tweets over the election phases indicated that there were many things, some routine stuff like load shedding, in the minds of the tweeple to worry about during the election time.
Interestingly, the hope words were aplenty, too. Many tweets were sending upbeat vibes about festivals, games, adventures, luxuries, etc, during the election time.
M
Nepali Congress received the most mentions during the campaign, voting and vote counting periods. Tweets talked about UML during the blackout. UCPN-Maoist trailed in the third place.
Interestingly, among the labels used to develop the line graph (diagram 16) through their search in the election tweets over the different phases, Prachanda consistently toped the tally, reaching way higher than other leaders in the number mentions he received during the counting.
Further analysis of the text for its semantic features showed tweets were mostly enunciative during the campaign, blackout and vote counting, with the speaker and interlocutor establishing relations and making their standpoints known. On the voting day, the tweets together showed narrative features, talking about action and setting, mentioning place and time.
Based on a scheme to process the text at the level of words, the analysis started with the assumption that roughly one out of four words could be ambiguous in terms of
Analytical Report on Media Monitoring of 242 the Constituent Assembly Election 2013
grammar, syntax and meaning. Too many text strings in the tweets written without much regard to spelling or grammar complicated the matter.
As far as the words appearing in the corpus of texts over time were good for use in the analysis, they were sorted and grouped into verbs, connectors, modalities, adjectives and pronouns. Other pronouns, articles, prepositions and non-qualifying adjectives were used by the software tool only for solving ambiguity.
T
Analytical Report on Media Monitoring of the Constituent 243 Assembly Election 2013 Facts of action, such as "to do", "to work", "to walk", topped the campaign, voting and counting phases. Verbs expressing states or concepts of possession such as "to be", "to stay", and statements such as "to think", "to believe", appeared mostly during vote counting. Performative verbs such as in, "I promise", "I demand", were very few all along.
Addition and comparison words topped the tally generally in all phases of the election. Comparison peaked in the blackout period, next to comparison word during vote counting.
Time words such as now, yesterday or tomorrow appeared the most often in all phases of election. Modalities appeared the most often during the vote counting. Words modifying place, manner or showing intensity generally followed the trend next to time words. Words modifying assertion and doubt were few for all phases.
Analytical Report on Media Monitoring of 244 the Constituent Assembly Election 2013
The description words were mostly objective, usually independent of the author's standpoint, throughout November. Objectivity was at its lowest during the campaign blackout. Judgement words generally increased in number from campaign to counting phases.
‐ ‐ ‐ ‐ ‐ ‐
'You' topped the tally during the campaign, 'I' was in the most tweets during the blackout, and 'We' emerged on top during the voting and counting periods. 'They' appeared on the top during the counting phase. Thou was rare all along.
Analytical Report on Media Monitoring of the Constituent 245 Assembly Election 2013 Looking at the sentence level, the tweets, most of which showed irregular syntactic features, were not amenable to automated computer analysis. Without building a sophisticated system to clean up, stem, parse, count and assign the text into locally
the tweets at the sentence or discourse level. It was not possible for this analysis to go torelevant another categories, level of sophistication. nothing definitive can be said about the characteristic features of
Instead, this section of textual analysis and interpretation starts with a simple example of coverage of election code of conduct by tweets during the campaign.
EXAMPLE
T (Diagram 17)
ÂÂ EC lifts election code of conduct http://t.co/3888AFcbjR #nepal
ÂÂ Election commission Nepal website not working here in Bangkok, can somebody send me media code of conduct
ÂÂ - tion code of conduct http://t.co/JXWeU2imeJ #nepal Complaints lodged against U candidates hanal, Nembang for flouting elec ÂÂ Election Commission #Nepal ordered Nepal Govt to halt transmission of ABC Television citing violation of election code of conduct
ÂÂ Dinner with Nepal election commissioner Ella Sharma; was busy all times on phone for implantation of code of conduct
ÂÂ In this silence hour, my inbox is receiving urge 4vote by a candidate, breaking codes of election, where's the ethics?
ÂÂ UMLhttp://t.co/fLcZ0l3RG5 #nepal T epublicaNepal UCPN ( is flouting election code of conduct, says
Analytical Report on Media Monitoring of 246 the Constituent Assembly Election 2013 ÂÂ Election Code Violated by Media and Political Parties |;~rf/ dfWodåf/f lgjf{rg cfrf/;+lxtf pNnª\3g |..
ÂÂ RT @DhakalSaurav: I need Code for Conduct for Election Promotion : Some dev agencies people claim they are promoting candidate
ÂÂ RT @PallaviDhakal: cfrf/ ;+lxtf sxfF sxfF pNnª\3g e}/x]sf] 5 t < of] Dofddf x]g{ ;Sg'x'G5 .
ÂÂ Did the UCPNM violate the Election Code of Conduct with its "anti-Nepal banda motorbike rally"? And who else?
ÂÂ NC draws EC's attention towards election code violation http://t.co/
ÂÂ pxUdh b s (e antipur Federal Socialist Party Distributes fb Cards against Election Code |cfrf/ ;+lxtf ljkl/t lelhl6Ë sf8{ ljt/0f :
ÂÂ #Nepal EC removes poll materials that breached code of conduct: KAKADBHIT- TA: The Election
ÂÂ Election Commissioner Sharma stresses on poll code of conducthttp://t.co/g3F-
ÂÂ Carterp xd q Centre (e antipur urges respect fb for election code http://t.co/qmteDTEUCm #Nepal
ÂÂ + So, the worst violators of the code of conducts are the President, this KhiRaRe#government and this said-to-be-
ÂÂ More impunity is only outcome to expect once the failed politicians who r bla-
ÂÂ tantlyGovt engineer flouting ECbreaches code of election conduct code win ofthis conduct http://t.co/f0DsRebwlM #ne- pal
ÂÂ #Kathmandu: #Nepal's Election Commission has formed a high level committee to effectively monitor the #election code of conduct.
ÂÂ Nepal poll panel to monitor election code of conduct
ÂÂ x]lnsK6/sf] k|lt:kwf{ M r'gfj k|rf/df x]lnsK6/ rf6{/sf] k|lt:kwf{df lj3l6t ;+ljwfg;efsf]===
ÂÂ x]bL{ hfg'xf]nf Ps lbg a}b\o sf] k5fl8 Pp6f dfvf] kg] 3'DgP] 5}g. zfob Tof] lbg dlª\z/ % utP] kg] x'g ;S5. #Nepal
ÂÂ x]bf{ x]bf{ xfD/f] b]z g]kfn s:tf] ef], cfn' Kofh eGbf ad kf] ;:tf] ef] #Nepal #Election #Nepal- votes #Nepalvote #Kathmandu
ÂÂ lxdkftn] k|rf/df afwf M laxLaf/ ck/fx\gb]lv df};d kl/jt{g eO{ n]sfnL a:tLdf ef/L lxdkft ePsf] 5===
ÂÂ lxhf] /ftL ælaU/]sf] sf] k|];/ s"s/æ af6f] df kmlnlbPsf],laxfg p7\bf t ad l8:kf];n 6f]nL cfP/ l8:kf];n ub}{ /fO5æ===xf xf xf==
ÂÂ lx+;f / eo/lxt r'gfj ug{ ls/ft wd{u'? lnªb]gsf] cfU/x #Nepal #Nepalvotes #election #vio- lence #Kirat
to highlight certain qualitative characteristics of the text strings as they appeared duringThe following the different is an attempt phases ofto election.find patterns through examples and colour markers
Analytical Report on Media Monitoring of the Constituent 247 Assembly Election 2013
The style of the campaign content was rather enunciative. The speaker and the
standpoints known. The colour highlights the style markers. interlocutor appeared as establishing mutual relations of influence, making their
The narrator was present in the setting, asking and encouraging something, as shown below.
The setting involved "I".
Analytical Report on Media Monitoring of 248 the Constituent Assembly Election 2013 Some notion of doubt was detected.
irregular syntax, were something like these examples below. ost characteristic parts of the text, although not a definitive indicator given the
Analytical Report on Media Monitoring of the Constituent 249 Assembly Election 2013 B The style of the text was rather enunciative again as the highlighted words suggest.
"I" was used quite often.
The setting involved the narrator.
Analytical Report on Media Monitoring of 250 the Constituent Assembly Election 2013 Most characteristic parts of text follow.
Analytical Report on Media Monitoring of the Constituent 251 Assembly Election 2013
Text style of the day of voting was rather narrative, in which a narrator stated a series of events, happening at a given time, and in a given place, as suggested by the highlighted words.
Analytical Report on Media Monitoring of 252 the Constituent Assembly Election 2013 Setting involved dynamic, action, words.
Irregular syntax, common in tweets, was detected.
Most characteristic parts of the text were as below.
It also involved "I"
Analytical Report on Media Monitoring of the Constituent 253 Assembly Election 2013
The style of the text was rather enunciative.
Setting involved the narrator.
Analytical Report on Media Monitoring of 254 the Constituent Assembly Election 2013 Setting involved "I"
Some notions of doubt has been detected.
Analytical Report on Media Monitoring of the Constituent 255 Assembly Election 2013 Most characteristic parts of text.
T T
The context of tweets, inferred from some past action words, showed that the authors were generating a mixed sentiment of fear and hope overall. The sentiment score is only suggestive and based on scores with some reworking of the sentiment score dictionary.
Analytical Report on Media Monitoring of 256 the Constituent Assembly Election 2013 P
The types of positive action words in the present sense are shown in the scatter plot below.
M the different phases of the election time. The frequent use of the following modifiers suggest the positive mood reigning over
N by sending the most tweets, replies and re-tweets over the election time, ÂÂ Gleaning from all these, it can be said that most authors sent the most texts 81% of the buzz. The next 502 con- on the Election Day, 19 November tributedthe first 15% unique to the authors conversation. created 2013, or days closer to it. More than 4000 sent just a tweet or ÂÂ Texts featured people's growing hopes two over the month (4%). after early doubts, and fears of vio- ÂÂ Interactive handles were far fewer than the active handles ÂÂ They were talking about many things electionlence gradually changed into defiance from other tweeple to real people to ÂÂ Asto naysayersif in real life and group confidence conversations, in the festivals to sports to travel and politics
Analytical Report on Media Monitoring of the Constituent 257 Assembly Election 2013 T elecnep13, ElectionTweets2, S EvaSanchez777 | Handles. A quantitative summary of ||GhimirePrashant, GlamourNepal, Gopal_Birahi, happyhippopotam, handles across the election phases is ImNepalblog, irfan | giventhe dataset below. on first most frequent ||itscoolsky, jamesgreid, japokh, jhyal, Kazi, 99 observations and 5 variables
halid afiq , hushiS Maximum # NAs:0 ||LeoWhitmanNepal, leplan, MeNingFull, milijulidotcom, myganthan, Levels Storage neemeshe, nepal |
Handle 99 integer ||Nepal, nepalkonews, nepalnewsfeed, Nepalvotes, news, News, Campaign integer NewsFromNepal |
Blackout integer ||nirmal46acharya, NowInNepal, npPoet, nurhakim, parexitpokhrel, Counting integer pdpbasyal, pearl |
Voting integer ||prashantktm, ranjitpandey, RaviNepal, RepublicaNepal, RoshGhimire, sagar | +------+------+ ||sagartim20, Sahadevision, SatishKTM, |Variable|Levels SharadChirag, shrestha, siromanid | | ||storysouthasia, subedi, SulavKarki, +------+------+ suyogps, suzataz, TheAntariksha, TheNepal | | Handle |aakarpost, Aandhikhola, aavaas, AccountLab, Addicted, ||TheTomar, thstrytllrprjct, AdkRamen, Aibkhadka | THTNepalVotes, travels, Ujyaalo, UN, Update, ushaft | ||akannampilly, anilbhattarai, anilkarkie, AnupKaphle, arpanshr, arunbudhathoki, ||Vote4Nepal, votesafe, Asia| WarshingtonPost, World, WorldNews36, XinhuaNepal | ||AsiaDailyNews, bhaktapuronline, bibekbhandari, Bot, BreakingNewsNEP, +------+------+ bullet350 | The following dendogram, built with ||BullFightTaruka, chapagain, the frequencies of appearance of these CrespiEnrico, DeepakAdk, handles across the election phases, dhungelnischal, dpoudyalaya | shows that a few of them were sending more tweets than the most others in all ||drbishnuhnepal, drdipak, dwdRAJU, phases.
Analytical Report on Media Monitoring of 258 the Constituent Assembly Election 2013 The handle weights for the different phases of election is shown in the viz below.
It shows most handles from handle clusters 2 and 7 from blackout period, for example above, match in their weight, as shown by similar colour, with those in the cluster 2 of campaign and voting. Cluster 7 of voting and cluster 2 of counting are closer but starkly different from the rest of the clusters.
Concepts
Below is the summary of the dataset of 100 most frequently appearing concepts across the election phases.
Levels Storage Campaign 100 integer Blackout 100 integer Voting 100 integer Counting 100 integer
The following table lists the top 100 single word concepts for each phase of the election in the order of their decreasing frequency as we go down the list.
Analytical Report on Media Monitoring of the Constituent 259 Assembly Election 2013 Campaign Blackout Voting Counting Upcoming Struggle Historic Charge Nepal Nepal Nepal Nepal Campaign win_over Politicians party http http http http News Story Maoists Time Co Co Co co opposition- CA Constituent reject Election Election Election election led RT RT Election Election Now observing KATHMANDU History Election Nepals RT RT Guardian Pix Lot Tomorrow NepalVotes Election Day o cials Time This Countrys omyegod Violence Maoists NepalVotes Maoists Five QlWZM Violence leads pre- Constitu- Polls Bomb Nepals Parties Vote Gt election ent Nepal Nation Nepals counting Th Tomorrow All Wednesd CHAPA- Hit Leader Vote votes Protests Police claim GAUN People Loses CA begin Political Day Exploded news Nov Appeal Nepal AP FuadThau- Constituent Started loses Nepals Limps Political results feeq revolution- KAT- CA Votes Jimmy Nd Three Assembly ary MANDU Bomb assembly Today national onedirslay- Ahead Observe Capital tion Candidates tomorrow Voters shambles orgas- politi- Day NepalVotes End Kathmandu Time News micgomez cal_party constitu- Vote There Not Maoist Rally Polls this tional Days Too Gridlock NepalVotes Strike New Wounded Politics This Take Injures Prachanda India History Violence set Nepalvotes Tonight Reuters demand DAYS Carter Charter Report Heighten Weeks Voting Vote ECNepal Drives Live losing Fu- Maoists wadThow- Assembly vote TODAY Key Nepalese Party feek NepVote omyegod Bomb not Tensions Leaving Tuesday result pragma- November TIME Partial Arrested Rest Today CA tism Protests Male Blast Wednes All Tumult Lift count Not Back Nepalis assembly Explosion Not News led KATH- Elections disillusion People Results Prachanda Polling suspension MANDU Nepalvotes Puts Commission oldest washing- investiga- Observe Day Least Nations Another nepal tonpost tion Commission spotlight Happy st Polls NepVote Crisis rhetoric AnupKa- Disillusion Hope Fraud Voters Nepali Crude soften phle NEPAL Most Sense sports Assembly Nepal This nd News Best Vote people Puts Reuters Turnout fraud Get Sunday Permanent rst Nations Voters Assembly News Goes Wid Kathmandu Reuters Kath- Spotlight Give leader mandu DeepakAdk Article Voting trail disillu- O cial Days Elect Nepali Injured Peaceful Losing sioned Twitter People NEPAL democracy constitu- Party CAElection Nepalvotes Media Carter Face Chance tional
Analytical Report on Media Monitoring of 260 the Constituent Assembly Election 2013 Commu- Bus Here Crude Transforming the above words into nist_Party numeric values, the dendogram plots Looms Party Best Social the clusters of most frequent concepts Turn India Mars NC in the following visualisation (diagram Washing- Munesh_ ELECTION One 18,19). tonPost Chahar Lets Time Parties UML Words, albeit transformed for NepalElec- Ushaft India other computation, in clusters 1 and 5 of tion counting match with cluster 4, for Nepal_Elec- Going Vs Ballot example, of the campaign period. The tion same can be said about cluster 5 and 4 New Week Akannampilly Analysis of voting and cluster 2 of blackout. Analysis Jimmy More nepalvotes Aakarpost Nepalese Takes more constitu- https Print Lines ent Transport RmCSBZGw Nepalvotes Both of its mandate, and a bonus two years What Web Lose Happened inThe self-extended first C had tenures,squandered before two it years died Himalayan Lose Two O cials a vegetative death on 27 May 2012 Any peaceful DeepakAdk halt without accomplishing the task for which it had come into existence: writing Attack published Disrupted show and promulgating Nepal's constitution. Blog Silence Gai Nepalvotes Tra c Maldives Good If The big four parties of that time, Vote Assembly Prabalgurung leading namely, UCPN-Maoist, Nepali Congress, Blockade Chile JohnSaeki accept CPN-UML and the Madheshí front, Latest Interesting Begins Buzz were still working to overcome their long- political differences, which held the Tuesdays Country Himalayan awaited Media Results Participation seat first C hostage to indecision on several occasions. ne fine morning then, as if
Analytical Report on Media Monitoring of the Constituent 261 Assembly Election 2013
the big four had decided to put their daily of Nepali twitizens, the 33-party anti- election alliance of the time led by they requested Chief Justice Khil Raj the CPN-Maoist threatened, at times Regmibrawl to briefly arrange behind the 2013 the publicCA elections. glare, showing force, to disrupt the election. They urged the voters to boycott what formed a cabinet of former bureaucrats they termed was an illegitimate election andThe lawyers Chief ustice and tookheaded leave the ofelection office, process, initiated by an illegitimate government. On 17 June 2013, the non- government, born through a secluded political government announced the co-habitation of the big four parties. holding of elections on 19 November The political dissenters announced an 2013, engaging for a while in futile attempts to convince the dissenting and weeks in the campaign period, then political parties, mainly the splintered plantedindefinite bombs shutdown, and torched running vehicles. for days In CPN-Maoist, to participate in the vote. some places, the people rejected their bandh and, in others, over the days, the Chief Election Commissioner Neel intensity of opposition to the election Kantha Uprety, with his team of waned on its own. commissioners, also set out to convince the people that the elections would Only on the Election Day, when a record be held for sure and they would be number of enthusiastic voters, between peaceful. Election Commission Nepal 70 and 80 percent, showed up at the proceeded with its schedule asking the election booths, tweet authors wrote words of surprise in place of their and voters to obtain their ID cards. early doubts. Many narrated their own political parties to file their candidates participation or that of others in the vote, Tweet authors explicitly shared this defying the bomb scare of the morning, context and related developments from right inside the election booths. alongside their speculations about the Many authors posted pictures, although fresh election prospects. they are not analysed here, of the voters in queues as the hours passed by.
the general speculative propensities dding fuel to fire fear mongering or
Analytical Report on Media Monitoring of 262 the Constituent Assembly Election 2013 5. CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION to infer if the wit, gossip and gaffe heard onnews the and Twitter other wall web was links, circulating it was difficult in the real world.
Election tweets, as texts with the The mood swung over the campaign, technological possibility of travelling campaign blackout, voting and vote far and wide at an instant, were counting periods, creating an online increasingly being studied for their buzz, available for public view, possibility to predict election outcomes. download and close reading. Early Thousands of authors sent tweets about tweet authors showed doubts about the Nepal in the last quarter of 2013, when ability or intention of the government the crucial Constituent Assembly vote and the key political leaders to make was scheduled in the country. More the elections happen, or, in case they than nine thousand tweets, talking happened, make them peaceful. Some about Nepal's November 2013 election, of them shared hazy references from were available in a personal archive for the past to show what had transpired this exploration of the handles, texts and times of the election posts. the election government was formed inafter March the dissolution 2013. Others of the firstshared C untilthe The exploration, in words, numbers immediate context of festivals, sports, and visuals, sought to make a modest doubts, threats and uncertainties; the beginning towards understanding the future directions, mainly assertions and nature of social media engagement speculations about the fresh election during the vote in Nepal, starting with prospects. Most joined in the jubilation the Twitter archive. Many tweets were over the successful holding of election. loaded with information of interest or value to individuals and society, but the As Twitter was increasingly being used way they were shortened in bits and in electoral politics by political and civil bytes, links, replies, favourites and re- society actors, both individuals and tweets, they carried too much of stuff organisations, with tools to tap into all the time, demanding perseverance the public opinion pulse from tweets, from the users to pick up something several efforts had already been made to from there and take it to the real world predict the election outcomes or explore of families and friends. or describe people's interest in partisan issues and substance. A few tech-savvy Worse, only a few users interacted within people had taken up to examine election the network. When they did, they were tweets of Nepal within a limited scope. inside a coterie of a few handles, talking This content analysis, focusing on three about a few issues, without driving the key variables, namely, handle, text and conversation to go beyond the Twitter walls. of the real world -- a few dominant tweepletime found drive the tweetsthe conversation reflect an aspect and The interactive features of the tweets several others hear their own tweets in made it possible to sort the handles the digital echo chamber. and texts in groups, which suggested clusters and networks forming around tweeple and texts that gave clues to are that the tweets promise to open upThe a implicationsnew frontier of theseof expanding findings handles. A few tweeple dominated the digital participation, engagement and conversation.the popularity As or most influence tweets of shared some citizenship as political parties, civil
Analytical Report on Media Monitoring of the Constituent 263 Assembly Election 2013 society leaders, journalists and common becoming an important source of people, among others, are using the new knowledge generation in the world media to share assorted news, views of information abundance. There and stuffs of their interest among their are several online applications such friends and followers, who make up a as etcML and Taporware to help vast network together reaching rural even the non technical people to and urban voters. clean up, parse, stem and cluster tweets, but several of them will not More efforts in this area are imperative. work for mixed languages, such as English and Nepali. Urgent efforts L should be made to design or tailor the tools to enable them to capture All efforts, however, should overcome the local context. the following limitatations of the present exploration. ÂÂ The limitations of studying election tweets as mentioned in the review ÂÂ Goals of analysis, early preparation, of past studies should be considered and availability of tools, among oth- in all future research works that er things, will determine the use- seek to build on the predictive abil- fulness of future endeavour in this ity of Twitter. area. This study, for example, relied on an archive that pulled tweets R
analysis. ÂÂ We need further research as our first before deciding the goals of digital citizenship expands to elec- ÂÂ The use of free online tools to ex- toral politics. Analysed properly, tract and archive tweets may have with the necessary skills, time and been inadequate as was the use of resources, tweets promise to open just two simple search strings, be- up a vast reservoir of information cause not every tweet would need about political events and trends. to contain these strings to talk about As more people come on board the Nepal's elections. social media with various purposes and inspirations, academic depart- ÂÂ The election tweets from the ar- ments, research organisations and chive, built with #nepal and Nepal/ individuals with interest should Election search strings, may not contribute further research in this have represented all the election emerging frontier of human be- conversation that happened during haviour, the insights about which the month. should be accessible to both the us- ers and non-users of the social me- ÂÂ Obviously, sampling the election dia. conversation on the social media in general needs nuanced understand- ÂÂ ECN would do well to set up a social ing of how the social media works, media unit with capabilities to dis- training on tools and techniques to seminate its electoral information analyse large amounts of texts and among the young social media-sav- careful planning way before the vy voters and analyse their social election campaign begins. conversation during the elections with a view to encourage their en- ÂÂ Machine learning and natural lan- thusiastic participation. guage processing are increasingly
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Analytical Report on Media Monitoring of 266 the Constituent Assembly Election 2013 MAJOR RECOMMENDATIONS
ÂÂ Media monitoring of elections is es- methodology and develop appropri- sential. Therefore, there should be a - permanent media monitoring centre lect reliable data for future monitor- at ECN. ingate ofand election efficient media. instruments to col
ÂÂ Newspaper, radio, television and on- ÂÂ line journalists have generally com- a larger context to the everyday plied with the election code of con- work uantitative of monitors. data from They the should field give be duct. In spite of this, there are some gathered with a long-term goal of issues with media performance dur- strengthening media performance ing the crucial democratic exercise. during future elections rather than As online journalism expands in Ne- building them into the everyday rou- pal, journalists need to demonstrate tines of reporting the media moni- their responsible and accountable behaviour in their presentation and information. practice in order to gain credibility. toring findings or sharing actionable ÂÂ Training and orientation of moni- ÂÂ With the experience of undertak- tors, with special focus on the issues ing a nationwide media monitoring of inclusion and gender, is vital be- during the election, NPI can provide fore implementing the media moni- training for media monitors in col- toring of elections laboration with ECN. ÂÂ ECN, as the regulatory body during ÂÂ Every major monitoring exercise the election time, should be ena- should begin with adequate time for bled to act in relation to media pro- grammes that violate the election on the monitoring instruments and codes. thetrial results. run to develop the confidence ÂÂ As digital participation in electoral ÂÂ As FM stations and online news sites politics widens in Nepal, serious re- expand across the country, the re- search in the intersection of social gional media monitoring should be media and election is imperative. strengthened rather than focusing ECN should better equip itself to ex- more on the capital. pand its media monitoring routines to cover the social media. ÂÂ
There is a need to refine monitoring
Analytical Report on Media Monitoring of the Constituent 267 Assembly Election 2013 Analytical Report on Media Monitoring of 268 the Constituent Assembly Election 2013 KEY ABBREVIATIONS
ABC ABC Television
BBCM British Broadcasting Corporation Monitoring
BS Bikram Sambat
CA Constituent Assembly
CAE Constituent Assembly Election
CEC Chief Election Commissioner
CNN Cable News Network
COC Code of Conduct
CPN Communist Party of Nepal
EC Election Commission
ECN Election Commission of Nepal
ESP Electoral Support Project
FM Frequency Modulation
FPTP First-Past- the- Post
ICCPR International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights
IDEA International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance
INGO International Non-Governmental Organisation
INSEC Informal Sector Services Centre
IT Information Technology
MJF Madhesi Janasdhikar Forum
Analytical Report on Media Monitoring of the Constituent 269 Assembly Election 2013 NA Nepalese Army
NC Nepali Congress
NGO Non-Governmental Organisation
NHRC Nepal Human Rights Council
NPC National Planning Commission
NPI Nepal Press Institute
NT Nepal Telecom
NTV Nepal Television
PR Proportional Representation
RPP Rastriya Prajatantra Party
RPP-N Rastriya Prajatantra Party - Nepal
SPCBN Support to Participatory Constitution Building in Nepal
TOR Terms of Reference
TV Television
UCPN United Communist Party of Nepal
UCPNM United Communist Party of Nepal-Maoist
UK United Kingdom
UN United Nations
UNDP United Nations Development Programme
UNMIN United Nations Mission in Nepal
USA United States of America
YCL Young Communist League
Analytical Report on Media Monitoring of 270 the Constituent Assembly Election 2013 ANNEXES Code of Conduct to be Observed by Mass Media
Request for Proposal
Annex I CODE OF CONDUCT TO BE OBSERVED BY MASS MEDIA Mass Media shall observe the following Code of Conduct
78. Transmission of information and news concerning the election shall be based on truth, facts, and in an objective manner.
79. Transmission of information and news shall be unbiased and not give special treatment to any person.
80. While collecting or transmitting information and news shall not be suppressed, concealed or hidden.
81. Information and news shall not be transmitted, published or broadcast so as to mislead the general public.
82. To the extent possible, information and news of public concern shall be included in the news and transmissions, and if anyone obstructs or creates hurdles to transmit such news or information, that shall also be included in the news.
to professional ethics and norms. . No undue benefits shall be accepted from anyone and nothing shall be done that is contrary 84. While transmitting, publishing or broadcasting any news or information, language indicating discrimination of any type against anyone or inciting violence shall not be used and no news or information shall be transmitted, published or broadcast in such a manner that may have an adverse effect of any type on relationships and good faith amongst peoples belonging to various castes, tribes, religions, communities including Dalit, indigenous peoples, backward regions peoples and Madhesi.
85. News and information shall be transmitted so as to promote the participation of different groups, religion, gender, language and community in the election.
86. In case any wrong or misleading news or information is transmitted, published or broadcast, the communication media concerned shall have to immediately rectify such information or news.
Code of Conduct to be Observed by Government Mass Media: 87. No editorial is to be written or broadcast in favour of, or against, any Political Party or candidate.
88. Appropriate opportunity is to be given to political parties or candidates to express their views, policies and program to voters.
89. Priority is to be accorded to publication and broadcasting of materials concerning voter education. Free Broadcasting Facility to be Made Available:
Analytical Report on Media Monitoring of the Constituent 273 Assembly Election 2013 90. For the purpose of publicising the policies and programs of political parties taking part in the proportional representation election, the Commission shall make available time on radio and television in proportion to the votes they have obtained in the Constituent Assembly Election of 2008.
91. While making time available pursuant to subsection (90), the Commission shall make the time available in three phases as follows:-
purpose of public unveiling of the manifesto of the political party; a In the first phase, five to twenty minutes on radio broadcasting service for the
the purpose of election campaigning; b In the second phase, two to five minutes on television broadcasting service for c) In the third phase, one minute to each Political Party on television broadcasting
period begins. service for the purpose of making final appeal to the voters before the silent 92. As per section (91), the materials made available from the above phases should be prepared by the relevant political party and provided to the relevant media.
93. No Publicity Campaign during Silent Period: Mass media shall not transmit, publish or broadcast information or news campaigning in favour one political party or candidate during the silent period.
Provided that this section shall not be deemed to hinder the transmission, publication or broadcasting of information or news from the Commission.
Explanation: For the purpose this section, the silent period means the period beginning forty-eight hours before voting begins and up to the closing of the last polling centre.
94. Records to be Maintained: Mass media shall preserve the record of each news or information it has transmitted, published or broadcast with regard to the election, for a period of 35 days from the date of publication or transmission.
95. Monitoring of Information and News Transmissions:
(1) The Commission shall regularly monitor the information or news relating to the election that is transmitted, published or broadcast.
of Conduct from such transmission, publication or broadcast, the Commission ( shall If monitoring issue directives pursuant to to thesub mediasection concerned ( finds that to therecorrect is a such violation information of the Code or news.
(3) Upon receipt of the direction referred to in sub section (2), the media concerned shall have to correct the news or information.
Analytical Report on Media Monitoring of 274 the Constituent Assembly Election 2013 Annex II
REQUEST FOR PROPOSAL Annex 1
Description of Requirements
Context of the Requirement The UNDP has been providing technical assistance to the Election Commission of Nepal, since 2008 through Electoral Support Project. The main objective of the project is to provide strategic support to the ECN in inter election period with strong emphasis on building a sustainable and enduring institution and professional capacity within the ECN.
UNDP/ESP has supported the ECN in Media Monitoring for the Second Constituent Assembly Election 2013, by contracting a company, for the mentioned work. UNDP had awarded a national company to for the media monitoring task through bidding process. The company has successfully conducted media monitoring throughout the country for the Election commission of Nepal from 1 November to 30 December 2013. The company has monitored 10 different online news portals, 10 television channels, 200 radio stations and 400 print outlets from across the country to access their election related media coverage, coding it into a tailored data base, flagging stories for their content that either called attention to the election code of conduct or features electoral violence and analyzing the day’s data for use the ECN. The company has provided the reports of these activities to the UNDP/ ESP and the ECN after the completion of the project.
Implementing Partner of Electoral Support Project (ESP) UNDP
Brief Description of the The objective of this project is to prepare an analytical report of Media Required Services Monitoring of CA Election 2013.The report will be published in Nepali and in English language for the benefit of Nepali and English readers. Once the contractor present the final report in English and Nepali the UNDP/ESP will publish in large number for wider dissemination and use.
List and Description of The Contractor will be required to prepare and present a comprehensive Expected Outputs to be analytical report on the Media Monitoring of the Constituent Assembly Delivered Election 2013 with special focus to Election codes of conduct to the media. The report should contain qualitative as well as quantitative analysis. A final report, subject to the approval by the ECN and ESP, should be submitted no later than 25 July 2014
The final Report should consist of, among others, the following contents: Summary of findings of Media Monitoring of CA Election
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Analytical Report on Media Monitoring of the Constituent 275 Assembly Election 2013 2013 Define expected standards for monitoring of (what was being monitored?): 1. Compliance with code of conduct 2. Compliance with media and journalists standard 3. Reporting standard and levels of fairness towards parties and ECN 4. Report on educational role of media 5. Report on gender and social inclusion during election Importance of Media Monitoring during Election. Detail report of monitoring and conclusion drawn by media type (print and electronic), include graphs, pictures, illustrations, charts, case studies wherever required. The electronic and audio-visual should be presented. Timeframe of monitoring Composition of Monitoring Unit Final layout with colored cover design in printable format JPEG or TAR Format Final layout design of the Final report of “Analytical Report on Media Monitoring of Constituent Assembly, 2013”. Website format Report of interaction programs The Report should be prepared in English and Nepali. The contractor should provide the hard copy and soft copies of the report to the UNDP/ESP. Refer to the Terms of Reference (TOR) attached as Annex IV for detail Person to Supervise the Work/Performance of the Electoral Education and Information Center (EEIC) Coordinator Service Provider
Frequency of Reporting The service provider will work closely with EEIC Coordinator of ESP Project and assigned staff by the project. The service provider will also
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Analytical Report on Media Monitoring of 276 the Constituent Assembly Election 2013 report to the Chief Technical Advisor/Project Manager through the EEIC Coordinator
Location of work ☒ ESP Project
Expected duration of work 30 days
Target start date 25 June 2014
Latest completion date 25 July 2014
Facilities to be Provided by NA UNDP (i.e., must be excluded from Price Proposal) Implementation Schedule indicating breakdown and ☒ Required timing of activities/sub- ☐ Not Required activities Names and curriculum vitae of individuals who will be ☒ Required involved in completing the ☐ Not Required services Currency of Proposal ☒ United States Dollars ☐ Euro ☒ Local Currency (NPR)
Value Added Tax on Price ☒ must be inclusive of VAT and other applicable indirect taxes Proposal ☐ must be exclusive of VAT and other applicable indirect taxes
Validity Period of Proposals ☐ 60 days (Counting for the last day of ☐ 90 days submission of quotes) ☒ 120 days
In exceptional circumstances, UNDP may request the Proposer to extend the validity of the Proposal beyond what has been initially indicated in this RFP. The Proposal shall then confirm the extension in writing, without any modification whatsoever on the Proposal.
Partial Quotes ☒ Not permitted ☐ Permitted Payment will be linked to the deliverables Payment Terms Person(s) to review/inspect/ approve outputs/completed Chief Technical Advisor/ Project Manager through EEIC Coordinator services and authorize the disbursement of payment
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Analytical Report on Media Monitoring of the Constituent 277 Assembly Election 2013 Type of Contract to be ☒ Purchase Order Signed ☐ Institutional Contract ☒ Contract for Professional Services ☐ Long-Term Agreement ☐ Other Type of Contract
Criteria for Contract Award ☐ Lowest Price Quote among technically responsive offers ☒ Highest Combined Score (based on the 70% technical offer and 30% price weight distribution) ☒ Full acceptance of the UNDP Contract General Terms and Conditions (GTC). This is a mandatory criteria and cannot be deleted regardless of the nature of services required. Non acceptance of the GTC may be grounds for the rejection of the Proposal.
Criteria for the Assessment Technical Proposal (70%) of Proposal ☒ Expertise of the Firm 30% ☒ Methodology, Its Appropriateness to the Condition and Timeliness of the Implementation Plan 30% ☒ Management Structure and Qualification of Key Personnel 40%
Financial Proposal (30%) To be computed as a ratio of the Proposal’s offer to the lowest price among the proposals received by UNDP.
Refer to the Evaluation Criteria attached as Annex V.
UNDP will award the ☒ One and only one Service Provider contract to: ☐ One or more Service Providers, depending on the following factors:
Annexes to this RFP ☒ Form for Submission of Proposal (Annex 2) ☒ General Terms and Conditions / Special Conditions (Annex 3) ☒ Detailed TOR (Annex 4) ☒ Summary of the Technical Evaluation (Annex 5) ☒ List of Media Outlets and Sample Clippings (Annex 6) ☐ Others
Contact Person for Inquiries Pramila Tripathi (Written inquiries only) UNDP Procurement Unit [email protected]
Any delay in UNDP’s response shall be not used as a reason for extending the deadline for submission, unless UNDP determines that such an extension is necessary and communicates a new deadline to the Proposers.
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Analytical Report on Media Monitoring of 278 the Constituent Assembly Election 2013
Other Information [pls. The Financial evaluation will be carried out only for the technically specify] qualified submissions that passed the minimum technical score of 70% (490 points) of the obtainable score of 700 points in the evaluation of the technical proposals.
The Financial Proposal and the Technical Proposal Envelopes MUST BE COMPLETELY SEPARATE and each of them must be submitted sealed individually and clearly marked on the outside as either “TECHNICAL PROPOSAL” or “FINANCIAL PROPOSAL”, as appropriate. Each envelope MUST clearly indicate the name of the Proposer.
All enclosures/documentation attached along with the proposal should reflect company’s name on them.
The outer envelope shall be
Addressed to: Deputy Country Director (Operations) United Nations Development Programme UN House, Pulchowk Lalitpur, Nepal
Marked with: “UNDP/RFP/005/2014 – To Produce Analytical Report on Media Monitoring of the second Constituent Assembly Election, 2013”.
Proposal will be disqualified if it does not follow above instruction.
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Analytical Report on Media Monitoring of the Constituent 279 Assembly Election 2013 Annex III
(Details of edia onitoring findings reffered as appendices from Statistical nalysis.
1: Daily report of election media monitoring for 1-30 November 2013
Bias Tone Flag Date Category wise Total Favour- Unfa- Neutral Posi- Neutral Nega- Neutral Slight Serious Gross able vourable tive tive bias bias violation 11/01/2013 Online 42 18 3 21 19 12 11 24 14 4 0 Print 161 88 39 33 85 42 30 83 61 13 3 Radio 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Television 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Grand total 203 106 42 54 104 54 41 107 75 17 3 11/02/2013 Online 30 11 3 15 14 10 5 17 12 0 0 Print 110 61 24 25 46 34 30 52 42 12 4 Radio 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Television 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Grand total 140 61 24 25 46 34 30 52 42 12 4 11/03/2013 Online 32 16 1 14 20 6 6 17 15 0 0 Print 96 55 21 20 47 28 21 46 40 9 1 Radio 1 0 0 1 0 1 0 1 0 0 0 Television 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Grand total 129 71 22 35 67 35 27 64 55 9 1 11/04/2013 Online 23 4 0 19 12 8 3 20 2 1 0 Print 19 12 6 1 8 5 6 9 8 1 1 Radio 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Television 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Grand total 42 16 6 20 20 13 9 29 10 2 1 11/05/2013 Online 11 4 0 7 8 2 1 9 2 0 0 Print 11001000100 Radio 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Television 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Grand total 12 5 0 7 9 2 1 9 3 0 0 11/06/2013 Online 39 11 3 25 16 16 7 31 8 0 0 Print 65004011500 Radio 8 2 0 6 1 7 0 8 0 0 0 Television 1 0 0 1 1 0 0 1 0 0 0 Grand total 54 18 3 32 22 23 8 41 13 0 0 11/07/2013 Online 38 14 4 20 20 11 7 23 13 2 0 Print 79 47 13 19 42 20 17 53 19 3 4 Radio 1 0 0 1 0 1 0 1 0 0 0 Television 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Grand total 118 61 17 40 62 32 24 77 32 5 4
Analytical Report on Media Monitoring of 280 the Constituent Assembly Election 2013 11/08/2013 Online 36 15 3 18 13 13 10 22 12 2 0 Print 96 65 11 15 53 16 22 59 24 6 4 Radio 26 17 2 7 13 10 3 23 2 1 0 Television 3 0 0 3 1 2 0 3 0 0 0 Grand total 161 97 16 43 80 41 35 107 38 9 4 11/09/2013 Online 38 12 2 24 17 12 9 29 9 0 0 Print 115 60 15 39 64 24 26 82 23 8 1 Radio 41 13 2 26 11 23 7 32 7 2 0 Television 21 4 2 15 10 7 4 16 5 0 0 Grand Total 215 89 21 104 102 66 46 159 44 10 1 11/10/2013 Online 41 8 0 33 19 8 14 34 6 1 0 Print 149 74 14 57 57 51 36 85 41 16 6 Radio 50 14 7 29 16 26 8 39 6 5 0 Television 11 4 0 7 9 2 0 10 1 0 0 Grand total 251 100 21 126 101 87 58 168 54 22 6 11/11/2013 Online 5 1 0 4 0 3 1 4 0 1 0 Print 225 91 55 73 88 76 56 129 64 25 3 Radio 8 1 1 6 0 7 1 7 0 0 1 Television 31 12 1 18 22 3 6 24 7 0 0 Grand total 269 105 57 101 110 89 64 164 71 26 4 11/12/2013 Online 31 19 6 6 13 4 14 20 6 4 1 Print 202 78 39 81 78 78 44 111 60 21 9 Radio 64 17 4 43 10 38 16 57 4 2 1 Television 42 19 0 23 26 16 0 34 6 1 1 Grand total 339 133 49 153 127 136 74 222 76 28 12 11/13/2013 Online 14 5 5 4 7 0 7 7 4 3 0 Print 240 111 61 64 87 63 85 96 92 41 11 Radio 54 5 12 37 8 24 22 43 10 1 0 Television 55 20 4 31 15 33 7 41 13 1 0 Grand total 363 141 82 136 117 120 121 187 119 46 11 11/14/2013 Online 45 23 18 4 24 0 21 21 20 2 2 Print 288 126 63 97 120 98 66 163 79 26 20 Radio 77 19 13 45 18 37 22 65 10 0 2 Television 72 33 4 35 35 24 13 49 15 4 4 Grand total 482 201 98 181 197 159 122 298 124 32 28 11/15/2013 Online 35 15 9 11 12 3 20 19 5 4 7 Print 364 179 68 112 155 118 86 209 100 40 15 Radio 74 17 8 49 31 22 21 63 8 2 1 Television 68 19 7 42 22 34 12 49 11 5 3 Grand total 541 230 92 214 220 177 139 340 124 51 26 11/16/2013 Online 49 27 12 10 29 0 20 22 13 3 11 Print 315 155 56 99 148 89 75 177 91 32 15 Radio 119 42 10 67 49 52 18 96 16 6 1 TV 48 15 2 31 22 23 3 37 6 1 4 Grand total 531 239 80 207 248 164 116 332 126 42 31 11/17/2013 Online 42 14 16 12 17 0 25 23 2 5 12
Analytical Report on Media Monitoring of the Constituent 281 Assembly Election 2013 Print 404 183 102 112 184 82 134 202 64 48 90 Radio 131 19 12 100 37 73 21 110 16 3 2 TV 75 17 8 50 27 41 7 60 2 2 11 Grand total 652 233 138 274 265 196 187 395 84 58 115 11/18/2013 Online 51 26 21 4 22 2 26 22 5 4 20 Print 280 101 68 109 107 88 81 181 36 37 26 Radio 124 16 17 91 27 75 22 111 9 2 2 TV 70 10 10 50 15 43 12 57 3 1 9 Grand total 525 153 116 254 171 208 141 371 53 44 57 11/19/2013 Online 26 13 11 2 11 1 14 13 2 6 5 Print 208 73 42 86 78 70 54 136 31 18 23 Radio 92 8 16 68 19 50 23 78 4 4 6 TV 39 2 1 36 5 32 2 36 2 0 1 Grand total 326 96 70 192 113 153 93 263 39 28 35 11/20/2013 Online 11 9 1 1 9 0 2 7 3 0 1 Print 207 80 31 95 98 74 34 157 23 15 12 Radio 123 12 26 85 17 77 29 97 16 6 4 TV 17 0 2 15 2 15 0 15 2 0 0 Grand total 358 101 60 196 126 166 65 276 44 21 17 11/21/2013 Online 15 8 1 6 7 3 5 13 1 0 1 Print 244 92 39 110 106 101 36 178 51 13 2 Radio 88 15 6 67 22 44 22 78 7 2 1 TV 44 7 3 34 10 29 5 37 2 1 4 Grand total 391 122 49 217 145 177 68 306 61 16 8 11/22/2013 Online 10 1 3 6 2 4 4 8 2 0 0 Print 236 81 54 99 97 88 51 146 55 25 10 Radio 86 20 11 55 27 45 14 72 9 2 3 TV 48 10 3 35 16 27 5 41 3 4 0 Grand total 380 112 71 195 142 164 74 267 69 31 13 11/23/2013 Online 19 4 3 12 5 10 4 13 2 2 2 Print 234 93 40 101 96 86 51 147 64 14 9 Radio 104 21 7 76 27 67 10 94 8 2 0 TV 82 19 2 61 12 63 7 60 21 1 0 Grand total 439 137 52 250 140 226 72 314 95 19 11 11/24/2013 Online 13 4 2 7 4 8 1 11 1 1 0 Print 365 135 71 155 128 160 73 232 89 32 12 Radio 113 19 8 86 27 68 18 102 8 0 3 TV 81 13 2 66 29 49 3 69 12 0 0 Grand total 572 171 83 314 188 285 95 414 110 33 15 11/25/2013 Online 16 5 3 8 7 5 4 10 3 3 0 Print 347 114 70 160 121 148 74 223 79 31 14 Audio 123 14 11 98 10 91 22 109 12 0 2 Video 98 16 2 80 27 71 0 92 6 0 0 Grand total 584 149 86 346 165 315 100 434 100 34 16
Analytical Report on Media Monitoring of 282 the Constituent Assembly Election 2013 11/26/2013 Online 22 8 3 11 8 8 6 14 5 2 1 Print 286 103 72 110 99 106 80 177 74 23 12 Radio 127 13 5 109 26 92 9 123 4 0 0 TV 103 11 2 90 28 73 2 93 10 0 0 Grand total 538 135 82 320 161 279 97 407 93 25 13 11/27/2013 Online 32 15 12 5 10 4 18 17 8 5 2 Print 260 104 57 98 92 104 62 168 68 21 3 Radio 124 21 5 98 25 86 13 116 6 0 2 TV 100 2 1 97 23 76 1 94 6 0 0 Grand total 516 142 75 298 150 270 94 395 88 26 7 11/28/2013 Online 28 17 11 0 15 0 13 17 7 3 1 Print 264 98 51 114 92 113 57 185 60 16 3 Radio 113 13 1 99 25 82 6 112 1 0 0 TV 115 4 0 111 14 100 1 111 3 0 1 Grand total 520 132 63 324 146 295 77 425 71 19 5 11/29/2013 Online 25 15 9 1 7 3 15 15 9 1 0 Print 232 73 51 107 69 94 69 142 56 30 4 Radio 124 10 4 110 15 103 6 120 2 2 0 TV 102 2 1 99 17 84 1 96 6 0 0 Grand total 483 100 65 317 108 284 91 373 73 33 4 11/30/2013 Online 9 4 2 3 3 4 2 7 0 2 0 Print 134 42 29 62 43 56 34 77 42 15 0 Radio 96 7 2 87 7 81 8 93 2 1 0 TV 76 0 4 72 13 59 4 72 4 0 0 Grand total 315 53 37 224 66 200 48 249 48 18 0
2: Daily media monitoring of different categories
Category Date Online Print Radio TV Total 01-Nov-13 42 161 0 0 203 02-Nov-13 30 110 0 0 140 03-Nov-13 32 96 1 0 129 04-Nov-13 23 19 0 0 42 05-Nov-13 11 1 0 0 12 06-Nov-13 39 6 8 1 54 07-Nov-13 38 79 1 0 118 08-Nov-13 36 96 26 3 161 09-Nov-13 38 115 41 21 215 10-Nov-13 41 149 50 11 251 11-Nov-13 5 225 8 31 269 12-Nov-13 31 202 64 42 339 13-Nov-13 14 240 54 55 363 14-Nov-13 45 288 77 72 482
Analytical Report on Media Monitoring of the Constituent 283 Assembly Election 2013 15-Nov-13 35 364 74 68 541 16-Nov-13 49 315 119 48 531 17-Nov-13 42 404 131 75 652 18-Nov-13 51 280 124 70 525 19-Nov-13 26 208 92 39 326 20-Nov-13 11 207 123 17 358 21-Nov-13 15 244 88 44 391 22-Nov-13 10 236 86 48 380 23-Nov-13 19 234 104 82 439 24-Nov-13 13 365 113 81 572 25-Nov-13 16 347 124 98 585 26-Nov-13 22 286 127 103 538 27-Nov-13 32 260 124 100 516 28-Nov-13 28 264 113 115 520 29-Nov-13 25 232 124 102 483 30-Nov-13 9 134 98 76 317 Total 828 6167 2094 1402 10491
S A N
Category Total Bias Tone Flag Unfa- Neutral Positive Neutral Nega- Neutral Slight Serious Gross Fabourable bour- tive Bias Bias Viola- able tion Print 6167 2534 1240 2308 2445 1486 2151 3661 1524 586 311 Online 828 345 167 316 369 295 164 510 191 61 66 Radio 2094 355 192 1547 469 1282 343 1850 168 44 32 TV 1402 239 61 1546 401 906 95 1197 146 21 31 Grand Total 10491 3473 1660 5717 3684 3063 2753 7218 2029 712 440
4: Monitoring Sample Weeklies in Kathmandu 10 Tamakosi Sandesh Sunday 11 Budhabar 1 Nepal 12 Ghatana ra Bichar 2 Chhalphal 13 Rastrabani 3 Deshantar Thursday 4 Janamanch 14 Mahima Monday 15 Janadharana 5 Janabhawana 16 Hindu 6 Sanghu Friday Tuesday 17 Sambhodhan 7 Dristi 18 Nepalipatra 8 Punarjagaran 19 Bimarsha (red) Wednesday Saturday 9 Janaastha 20 Dibya Darsan
Analytical Report on Media Monitoring of 284 the Constituent Assembly Election 2013 Print media in details from the districts
Newspapers by District and Region S.N. Outlet Daily/Weekly Zone District 1 Aabeg Weekly Weekly Kathmandu Kavre 2 Aaha Sanchar Weekly Weekly Nepalgunj Rukum 3 Aaja ko Bikalpa Daily Daily Dhangadi Kailali 4 Aaja ko Batabaran Dainik Daily Biratnagar Saptari 5 Aaja ko Samana Weekly Weekly Nepalgunj Banke 6 Aaja ko Bikalpa Daily Daily Dhangadi Kanchanpur 7 Aanklan Daily Daily Dhangadi Dadeldhura 8 Aakraman weekly Weekly Kathmandu Chitwan 9 Aarthik Jagaran Daily Daily Dhangadi Kailali 10 Aarthik Khaptad Today Daily Daily Dhangadi Kailali 11 Abhibhar Weekly Weekly Nepalgunj Kalikot 13 Abhiyan Times Daily Dhangadi Kanchanpur 14 Abhiyan Times Weekly Weekly Dhangadi Kanchanpur 15 Achham Aawaj Weekly Weekly Dhangadi Achham 16 Adarsha Nepal Daily Pokhara Kaski 17 Adarsha Samaj Daily Kathmandu Chitwan 18 Aguwa Sanchar Weekly Weekly Nepalgunj Banke 19 Alkapuri (Nepal) Weekly Weekly Biratnagar Morang 20 Amargadhi Post Daily Daily Dhangadi Dadeldhura 21 Anjil Times Daily Daily Dhangadi Kanchanpur 22 Ankush Daily Daily Janakpur Parsa 23 Anmol Mani Weekly Weekly Biratnagar Morang 25 Antaranga Weekly Kathmandu Lalitpur 26 Anukalpa Daily Weekly Nepalgunj Banke 27 Anumodan Daily Daily Dhangadi Kailali 28 Anukalpa Daily 29 Api Times Weekly Weekly Dhangadi Darchula 30 Api Today Daily Daily Dhangadi Kanchanpur 31 Artha Samachar Weekly Weekly Kathmandu Chitwan 32 Arun Tamor Bimonthly Weekly Panchthar 33 Aujar Daily Daily Biratnagar Sunsari 34 Arjundhara Daily Daily Biratnagar Jhapa 35 Avenues Khabar Monthly Weekly Nepalgunj Rolpa 36 Babai Weekly Weekly Nepalgunj Bardiya 37 Baitadi Sandesh Weekly Weekly Dhangadi Baitadi 38 Baitadi Sandesh Weekly Weekly Dhangadi Baitadi 39 Bajhang half Weekly Weekly Dhangadi Bajhang 40 Bajhang Update Weekly Weekly Dhangadi Bajhang 41 Balam Daily Daily Nepalgunj Rukum 42 Bardiya Times Daily Daily Nepalgunj Bardiya 43 Barun Weekly Weekly Biratnagar Jhapa
Analytical Report on Media Monitoring of the Constituent 285 Assembly Election 2013 44 Baruwa Times Daily Daily Biratnagar Udayapur 45 Bhanjyang National Daily Daily Pokhara Tanahu 46 Bhimeshwor weekly Weekly Kathmandu Dolakha 47 Bhojpur Post Weekly Weekly Biratnagar Bhojpur 48 Bhojpuripati Daily Daily Janakpur Parsa 49 Bhumadhya Rekha Weekly Kathmandu Makawanpur 50 Bihani Ko Tara Weekly Weekly Nepalgunj Jumla 51 Bijaypur Weekly Weekly Nepalgunj Banke 53 Bimba Weekly Weekly Dhangadi Doti 54 Biratpath Daily Daily Biratnagar Morang 55 Bishwadeep 56 Biswasutra Weekly Weekly Nepalgunj Banke 57 Blast Times Daily Daily Biratnagar Sunsari 58 Buddhaawaaz Weekly Weekly Nepalgunj Kapilbastu 59 Butwal Daily Daily Kathmandu Rupandehi 60 Bypass Daily Daily Janakpur Parsa 61 Chandrakanta Weekly Weekly 62 Cheshta Weekly Weekly Kathmandu Kavre 63 Chhalphal national weekly Weekly Kathmandu Kathmandu 64 Chitwan Darpan Weekly Kathmandu Chitwan 65 Chitwan Post Daily Daily Kathmandu Chitwan 66 Chitwan Saptahik Weekly Kathmandu Chitwan 67 Chitwan Bhumi Weekly Kathmandu Chitwan 68 Chure Kunja Weekly Weekly Nepalgunj Bardiya 69 Chure Sandesh Weekly Weekly Kathmandu Chitwan 70 Commander Post daily Daily Kathmandu Kathmandu 71 Crime operation Weekly Biratnagar Morang 72 Dadeldhura Post Daily. Daily Dhangadi Dadeldhura 73 Dailekh Times Half Weekly Weekly Nepalgunj Dailekh 74 Daily Express Daily Daily 75 Dainik Nepalgunj Daily Daily Nepalgunj Banke 76 Dainik Patra Daily Kathmandu Rupandehi 77 Damauli Khabar Daily Daily Pokhara Tanahu 78 Darchula Sandesh Daily Daily Dhangadi Darchula 79 Darshan Daily Daily Biratnagar Morang 80 Dashrath Times Half Weekly Weekly Dhangadi Baitadi 81 Deurali Daily Daily 83 Deshkoastitwa Daily Daily Janakpur Parsa 84 Dhading Aawaj Daily Daily Kathmandu Dhading 85 Dhadkan weekly Weekly Kathmandu Dhading 86 Dhamaka Daily Daily Nepalgunj Dailekh 87 Dhangadhi Post Daily Daily Dhangadi Kailali 88 Dhangadi Post Daily Daily Dhangadi Kailali 89 Dhankuta Weekly Weekly Nepalgunj Banke
Analytical Report on Media Monitoring of 286 the Constituent Assembly Election 2013 90 Dhaopathan Daily Daily Pokhara Baglung 91 Dharan Weekly Weekly Nepalgunj Banke 92 Dhadkan Weekly Weekly Nepalgunj Banke 93 Dhaulagiri Jagaran Daily Daily Pokhara Baglung 94 Dhaulagiri Star Weekly Daily Pokhara Baglung 95 Dhaulagiri Sanchar Weekly Weekly Pokhara Parbat 96 Dibya Darshan Weekly Weekly 97 Dibyadristi Weekly Weekly Biratnagar Morang 98 Dibyaroshani Weekly Weekly Nepalgunj Banke 99 Dipayal Post weekly Weekly Dhangadi Doti 100 Disa Nirdesan Kanchan Weekly Weekly Dhangadi Kanchanpur 101 Dolakha Samachar Patra Weekly Kathmandu Dolakha 102 Doteli Aawaj Weekly Weekly Dhangadi Doti 103 Doti Hailait Weekly Weekly Dhangadi Doti 104 Dristanta Weekly Weekly Biratnagar Morang 105 Duwari Daily Swarga Daily 106 Ekson Times Weekly Weekly Nepalgunj Banke 107 Farichh Nepal Weekly Weekly Nepalgunj Banke 108 Farwest Times Daily Daily Dhangadi Kanchanpur 109 Fastime Daily Daily Biratnagar Sunsari 110 Fewa Daily Biratnagar Morang 111 Fidim Post Weekly Weekly Panchthar 112 Ganatantra Daily Daily 113 Gandaki Khabar Daily Pokhara Kaski 114 Gangasagar Daily Daily 115 Ganatantra Daily Daily Nepalgunj Dang 116 Garmin Jagaran National Weekly Weekly Pokhara Baglung 117 Gaughar Sandesh Daily Daily Dhangadi Dadeldhura 118 Gaunghar Satdine Weekly Weekly Nepalgunj Dang 119 Gaighat Today Daily Biratnagar Udayapur 120 Ghoda Ghodi Sandesh Weekly Weekly Dhangadi Kailali 121 Godavari Express Daily Dhangadi Kailali 122 Golden News Daily Pokhara Kaski 123 Good News Weekly Weekly Nepalgunj Banke 124 Gorakchya Daily Daily Nepalgunj Dang 126 Gramin Bikash Monthly Daily Nepalgunj Jajarkot 127 Green Madhes Daily Biratnagar Saptari 128 Halesi weekly Weekly Biratnagar Khotang 129 Hamro Akhabar Daily Daily Nepalgunj Surkhet 130 Hamro Ekata Daily Daily Nepalgunj Pyuthan 131 Hamro Gorkha Daily Daily Pokhara Gorkha 132 Hamro Indrawati Weekly Weekly Kathmandu Kavre 133 Hamro Jan Sandesh Weekly Weekly Dhangadi Kailali 134 Hamro Kanoon Monthly Weekly Nepalgunj Rukum
Analytical Report on Media Monitoring of the Constituent 287 Assembly Election 2013 135 Hamro Karnali Khabar Daily Daily Nepalgunj Kalikot 136 Hamro Naya Nepal Bichar Daily Weekly Biratnagar Dhankuta 137 Hamro naya Nepal Bichar Saptahik Weekly 138 Hamro Naya Nepal Daily Daily Nepalgunj Surkhet 139 Hamro Nigrani Daily Daily Dhangadi Baitadi 140 Hamro Samachar Daily Daily Nepalgunj Banke 141 Hamro Seti Aawaj Weekly Weekly Dhangadi Doti 142 Hamro Seti Weekly Weekly Dhangadi Kailali 143 Hetauda Sandesh Weekly Kathmandu Makawanpur 144 Hetauda Today Daily Daily Kathmandu Makawanpur 145 Hetauda Sandesh Daily Daily Kathmandu Makawanpur 146 Highway Khabar Weekly Daily Kathmandu Dhading 147 Hill times Daily. Daily Dhangadi Dadeldhura 150 Himali Suskera Weekly Weekly Dolpa 151 Himchuli Weekly Weekly Nepalgunj Dailekh 152 Himsagar Monthly Monthly 153 Hind Kush Weekly Weekly Dhangadi Dadeldhura 154 Hindu Weekly Weekly 155 Ilam Post Daily Daily Biratnagar Ilam 156 Ilam express Daily Daily Biratnagar Ilam 157 Jaleshwar Today Daily Daily Janakpur Mahottari 158 Jaljala Post Weekly Weekly Nepalgunj Rolpa 159 Jana Agenda Monthly Weekly Dhangadi Kailali 160 Jana Arpan Weekly Weekly Kathmandu Chitwan 161 Jana Bhawana Weekly Weekly 162 Jana Sangharsa Weekly Kathmandu Rupandehi 163 Janaandolan Weekly Weekly Biratnagar Jhapa 164 Janaawaj Weekly Weekly Biratnagar Morang 165 Janabidroha Daily Daily Biratnagar Morang 166 Janabiswas Weekly Weekly Nepalgunj Banke 167 Janajoyti Weekly Weekly Nepalgunj Banke 168 Janakpur Express daily Daily Janakpur Dhanusa 169 Janakpur Today Daily Daily Janakpur Dhanusa 170 Janamat Quarterly Weekly Nepalgunj Banke 171 Janamukti Marga Weekly Weekly 172 Janapratirodh Weekly Weekly Kathmandu Kavre 173 Janasamsad Daily Daily Biratnagar Jhapa 174 Janatapatra Weekly Weekly 175 Janbhandahor Daily Daily Janakpur Parsa 176 Janachetana Halfweekly Weekly Dhangadi Dadeldhura 177 Janakranti Daily Daily Dhangadi Kanchanpur 178 Janasamarpit Daily Daily Janakpur Parsa 179 Janasarokar Post Weekly Weekly Dhangadi Baitadi 180 Janashristi Daily Daily Janakpur Parsa
Analytical Report on Media Monitoring of 288 the Constituent Assembly Election 2013 181 Janabadi Aawaj Weekly Weekly Biratnagar Morang 182 Jayprithivi Post Weekly Dhangadi Bajhang 183 Jhilmila Weekly Weekly Dhangadi Dadeldhura 184 Josh Weekly Weekly Kathmandu Chitwan 185 Jugal Times Weekly Weekly 186 Junkiri Weekly Weekly Nepalgunj Rolpa 187 Jwarbhata Weekly Weekly 188 Kachari Weekly Weekly Nepalgunj Humla 189 Kailali Daily Daily Dhangadi Kailali 190 Kailali Hotline Daily Daily Dhangadi Kailali 191 Kakani Post Daily 192 Kakrebihar Daily Daily Nepalgunj Surkhet 193 Kalaiya Today Weekly Weekly Janakpur Bara 194 Kalapani Post Weekly Weekly Dhangadi Darchula 195 Kaligandaki Dally Daily Pokhara Parbat 196 Kaliyug Sandesh Daily Daily Janakpur Parsa 197 Kalprista Daily Daily Nepalgunj Banke 198 Kalprista daily Daily Bajura 199 Kanchanjanga Times Daily Daily Panchthar 200 Kanchanpur Post Daily Daily Dhangadi Kanchanpur 201 Kankre Bihar Daily Daily 202 Kanthpath Weekly Weekly Biratnagar Morang 204 Kapilbastu Darpan Weekly Weekly Nepalgunj Kapilbastu 205 Kapilbastu Sandesh Weekly Weekly Nepalgunj Kapilbastu 206 Karmada Weekly Pokhara Lamjung 207 Karnali Khojkhabar Weekly Weekly Nepalgunj Jumla 208 Karnali Ko Sandesh Weekly Daily Nepalgunj Jumla 209 Karnali Sandesh Weekly Weekly Nepalgunj Banke 210 Karnali Sarobar Daily Daily Nepalgunj Humla 212 Kaski Aawaj Daily Pokhara Kaski 213 Kavre Hotline Weekly Weekly Kathmandu Kavre 214 Kavre Kosheli Weekly Weekly Kathmandu Kavre 215 Kavre Post Weekly Weekly Kathmandu Kavre 216 Kavre Times Weekly Weekly Kathmandu Kavre 217 KayaKairan Daily Daily Kathmandu Chitwan 218 Khabar Chautari Weekly Weekly Kathmandu Kavre 219 Khalanga Darpan Weekly Weekly Nepalgunj Jajarkot 220 Khaptad News Daily Daily Dhangadi Achham 221 Khulasa Weekly Weekly Dhangadi Dadeldhura 222 Kiran Weekly Weekly Nepalgunj Banke 223 Kreepa Daily Daily Janakpur Bara 224 Lamjung Aawaj Weekly Pokhara Lamjung 225 Lamjung Jagaran Weekly Pokhara Lamjung 226 Lamjung Khabar Daily Pokhara Lamjung
Analytical Report on Media Monitoring of the Constituent 289 Assembly Election 2013 227 Lekha Jokha Weekly Weekly Dhangadi Kailali 228 Lokmanch Daily Daily Nepalgunj Surkhet 229 Lokpriya Samachar Daily Daily Nepalgunj Banke 230 Lokpriya Sandesh daily Daily Nepalgunj Banke 231 Loktantra Sandesh Daily Daily Kathmandu Chitwan 232 Loktimes Daily Daily Janakpur Parsa 233 Lumbini Daily Daily Kathmandu Rupandehi 234 Lumbini Khabar Weekly Kathmandu Rupandehi 235 Madhyapaschim Sandesh Daily Daily Nepalgunj Banke 236 Madhya Marga Weekly Weekly Kathmandu Kavre 237 Madi Saptahik Weekly Kathmandu Chitwan 238 Mahila Sanchar Weekly Weekly Nepalgunj Banke 239 Malbara Daily Daily Dhangadi Kailali 240 Mandavi Weekly Weekly Nepalgunj Pyuthan 241 Mankhind Sandhiyakalin daily Daily Dhangadi Kanchanpur 242 Mashal Darpan Weekly Weekly Nepalgunj Banke 243 Madhyastha weekly Weekly Kathmandu Makawanpur 244 Mechi Times Daily Daily Nepalgunj Banke 245 Mechikali daily Daily Kathmandu Rupandehi 246 Mission Madesh Weekly Weekly Nepalgunj Banke 247 Mission Today Daily Daily Nepalgunj Banke 248 Morning Bell Daily Daily Dhangadi Kailali 249 Morning Times Daily Daily Biratnagar Sunsari 250 Mugu Post Monthly Weekly Nepalgunj Mugu 251 Muktichhetra Daily Daily Pokhara Baglung 252 Muldhar Daily Kathmandu Kathmandu 253 Muluki Daily Daily Biratnagar Udayapur 254 Myagdi Sanchar weekly Weekly Pokhara Myagdi 255 Naba Janachetana Daily Daily Pokhara Palpa 256 Naba Janata Daily Kathmandu Kathmandu 257 Nagarik Awaj Weekly Weekly Nepalgunj Banke 259 Namaste Times Weekly Weekly Janakpur Bara 260 Narayani Dainik Daily Kathmandu Makawanpur 261 Narayani Today Daily Janakpur Parsa 262 Naulo Jan ubhar Weekly Weekly Nepalgunj Dang 263 Naba Bikalpa weekly Weekly Pokhara Myagdi 264 Naba Kshitiz Weekly Weekly Kathmandu Kavre 265 Naya Abhimat Weekly Weekly Dhangadi Kanchanpur 266 Naya Corse Daily Daily Nepalgunj Banke 267 Naya Itihas Daily Daily Janakpur Bara 268 Naya Patrika Daily Kathmandu Kathmandu 269 Naya Bhawana Daily Kathmandu Rupandehi 270 Naya Yugbodh Daily Daily Nepalgunj Dang 271 Naya Sanchar Darshan Weekly Weekly Kathmandu Kavre
Analytical Report on Media Monitoring of 290 the Constituent Assembly Election 2013 272 Nepal Path Weekly Weekly Dhangadi Doti 273 Nepali express daily Daily Nepalgunj Banke 274 New Madhesh express daily Daily Nepalgunj Banke 275 New Pachimale Daily Daily Dhangadi Kailali 276 New Pashcim Daily Daily Dhangadi Kailali 277 New Samadhan Daily Daily Dhangadi Kailali 278 New Shristi Daily Daily Biratnagar Morang 279 New Today Nepal Daily Daily Dhangadi Kailali 280 Newmechi Times Daily Biratnagar Jhapa 281 News Flash Weekly Weekly Nepalgunj Banke 282 News Force Weekly Weekly Dhangadi Doti 283 News Namaste Daily Daily Nepalgunj Banke 284 News Today Daily Daily Biratnagar Saptari 285 News Yatharth Weekly Weekly Nepalgunj Banke 286 Nispakchhya Dhoni daily Daily Nepalgunj Banke 287 Nuwakot Pukar Daily Kathmandu Nuwakot 288 Pahura Daily Daily Dhangadi Kailali 289 Pakhribash Weekly Weekly Nepalgunj Banke 290 Palpa Daily Daily Pokhara Palpa 291 Palpa Times Weekly Weekly Pokhara Palpa 292 Paradarshi Daily Daily Kathmandu Chitwan 293 Pardafas Daily Daily Janakpur Parsa 294 Parbat Ghosana Daily Daily Nepalgunj Banke 295 Pashcim Express Weekly Weekly Dhangadi Kailali 296 Pashcim Today Daily Daily Dhangadi Kailali 297 Paschim Nepal Daily Daily Dhangadi Kanchanpur 298 Paschimseti half weekly Weekly Dhangadi Bajhang 299 Pawar Laine Daily Daily Nepalgunj Banke 300 Peoples Times Daily Biratnagar Jhapa 301 Phewa Weekly Weekly Biratnagar Morang 302 Phidim Post Weekly Weekly Nepalgunj Banke 303 Pipalbot Daily Daily Janakpur Bara 304 Pokhara Hotline Daily Daily Pokhara Kaski 305 Pokhara Patra Daily Pokhara Kaski 306 Pradeshik Samachar Weekly Weekly Nepalgunj Kapilbastu 307 Prajwalit Daily Daily Janakpur Parsa 308 Prateek Daily Daily Janakpur Parsa 309 Pratidin Daily Biratnagar Jhapa 310 Pratidin Daily Daily Nepalgunj Banke 311 Pratik Dainik Daily Daily Janakpur Parsa 312 Prayas Mid Weekly Weekly Kathmandu Makawanpur 313 Pradesh Dainik Daily Kathmandu Makawanpur 314 Public Times Weekly Weekly Panchthar 315 Purba Kshitiz Weekly Weekly Nepalgunj Banke
Analytical Report on Media Monitoring of the Constituent 291 Assembly Election 2013 316 Purba Nepal Weekly Weekly Nepalgunj Banke 317 Purba Post Weekly Weekly Biratnagar Taplejung 318 Purba Sandesh Daily Biratnagar Jhapa 319 Purba Weekly Weekly Biratnagar Jhapa 320 Purbanchal Daily Biratnagar Jhapa 321 Purnapusti Weekly Weekly Nepalgunj Banke 322 Purwajyoti Weekly Weekly Nepalgunj Banke 323 Purwajyoti Weekly Weekly Nepalgunj Banke 324 Pyuthan Samachar Daily Daily Nepalgunj Pyuthan 325 Pyuthan Vision Monthly Weekly Nepalgunj Pyuthan 326 Rajbiraj Dainik Daily Biratnagar Saptari 327 Rajbiraj Today Daily Biratnagar Saptari 328 Rajdhani Aasth Weekly Kathmandu Chitwan 330 Rama Rosan Daily Daily Dhangadi Achham 331 Ramaroshan Daily Daily Dhangadi Achham 332 Rapti Post Daily Daily Nepalgunj Dang 333 Rapti Samachar Weekly Weekly Nepalgunj Dang 334 Rara Raiwar Weekly Weekly Nepalgunj Mugu 335 Rastriya Janahit Weekly Biratnagar Morang 336 Rastriya Daily Daily Janakpur Parsa 337 Rastriya Samachar Patra Daily Daily Biratnagar Morang 338 Rastriya Sandarbha Daily Daily Dhangadi Kailali 339 Reports Time Daily Daily Kathmandu Kathmandu 341 Review Daily Kathmandu Kathmandu 342 Rolpa Khabar Weekly Weekly Nepalgunj Rolpa 343 Rolpa Samachar Weekly Weekly Nepalgunj Rolpa 344 Roshi Weekly Weekly Kathmandu Kavre 345 Rukumeli Bikash Lahar Monthly Weekly Nepalgunj Rukum 346 Rupse Dally Daily Pokhara Myagdi 347 Sachi Khabar Weekly Weekly Nepalgunj Dang 348 Sadbhav Daily Daily Nepalgunj Banke 349 Sadbhav Daily Daily Nepalgunj Banke 350 Sagun Sandesh Weekly Weekly Nepalgunj Banke 351 Sahara Daily Daily Janakpur Parsa 352 Sahara News Dally Daily Pokhara Parbat 353 Sahikura Weekly Weekly Kathmandu Makawanpur 354 Sahayatri Post Daily Daily Dhangadi Kailali 355 Sailung Surya Weekly Kathmandu Dolakha 356 Saina Maina daily Daily Kathmandu Rupandehi 357 Sajha Bisauni Weekly Weekly Nepalgunj Surkhet 358 Sajha Kura Dainik Daily Kathmandu Makawanpur 359 Sajha News Weekly Weekly Nepalgunj Kapilbastu 360 Sajha Partibimba Weekly Weekly Nepalgunj Dailekh 361 Samacharpatra Daily Weekly Kathmandu Kathmandu
Analytical Report on Media Monitoring of 292 the Constituent Assembly Election 2013 362 Samaj Jagaran Weekly Weekly Nepalgunj Banke 363 Samakalinpath Weekly Weekly Nepalgunj Banke 364 Samaya Adhikar Daily Daily Nepalgunj Banke 365 Sambridda Samaj Daily Daily Kathmandu Makawanpur 366 Sampurna Khabar Daily Kathmandu Chitwan 367 Samridhha Panchthar Weekly Weekly Panchthar 368 Sancharpatra Daily Daily Kathmandu Chitwan 369 Sandesh Sarathi Weekly Weekly Dhangadi Doti 370 Sandkpur Daily Daily Biratnagar Ilam 371 Sanghiya Express Weekly Kathmandu Rupandehi 372 Sanjivani Patra Weekly Weekly Kathmandu Kavre 373 Saptahik Chitwan Weekly Kathmandu Chitwan 374 Sarlahi Dainik Daily Biratnagar Sarlahi 375 Sarobar Daily Daily Nepalgunj Humla 376 Sarthak Weekly Weekly Dhangadi Kanchanpur 377 Satti Karnali Weekly Weekly Dhangadi Kailali 378 Satya Sandesh Daily Daily Janakpur Parsa 379 Satyapan Weekly Weekly Nepalgunj Banke 380 Seti Samachar Daily Daily Dhangadi Kailali 381 Seti Sandesh Weekly Weekly Dhangadi Bajhang 382 Shankhanad Weekly Weekly Nepalgunj Banke 383 Saugat Khabar Daily Daily Dhangadi Baitadi 384 Shikhar half weekly Weekly Dhangadi Darchula 385 Shivagadi Sandesh Weekly Weekly Nepalgunj Kapilbastu 386 Shosthe Shetana Weekly Weekly Nepalgunj Banke 387 Shree Dishabodh Weekly Weekly Dhangadi Kailali 388 Shree jan aakrosh dainik Daily Biratnagar Saptari 389 Shree Nepal Times Daily Daily Dhangadi Kailali 390 Shreejanamat Weekly Weekly Nepalgunj Banke 391 Shuklaphanta Daily Daily Dhangadi Kanchanpur 392 Siddhartha Dainik Daily Kathmandu Rupandehi 393 Sikhar Halfweekly Weekly Dhangadi Darchula 394 Silingjung Weekly Weekly Nepalgunj Banke 395 Sindhuli Daily Daily Janakpur Sindhuli 396 Sindhuli Saugat Daily Daily Janakpur Sindhuli 397 Solu Samachar Weekly Weekly Nepalgunj Banke 398 Solukhumbu Samachar weekly Weekly Biratnagar Solokhumbu 399 Sram Srijana Daily Daily Dhangadi Kailali 400 Suchana Patra Weekly Weekly Nepalgunj Dang 401 Sudhur Sandesh Daily Daily Dhangadi Kailali 402 Sudoor Khabar Daily Daily Dhangadi Kanchanpur 403 Sudoor Pashcim Prayas Weekly Weekly Dhangadi Kailali 404 Shuklaphanta Daily Daily Dhangadi Kanchanpur 405 Sun Star Weekly Weekly Nepalgunj Rolpa
Analytical Report on Media Monitoring of the Constituent 293 Assembly Election 2013 406 Sunkoshi Weekly Weekly Kathmandu Kavre 407 Surkhet Pahichan Daily Daily Nepalgunj Surkhet 408 Surkhet Patra Daily Daily Nepalgunj Surkhet 409 Surma Khabar Weekly Weekly Dhangadi Bajhang 410 Surnaya Times Weekly Weekly Dhangadi Baitadi 411 Suvecha Sandesh Weekly Weekly Kathmandu Chitwan 412 Swargadwari Daily Daily Nepalgunj Pyuthan 413 Swatantra Birat Weekly Weekly Biratnagar Morang 414 Tesro Aankha Daily Daily Nepalgunj Banke 417 The Public Today daily Daily Kathmandu Kathmandu 419 Tikapur Daily Daily Dhangadi Kailali 420 Tikapur Times Daily Daily Dhangadi Kailali 421 Tillotama Daily Daily Kathmandu Rupandehi 422 Triyoga Times Weekly Weekly Nepalgunj Banke 423 Triyuga Express Daily Biratnagar Udayapur 424 Udghosh Daily Daily Biratnagar Morang 425 Udghosh Weekly Weekly Dhangadi Kailali 426 Udayapur Post Weekly Weekly Nepalgunj Banke 427 Ujyalo Khabar Weekly Weekly Nepalgunj Kapilbastu 428 Ujyalo Taplejung Weekly Weekly Biratnagar Taplejung 429 Ujyalo Taplejung Weekly Weekly Biratnagar Taplejung 430 Ujyaalo Rastriya Dainik Daily Biratnagar Morang 431 Ujyalo Taplejung Weekly Weekly Taplejung 432 Ujyalo Weekly Weekly Nepalgunj Banke 433 Ujyalopatra Daily Daily Biratnagar Morang 434 Yug Aaohan Daily Daily Nepalgunj Surkhet 435 Youth today Weekly Weekly Nepalgunj Banke 436 Yug Awhaan Daily Daily Nepalgunj Surkhet 437 Yugyan Daily Daily Nepalgunj Banke
438 Simanchal daily 439 Sindhu Bulanda Weekly 440 Sindhu Digdarshan Monthly 441 Sindhu Jagaran Weekly 442 Sindhu Jwala Weekly 443 Sindhu Prabah Weekly 444 Sindhu Sanchar Weekly 445 Sindhu Sangram Weekly 446 Sindhu Yatra Monthly 447 Sindhuka Suseli Monthly 448 Sindhupalchok Daily 449 Sindhupost Weekly
Analytical Report on Media Monitoring of 294 the Constituent Assembly Election 2013 450 Su-Sandesh Weekly 451 Sudoor Sandarbha Weekly 452 Sundar Sandesh 453 Surma Khabar Weekly 454 Tahalka Dot Nepal daily 455 Tanahu Udghosh Daily 456 Tarai Time Daily 457 Tawil Weekly 458 The Exclusive Weekly 459 Yalamber Times 460 Suruwat Daily 461 Shikar Paichan Weekly 462 Setimadi Daily 463 Saugat Khabar Daily 464 Sanghu Weekly 465 Sanjh Biswani Weekly 466 Sambodhan 467 Samadhan 468 Salyani Sandesh Weekly 469 Sadhin Sambad 470 Sachi Post Daily 471 Rastrachakra Weekly 472 Rangun Darpan Weekly 473 Pratush Daily 474 Prabhat Pheri Weekly 475 Paschim Today 476 Pashcim Nepal Daily 477 Paribartan Post Weekly 478 Paribartan Post 479 Panchpokhari Weekly 480 Okhareni Weekly 481 Omkar Bhet Weekly 482 News Barhabise Weekly 484 New Bimarsha 485 Nepal Samachar Patra 486 Nepal Times 487 Nepal Magazine weekly 488 Naya Yatra Weekly 489 Naba Sangram daily 490 Nawabihani 491 Nawajagriti Weekly 492 Nawasangram Daily 493 National Janamanch Vernacular Weekly 494 Natrawati Weekly
Analytical Report on Media Monitoring of the Constituent 295 Assembly Election 2013 495 Narayani Daily 496 Mithila Bishesh Daily 497 Mithila Dot Com daily 498 Mero Jagaran Weekly 499 Jagaran Daily 500 Jai Pirthivi Post Weekly 501 Janadesh Myagdi 502 Janadharana Weekly 503 Madiseti Prabah Daily 504 Myagdi Sanchar Weekly 505 Mahima Weekly 506 Malika Post Weekly 507 Malwara Daily 508 Mangal Prabat Kiran Weekly 509 Khandan Weekly 510 Krishna dainik 511 Krishna Daily 512 Lawa Agrasan Weekly 513 Loktantra Monthly 514 Lokwani Daily
Name of other FMs
S.N Development Region District Name of FM 1 Far Western Achham Radio Ramaroshan 2 Far Western Achham Radio Janapriya 3 Western Arghakhanchi Radio Arghakhanchi 4 Western Baglung Dhorpatan Fm 5 Western Baglung Dhaulagiri Radio 6 Western Baglung Sayapatri Fm 7 Far Western Baitadi Saugat Fm 8 Far Western Bajhang Saipal 9 Far Western Bajura Paurakhi Fm 10 Far Western Bajura Radio Bajura 11 Far Western Banke Radio Bheri 12 Mid Western Banke Radio Krishnasar 13 Mid Western Banke Radio Express Fm 14 Mid Western Banke Radio Rubaru 15 Central Bara Sanskar Fm 16 Central Bara Radio Simara 17 Mid Western Bardiya Radio Gurbaba Fm 18 Central Bhaktapur Nepaliko Radio 19 Central Bhaktapur Bhaktapur Fm 20 Central Chitwan Kalika Fm-91Fm 21 Central Chitwan Synergy Fm
Analytical Report on Media Monitoring of 296 the Constituent Assembly Election 2013 22 Central Chitwan Radio Arpan 23 Central Chitwan Radio Chitwan 24 Central Chitwan Radio Triveni 25 Central Chitwan Radio Madi 26 Central Chitwan Kalika Fm-95.2 Fm 27 Central Chitwan Hamro Fm 28 Far Western Dadeldhura Radio Amargadhi 29 Mid Western Dailekh Dhrubatara Radio 30 Mid Western Dang Hamro Pahuch Fm 31 Mid Western Dang Radio Prakriti 32 Mid Western Dang Radio Madhyapaschim 33 Mid Western Dang Radio Tulsipur 34 Mid Western Dang Radio Jharana 35 Mid Western Dang Radio Highway 36 Mid Western Dang Radio Swargadwari 37 Far Western Darchula Naya Nepal 38 Far Western Darchula Kalapani Fm 39 Central Dhading Radio Dhading 40 Central Dhading Radio Bihani 41 Eastern Dhankuta Radio Makalu 42 Eastern Dhankuta Radio Dhankuta 43 Central Dhanusa Radio Mithila 44 Central Dhanusa Mithilanchal Fm 45 Central Dhanusa Radio Today 46 Central Dhanusa Radio Janakpur 47 Central Dolakha Hamro Radio 48 Central Dolakha Radio Sailung 49 Mid Western Dolpa Radio Dolpa 50 Far Western Doti Radio Triveni 51 Western Gorkha Radio Gorkha 52 Western Gorkha Choice Fm 53 Western Gulmi Radio Resunga 54 Eastern Ilam Nepal Bani Fm 55 Eastern Ilam Ilam Fm 56 Eastern Jhapa Fm Mechi Tunes 57 Eastern Jhapa Saptarangi Fm 58 Eastern Jhapa Kanchanjunga Fm 59 Eastern Jhapa Radio Sunrise 60 Eastern Jhapa Radio Sargam 61 Eastern Jhapa Radio Vision 62 Eastern Jhapa Radio Birat 63 Eastern Jhapa Pathibhara Fm 64 Eastern Jhapa Birta Fm 65 Eastern Jhapa Simana Fm 66 Mid Western Jumla Radio Karnali Fm 67 Mid Western Jumla Radio Karnali 68 Far Western Kailali Radio Paschim Today
Analytical Report on Media Monitoring of the Constituent 297 Assembly Election 2013 69 Far Western Kailali Tikapur Fm 70 Far Western Kailali Dinesh Fm 71 Far Western Kailali Godavari Fm 72 Far Western Kailali Sudursandesh 73 Far Western Kanchanpur Radio Mahakali 74 Far Western Kanchanpur Shuklaphanta Fm 75 Far Western Kanchanpur Radio Nagarik 76 Western Kapilbastu Radio Buddha Awaaj 77 Western Kapilbastu Radio Kapilbastu 78 Western Kaski Radio Barahi 79 Western Kaski Radio Taranga 80 Western Kaski Big Fm 81 Western Kaski Pokhara Fm 82 Western Kaski Radio Annapurna Fm 83 Western Kaski Machhapuchhre Fm 84 Western Kaski Radio Lekhnath 85 Western Kaski Radio Janani 86 Western Kaski Radio Safalta 87 Western Kaski Radio Sunaulo 88 Western Kaski Gurkhali Fm 89 Central Kathmandu Classic Fm 90 Central Kathmandu Capital Fm 91 Central Kathmandu Citizen Fm 92 Central Kathmandu Mero Fm 93 Central Kathmandu Radio Upatyaka 94 Central Kathmandu Star Fm 95 Central Kathmandu Times Fm 96 Central Kathmandu Hit Fm 97 Central Kathmandu Radio Audio 98 Central Kathmandu Maitri Fm 99 Central Kathmandu Mirmire Fm 100 Central Kathmandu Gorkha Fm 101 Central Kathmandu Nepal Fm 102 Central Kathmandu Image Fm 103 Central Kathmandu Radiocity 104 Central Kathmandu Radio Rajdhani 105 Central Kathmandu Keeps Fm 106 Central Kathmandu CIN 107 Central Kavre Prime Fm 108 Central Kavre Grace Fm 109 Central Kavre Radio Abc 110 Eastern Khotang Radio Halesi 111 Central Lalitpur Headlines 112 Central Lalitpur Kantipur Fm 113 Central Lalitpur Sagarmatha Fm 114 Central Lalitpur Ujyalo Fm 115 Western Lamjung Radio Lamjung
Analytical Report on Media Monitoring of 298 the Constituent Assembly Election 2013 116 Western Lamjung Radio Marsyangdi 117 Western Lamjung Radio Chautari 118 Central Mahottari Jaleshwarnath Fm 119 Central Mahottari Radio Rudraksha 120 Central Mahottari Radio Sungava 121 Central Makawanpur Radio Thaha Sanchar 122 Central Makawanpur Radio Makawanpur 123 Central Makawanpur Hetauda Fm 124 Central Makawanpur Radio Palung 125 Central Makawanpur Shakti Fm 126 Eastern Morang B Fm 127 Eastern Morang Radio Suseli 128 Eastern Morang Radio Prayash 129 Eastern Morang Makalu Fm 130 Eastern Morang Koshi Fm 131 Western Myagdi Myagdikali Fm 132 Western Nawalparasi Radio Parasi 133 Western Nawalparasi Bijaya Fm 134 Western Nawalparasi Radio Madhyabindu Fm 135 Central Nuwakot Nuwakot Fm 136 Central Nuwakot Radio Trishuli 137 Central Nuwakot Radio Jalapa 138 Eastern Panchthar Sinhalila Fm 139 Western Palpa Samudayik Radio Madan Pokhara 140 Western Palpa Srinagar Fm 141 Eastern Panchthar Eagle Fm 142 Western Parbat Radio Didibahini 143 Central Parsa Indreni Fm 144 Central Parsa Aakas Fm 145 Central Parsa Radio Birgunj 146 Central Parsa Radio Bindas 147 Central Parsa Narayani Fm 148 Mid Western Pyuthan Radio Lisne Aawaj 149 Central Ramechhap Radio Tinlal 150 Central Ramechhap Hajurko Radio 151 Central Rautahat Rautahat Fm 152 Central Rautahat Radio Nunthar 153 Mid Western Rolpa Radio Rolpa 154 Mid Western Rolpa Radio Jaljala 155 Mid Western Rukum Radio Sano Bheri 156 Mid Western Rukum Radio Sisne Fm 157 Western Rupandehi Butwal Fm 158 Western Rupandehi Radio Lumbini 159 Western Rupandehi Radio Namaste 160 Western Rupandehi Radio Malmala 161 Western Rupandehi Siddhartha Fm
Analytical Report on Media Monitoring of the Constituent 299 Assembly Election 2013 162 Mid Western Salyan Radio Sarada 163 Mid Western Salyan Radio Rapti 164 Eastern Sankhuwasabha Gurans Fm 165 Eastern Sankhuwasabha Khandbari Fm 166 Eastern Saptari Bhorukawa Fm 167 Eastern Saptari Cfm 168 Eastern Saptari Radio Chhinnamastsa 169 Central Sarlahi Samudayik Radio Sarlahi 170 Central Sarlahi Dhukdhuki Fm 171 Central Sarlahi My Fm 172 Central Sarlahi Radio Ekata 173 Central Sindhuli Radio Sindhuligadhi 174 Central Sindhupalchok Radio Sindhu 175 Central Sindhupalchok Radio Melamchi 176 Central Sindhupalchok Radio Planet 177 Eastern Siraha Radio Phoolwari 178 Eastern Solukhumbu Solu Fm 179 Eastern Solukhumbu Himal Fm 180 Eastern Sunsari Saptakoshi Fm 181 Eastern Sunsari Bijaypur Fm 182 Eastern Sunsari Radio Ganatantra Rapti Fm 183 Eastern Sunsari Namaste Fm 184 Eastern Sunsari Popular Fm 185 Eastern Sunsari Star Fm 186 Mid Western Surkhet Radio Bheri 187 Mid Western Surkhet Bulbule Fm 188 Mid Western Surkhet Jagaran Fm 189 Western Syangja Radio Waling 190 Western Syangja Radio Syangja 191 Western Syangja Adhikhola Fm 192 Western Tanahu Damauli Fm 193 Western Tanahu Radio Tanahu 194 Western Tanahu Radio Bandipur 195 Western Tanahu Radio Dhor Barahi 196 Eastern Taplejung Radio Taplejung 197 Eastern Taplejung Radio Tamor 198 Eastern Terhathum Terhathum Fm 199 Eastern Udayapur Radio Udayapur 200 Eastern Udayapur Radio Triyuga
Analytical Report on Media Monitoring of 300 the Constituent Assembly Election 2013 The European Union is made up of 28 Member States who have decided to gradually link together their know-how, resources and destinies. Together, during a period of enlargement of 50 years, they have built a zone of stability, democracy and sustainable development whilst maintaining cultural diversity, tolerance and individual freedoms. The European Union is committed to sharing its achievements and its values with countries and peoples beyond its borders.
© Election Commission, Nepal Kantipath, Kathmandu Tel: (+977-1) 4228663
ISBN : 978-9937-2-8812-5
Photo courtesy: UNDP/ESP, ECN and NPI
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