ELECTIONS 2000 MEDIA MONITORING PROJECT Interim Report 1. Summary of Findings • The public-funded media largely failed to discharge their duty to inform the electorate impartially about the candidates and issues in the 2000 presidential, parliamentary and civic elections. Despite the clear provisions of Section 53 of the Elections Act, some of these media took an explicit editorial position in favour of the ruling Chama Cha Mapinduzi, while all gave far more time to CCM candidates than those of any other party. National Television (TVT), for example, gave no news coverage to any opposition candidate for the Union presidency in the last month before the elections. • This bias in the publicly funded media was even more pronounced in Zanzibar – with potentially more serious effects, given the absence of any independent media in the Isles. • The performance of the privately-owned media was uneven. All broadcast media gave more time to the candidates of the ruling party than of any of the opposition parties. However, in some cases there appeared to be a genuine attempt to balance the coverage, while other media were unapologetic in their overwhelming bias in favour of the government and CCM. • Taking the private and public media together, the weight of coverage was overwhelmingly in favour of the CCM. The ruling party received 72.69 per cent of news coverage on radio and television from the beginning of October until the election. The next largest share was that of the Civic United Front, with 11.98 per cent. • Across all the media, virtually without exception, the voice of the people was scarcely reflected in the course of the election campaign. Electoral coverage largely consisted of regurgitating the words of politicians, rather than examining issues of concern to the electorate. • In particular, most media have given little or no attention to women candidates in the elections, or to issues especially affecting women. A notable exception was Majira newspaper. • Publicly-funded broadcast media gave free direct access broadcasts to the contesting political parties on an equal basis. Paid coverage of party political events was also available, as were shorter campaign messages. However, at least two paid broadcasts of the Civic United Front in Zanzibar were not broadcast in full by Sauti ya Tanzania Zanzibar. • Voter education was generally inadequate across the Tanzanian media – although the primary responsibility for that failure lies with the electoral authorities rather than the media themselves. It was a clear case of too little, too late. 2. Background to the project The Elections 2000 Media Monitoring Project is a joint undertaking by four partners: the Media Council of Tanzania, Media Institute of Southern Africa-Tanzania Chapter, 1 Tanzania Media Women Association and the United Nations Association. ARTICLE 19, the Global Campaign for Free Expression, which is based in Johannesburg and London, provided initial training and technical support, as well as channelling funding from the Swedish International Development Agency. The bulk of funding for the project was provided by a basket of donors comprising Denmark, Sweden, Finland, Norway, Canada, France, Switzerland, Ireland, the United Kingdom, Germany and the Netherlands. Preparatory work on the project began on 1 June 2000. Training took place in July and monitoring started in August. Monitors are based at six centres: Dar es Salaam, Morogoro, Dodoma, Mwanza, Arusha and Zanzibar. 3. Methodology A total of six radio stations, seven television stations and 15 newspapers were monitored. Not all the media in the country were monitored because of inadequate resources. Monitors completed a standard form for all broadcast news bulletins, as well as for all election-related stories in the newspapers being monitored. The form recorded basic statistical information: number, duration and order of items, named sources of stories, whether or not there was a sound bite or direct quotation, and whether an item was broadly favourable to one party or opposed to one party (only negative stories were classified as “opposed” – a story could favour one party without opposing another). This statistical information was entered into a database and forms the basis of the statistical findings presented in this report. (Because of teething problems with the database, this interim report only presents statistics from the latter stages of the campaign – from 1 October onwards. A full statistical summary will be available in our final report.) In addition to collecting this basic statistical data, monitors also made a preliminary analysis of the qualitative content of each item. These analyses were reviewed on a weekly basis and incorporated into regular public reports. Reports were published once in August, twice in September and four times in October. In addition, a newsletter, Election Monitor, was produced regularly in English and Kiswahili to publicize the project’s findings. It was the aim of the Media Monitoring Project to enter into a dialogue with media practitioners about our findings. We welcome the general receptiveness that the media have shown towards our work. Monitoring will continue until 15 November, in order to observe coverage of the results and the political aftermath of the elections. 4. Applicable standards When monitoring and measuring media output, it is important to be clear what standards the media are to be judged against. Standards of behaviour for the media in elections have been set out at three levels, which form the basis of the assessment that the Media Monitoring Project is engaged in. International standards: International law and practice has over the years developed a clear set of principles governing the expected performance of media in elections. The significance of this is that the media are one of the main sources of information 2 that allow voters to make a free democratic choice. These standards were recently summarized by the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Opinion and Expression in his 1999 report: There are several fundamental principles which, if promoted and respected, enhance the right to seek, receive and impart information. These principles are: a monopoly or excessive concentration of ownership of media in the hands of a few is to be avoided in the interest of developing a plurality of viewpoints and voices; State-owned media have a responsibility to report on all aspects of national life and to provide access to a diversity of viewpoints; State-owned media must not be used as a communication or propaganda organ for one political party or as an advocate for the Government to the exclusion of all other parties and groups… The Special Rapporteur then went on to list a series of obligations on the State to ensure “that the media are given the widest possible latitude” in order to achieve “the most fully informed electorate possible”: • There should not be bias or discrimination in media coverage; • Censorship of election programmes should not be allowed. • Media should be exempt from legal liability for reporting provocative statements and a right of reply should be provided; • There should be a clear distinction between news coverage of functions of government office and functions as a party candidate; • Air time for direct access programmes should be granted on a fair and non- discriminatory basis; • Programmes provide an opportunity for candidates to debate each other and for journalists to question them; • Media should engage in voter education; • Programmes should target traditionally disadvantaged groups, which may include women and ethnic and religious minorities. Tanzanian Law: Part of the list of standards set out by the Special Rapporteur is already in force as part of the laws of Tanzania. Section 53 of the Elections Act provides strict guidelines for the government-owned media. It says that political parties contesting and election and candidates for the offices of President and Vice- President “shall have the right to use the state radio and television broadcasting service during the official period of the election campaign.” It continues: Every print media owned by the government which publishes information relating to the electoral process shall be guided by the principle of total impartiality and shall refrain from any discrimination in relation to any candidate journalistically and in the amount of space dedicated to him. Code of Conduct: These legal provisions apply to the government or state media, for the simple reason that these are funded out of public money and therefore belong to all Tanzanians regardless of political persuasion. The same principle does not, however, apply to privately-owned media, which are free to choose their own editorial policy. However, private media are still guided by the ethical standards of the journalistic profession. In July in Morogoro, under the auspices of the Media Council, 3 media practitioners and other stakeholders drew up a code of conduct to govern media coverage of the 2000 elections. The code of conduct is appended to this report and provides the standard against which the Media Monitoring Project measured the professionalism of all media, public or private. 5. Voter Education One of the most important functions of the media before and during an election campaign is voter education. This means explaining to voters how to register to vote, what the vote means – including which offices are being elected – and how and where to vote. It is also important to stress to voters the fact that their vote is secret. Voter education should target in particular disadvantaged sections of society who may be less well informed about the voting process and therefore be less likely to participate. This means, for example, that voter education must be aimed at the illiterate or people with disabilities – who may have special difficulties in voting. It should also be targeted at women, who tend to be marginalized in the political process. It is essential that all voter education be politically impartial – that is, that it should not push the electorate towards voting for one or other political party.