Elections Commission media monitoring unit presents `snapshot' findings
THE media monitoring unit the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) set up late last year has presented `snapshot' findings on elections-related media coverage.
The first attempt at media monitoring did not focus on the highly controversial TV `talk show' programmes widely blamed for contributing to tensions in the society in the opposition anti-government street disturbances in Georgetown after the December 15, 1997 elections.
"We are very aware of the importance of television and talk shows and other public affairs programming that offer information and opinion relating to the upcoming elections", the unit said.
The commission did not identify members of its unit and the report said they "do not suggest that such programmes should be held to the same standards as programmes that purport to transmit unbiased information in the form of news".
The unit does acknowledge that these TV and radio programmes "have an influence that requires some level of responsibility - and they should certainly comply with the provisions of the media code of conduct" some media houses, including the three state media, have signed.
It said it expects to report on these talk shows in other reports.
Monitoring of the "limited snapshot of news reporting" by the two daily newspapers and some TV news programmes in recent weeks indicated that parties contesting the scheduled March 19 elections are "only beginning to get some coverage from any media outlets."
The unit found that the government and GECOM have "dominated the news", adding that it understands that the elections campaigns "are only just beginning".
The team said it expects and hopes the parties and the issues will "receive more attention as we get closer to election day."
"We are also concerned that the lack of a clear and fair regulatory framework for broadcast media means that there will continue to be much confusion about the proper way for television and radio to behave during an election.
"This is of particular concern because of the controversies about paid political ads and the promise of free time to parties on media outlets", the unit said.
It argued that without "a clear and fair method of allocating such time and with no clear standards about acceptable content, there is bound to be continued confusion."
"These problems could be addressed by the passage of a long-overdue broadcast bill by the Parliament", the unit recommended.
`PROBLEM WITH BALANCE'
"We have repeatedly noticed that news stories in most of the print and broadcast media fail to seek out both sides of a particular story. Sometimes we noticed that an opposing view might be published or broadcast in a different story on a different day, but many times even this was not the case."
The group felt it was important "to attempt to afford all parties involved in a particular story the opportunity to defend themselves, to respond to accusations or simply to present a different approach to an issue."
"It is also important to do this within the context of each story presented rather that in a different date or place.
"We who consume the news reply on reporters and editors to present the full story to us in a coherent and timely manner", the unit said.
The group said one method it used in monitoring the media coverage on the elections "is not designed to measure the accuracy of a particular story".
It explained that it instead wants to "decide whether a story would be more or less likely to lead a reader, viewer or listener to be favourably inclined toward the subject of the story."
According to the unit, it relies on methods used by media monitoring professionals in many projects around the world involving collecting data systematically "to allow us to compare the information published or broadcast by different media outlets over time."
"More importantly, it involves training professional staff to understand how the media should behave if they sincerely hope to provide people with an accurate and balanced view of events."
The unit said it begins by measuring the amount of space or time devoted to each of the political parties, the government and other relevant agencies.
It said it also assesses the "tone of the coverage of each of these subjects" to determine whether the reports put a party or subject "in a positive, negative or neutral manner."
"Over time, we can see that some media organisations might be more or less inclined to treat different political parties in a better or worse light than other parties."
The unit said that for its first report, it monitored the Guyana Chronicle and the Stabroek News newspapers between December 11 and January 13.
The Chronicle, it found, devoted 70.95% of its "election-related coverage" to news about the government and 84.92% of this was "positive".
The Chronicle gave GECOM 4.87% of its coverage, 89.6% positive.
It found that the main People's National Congress/Reform (PNC/R) got 8.37% of the coverage, 58.3% of which "we considered negative coverage."
The Chronicle gave the governing People's Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) 4.5% of the coverage, 90.9% positive.
The other parties "received negligible coverage" from the Chronicle during the period, the unit said.
It found that the Stabroek News gave its readers "a somewhat different view of the world."
The government got most of the coverage, 67.85% of the time of which 60% was positive, 34.2 % negative and 5.14% neutral.
The Stabroek News gave the PNC/R 7.91% of its coverage, with 53.2% positive and 40.2% negative, the unit found.
The unit said the vast majority of the news stories by GBC radio put the government in a positive light with "positive" news about GECOM next in line. GBC news about the PPP/C was limited to only 2.75% of the time with most of its positive.
The PNC/R received only 1.42% of the coverage and three-fourths of this was negative, it reported.
Of the "politically relevant" news of GTV 11's `Six O'Clock News' between January 2-13, the unit found 71% related to the government and the vast majority of the stories presented the government in a "positive light".
GECOM got "consistently positive" coverage 7% of the time, the PPP/C 3% "all positive" and the PNC/R 2% "all negative".
Most of the news on the other TV channels that have news programmes was government-related, some positive, some negative.
While most of the `Prime Time' news was positive to the government, "a significant amount" was negative, the unit said.
`Capitol News' devoted 70% of its "relevant political coverage" to news about the government and more than twice as many of these items "portrayed the government in a positive light than in a negative light", it said.
`MTV 65 News Update' gave the government 66% coverage and almost all of this was positive. Half of its coverage of the PNC/R was positive and the other half negative.
MTV's 6% coverage of the PPP/C was "all positive".
The `Evening News' on VCT Channel 28 gave the government 68% coverage and this was "roughly evenly divided between positive and negative", the report said.
The station gave the PPP/C "mostly positive" coverage in the 5% it allotted to the governing party and the 2% for the PNC/R was "evenly divided between positive and negative".
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