MEDIA MONITORING PROJECT AFGHANISTAN FIRST WEEKLY NARRATIVE REPORT 16 - 23 February 2014 Background and Introduction: The IEC MC has established a media monitoring activity, conducted by third party, in support of its effort to monitor media conduct during the electoral process, as required by article 61 of the Electoral Law. Beginning on 16 February, the third party has been recording and monitoring coverage of 55 media outlets. The list of monitored media consists of 44 broadcast media outlets (26 TV channels and 18 radio stations) as well as 10 print publications and one online media. See the attached Annexes for more details on the methodology, sources and entities monitored. The monitoring methodology is based on internationally recognized standards and practices and aims to provide qualitative and quantitative analysis of print and electronic media. The monitoring reports present statistics about the amount of time/space allocated to candidates and their campaign teams in different programmes, shares of the direct speech of candidates and representatives of their campaign teams, distribution of time according to gender of candidate/campaign team representative, the tone of the coverage - whether it is positive, neutral or negative - and instances of coverage which appear to be inconsistent with legal framework governing the media coverage of the campaign. Highlights: With one week of monitoring data available, the project findings are yet preliminary. In order to establish certain patterns or trends, a longer period of media monitoring is required. Based on the first seven days of media monitoring and the debate coverage during the pre- monitoring period, we have noted the following: Many monitored media were allocating significant portions of their coverage to the presidential election. In general, the monitored media focused their coverage (News Bulletins and other programming) on three candidates: Dr. Abdullah Abdullah, Mohammad Ashraf 1 Ghani Ahmadzai, and Zalmai Rassoul. These candidates appear to be the most active in their campaigns and have received the most endorsements. While most media have given significant attention to two or more candidates, some media outlets provided the largest coverage shares to only one specific presidential candidate. These media tend to have political affiliations with the candidate they covered the most (for example, Aina TV which is owned by Mohammad Ashraf Ghani Ahmadzai ’s First Vice Presidential Candidate General Dostum, Dawat TV which is owned by Presidential Candidate Prof. Abdul Rasoul Sayyaf, or Rah e Farda TV which is owned by Presidential candidate Dr. Abdullah Abdullah’s Second Vice President). Overall, the tone of the coverage of candidates in the monitored media was positive and neutral. Where limited negative information appeared, it was focused around a few topics, such as electoral violations committed by some candidates in the first two weeks of the campaign period for which they were fined by the IEC, or allegations against specific candidates or their political parties presented by other candidates. Since the start of the presidential campaign period the broadcast media have organized several debate programmes. It is commendable that the debates have been focusing on the issues and platforms of the candidates. The results of the monitoring indicate that some candidates have participated in more debates than others. Some candidates have been very active in placing their paid ads in the monitored media. State Broadcast Media: RTA TV News programmes The RTA TV allocated in its news programmes at least minimal shares of coverage to all candidates. The most significant portions of airtime (more than 17 per cent of coverage) were given to four presidential candidates: These were: Dr. Abdullah Abdullah, Mohammad Ashraf Ghani Ahmadzai, Prof. Abdul Rab Rasoul Sayyaf and Mohammad Nader Naim. The tone of coverage for all candidates in news programmes was almost entirely positive or neutral. RTA Other Programmes RTA was broadcasting other programmes, including comprehensive reports of candidate endorsements, and roundtable discussions with campaign teams and representatives about their programs and priorities. Candidates Dr. Abdullah Abdullah, Mohammad Ashraf Ghani Ahmadzai and Mohammad Nader Naim along with Prof. Abdul Rab Rasoul Sayyaf were also featured in these and in several short interviews aired in RTA broadcasts. The 2 campaign teams for candidates Hedayat Amin Arsala, Gen. Abdul Rahim Wardak, Eng. Qutbuddin Hilal, and Ashraf Ghani Ahmadzai also made brief appearances during the roundtable discussions. Private Broadcast Media: News programmes of most monitored broadcast media provided significant shares of coverage to either one or several candidates that appear to be most active and receive endorsements. The three candidates that received the largest shares of news coverage overall were: Dr. Abdullah Abdullah, Mohammad Ashraf Ghani Ahmadzai and Zalmai Rassoul. Significant shares of news coverage in some private media were also given to Prof. Abdul Rab Rasoul Sayyaf, Mohammad Shafiq Gul Agha Shirzai, or Abdul Qayum Karzai. Several monitored broadcast media, especially radio stations, allocated only limited coverage to presidential candidates in the first week of media monitoring. For example, Radio Eslah news, did not mention the campaign at all, and Youth Radio News offered only 3 minutes of coverage to the campaign in its newscasts. Specific information about the monitored broadcast media Tolo TV and Tolo TV News created promotional spots based on the pre-campaign interviews they conducted with all of the presidential candidates and have been frequently airing these clips. On the News Bulletins, both stations dedicated the largest single shares of their coverage to candidate Zalmai Rassoul. Other programming on both Tolo TV and Tolo TV News provided more balanced coverage of all of the candidates and their campaign teams over a longer duration. Mohammad Ashraf Ghani Ahmadzai was featured most heavily in Shamshad TV programming including News Bulletins (he received 45%). His advertisements also received 68.0% of the total time allocated for advertising on Shamshad TV. Rah-e-Farda TV, owned by Dr. Abdullah Abdullah’s Vice Presidential candidate Haji Mohammad Mohaqeq, leader of the Wahdat-e-Milli Afghanistan Party, almost exclusively featured Dr. Abdullah and his campaign team in news as well as other programmes. Dr. Abdullah Abdullah was also presented in by far largest amount of paid ads on this channel. Noor TV, owned by Salahudeen Rabani (Head of the Afghan High Peace Council and Leader of Jamaiat-e-Islamy Afghanistan) also featured Dr. Abdullah and his campaign team in over 75% of its News Bulletins and other programs. 3 Noorin TV News Bulletins, featured coverage of Zalmai Rassoul and his campaign team more prominently than any other candidate, with Qutbuddin Hilal in second place. Dr. Abdullah Abdullah received 39.4% of coverage share on all other programs. Afghan TV programs allocated 24.3% and 22.3% of mostly positive coverage to Gen. Abdul Rahim Wardak’s campaign team and Prof. Abdul Rasoul Sayyaf’s campaign team, respectively. Ariana News TV News Bulletins featured mostly Dr. Abdullah Abdullah (23.1%) and Zalmai Rassoul (20.5%). Other Ariana News programs covered Gen. Abdul Rahim Wardak (32.3%), Dr. Abdullah Abdullah’s campaign team (28.0%), Abdul Qayum Karzai’s campaign team and Hedayat Amin Arsala. Tamadon TV had few News Bulletins or other programs featuring the candidates, and devoted largest shares of its coverage to Abdul Qayum Karzai and Dr. Abdullah Abdullah. 1 TV News Bulletins dedicated largest shares of its news coverage to Zalmai Rassoul (25.0%) and Abdul Qayum Karzai (20.3%). In other programming, Mohammad Ashraf Ghani Ahmadzai and Dr. Abdullah Abdullah dominated 1TV coverage, and smaller coverage shares were more evenly allocated between the other candidates and their campaign teams. Kabul News TV News Bulletins featured Mohammad Ashraf Ghani Ahmadzai (25.4%), Zalmai Rassoul (25.1%) and Dr. Abdullah Abdullah (21.4%). Other programming featured Dr. Abdullah Abdullah’s campaign team 46.1% of the time. Negah TV, which is owned by President Karzai’s Second Vice President Karim Khalili, featured Mohammad Ashraf Ghani Ahmadzai and his campaign team almost exclusively in News Bulletins. Dawat TV, owned by Prof. Abdul Rasoul Sayyaf, featured Prof. Sayyaf almost exclusively. Zhawandoon TV owned by Mohammad Ismail Yoon, featured Mohammad Ashraf Ghani Ahmadzai in 61.9% of its news bulletins and 49.0% of its other programming, the tone of which was mostly neutral. Khurshid TV programs and advertisements featured Prof. Abdul Rasoul Sayyaf slightly more than other candidates. Aina TV, owned by Mohammad Ashraf Ghani Ahmadzai ’s First Vice Presidential Candidate General Dostum, featured Mohammad Ashraf Ghani Ahmadzai and his campaign team almost exclusively in News Bulletins, Advertising and all other programming, airing also one hour and fourteen minutes of ads for the campaign. 4 Arezo TV provided balanced coverage in its News Bulletins and featured mostly Mohammad Ashraf Ghani Ahmadzai. Private Newspapers: Similarly as in the case of broadcast media, most private newspapers provided substantial coverage about presidential candidates and the election. While the coverage of newspapers was often concentrated on one or two specific candidates, some newspapers, like Outlook Afghanistan and 8 Sobh, have offered a relatively diverse picture of the