The Sierra Leone Association of Journalists
(SLAJ)
Supported by the Canada Fund for Local
Initiatives (CFLI)
Promoting
democratic and political processes
Political Reporting
– training and monitoring
In 2012, the Government of Sierra Leone
invited an observer mission from the European Union to monitor and observe the
17 November 2012 general elections. Over 100 observers were deployed to the 14
Districts of Sierra Leone from EU member states and Norway. Part of what that
EU mission did was to monitor media coverage of the campaign, candidates and
elections. Some media outlets did
well, according to the EU independent observers. But, there were some
fundamental flaws in the way media covered the elections as well.
For example, on the Sierra
Leone Broadcasting Corporation (SLBC) television, the ruling party and
incumbent All Peoples Congress (APC) received 61% of airtime coverage. On SLBC
radio, 40.5% of coverage was devoted to the incumbent party and 23% to the main
opposition party, the Sierra Leone Peoples Party (SLPP). None of the remaining seven parties received more than 8.5% of
coverage either on SLBC Radio or on SLBC TV. These independent statistics were
and are being refuted by the SLBC management.
Out of the nine private media monitored by the EU EOM,
four media outlets showed
significant unbalances in allocation of time/space and
tone in favour of APC, and one in favour of SLPP.
Clearly, the
independent EU observers identified issues of concern regarding how the Sierra
Leone media cover elections, campaigns and candidates. One strategy that SLAJ
and the media are using to help address these and other concerns is to further
train and monitor the media.
The Sierra Leone Association of Journalists
(SLAJ) began a series of training workshops, funded by the Canada Fund for
Local Initiatives (CFLI), for 25 SLAJ members and journalists from around the
country on 26 November and continued the training with another group of 25
journalists on 4 December 2017. Each of the training workshops lasted for
three-days and featured seasoned media educators Francis Sowa and Stephen
Douglas along with special guests from the National Electoral Commission (NEC)
and the Political Parties Registration Commission (PPRC). The final guest was
Umaru Fofana of the BBC who spoke about staying safe in potentially hostile
settings.
The training sessions opened with a review
of the media landscape and included the EU observer mission notes. Participants
then rated the current media situation based on the following criteria:
balance, fairness, accuracy, technology and integrity, among others.
Unfortunately, according to participant feedback, the media did not score very
well receiving an average mark of less than 30%. Participants consensually
agreed the media need to do a better job of reporting on political issues and
elections.
The role of the media in elections coverage
and democracy was explored and again it was agreed, “The media plays a very important role in a democracy.
It is up to journalists, as well as voters, to find out what different parties
stand for and to inform citizens about their policies and all the big issues,”
summarized one participant.
Another participant added, “The aim of any election coverage is to ensure that the electorate is
able to make an informed choice. Voters are entitled to accurate, fair,
impartial and balanced information about the election procedures and the
positions of political parties/independents and/or candidates on issues.” It
was clear that many journalists understand the importance of their work.
Stephen Douglas led a session on
conflict-sensitive reporting and how to avoid reporting techniques that may
enflame vs calm a potentially volatile situation. Defamatory and malicious
reporting was discussed at length. The issue of hate speech was reviewed and
specific examples were cited. Hate speech is a horrible abuse of someone’s
tribe, nationality or sex and could lead to all kinds of problems. A reporter’s
choice of words was carefully examined and a series of headlines were
discussed. “Political battleground” was used as an example of a headline that
could potentially cause problems. Politics is not a “battle” but a process of
selecting an ideology and commitment to development between political parties.
By referring to politics as a battle, it can conjure images (and memories) of
conflict or war.
As evidenced in a presentation by Francis
Sowa, there are many ways to cover politics and politicians. Sowa led a
discussion on “designing an election plan and programs”. Preparations and
planning were highlighted as key to a media outlet’s coverage.
An interesting debate emerged during a
presentation on “the role of women in politics and how to cover women
candidates”. Generally, the media
fall short of their own accountability role, which is to work and report in the
interest of the public, when women are not given equal access to voice their
opinions and views as sources and when women politicians and candidates are
rendered invisible or only covered in stereotypical ways. The notion of
“gender-aware reporting” was presented and a commitment was made to fully cover
women’s issues and women’s voices.
SLAJ hosted three special guest speakers
during the three days of training. Lucien Momoh of the Political Parties
Registration Commission (PPRC) presented information on the political parties
and their constitutions. He noted, “As a regulatory body, the PPRC tries to
ensure political parties follow the rules as laid out in the national
Constitution.” Participants were enthralled as Momoh described the requirements
for party registration and the financial reporting demands of the PPRC.
The legal framework for elections and
voting were explained by Albert Massaquoi of the National Electoral Commission
(NEC). The process of conducting elections falls on the shoulders of the NEC
and Massaquoi was very thorough in his explanation of how elections should be
conducted to ensure a fair and credible process.
Elections and campaigns can be volatile and
sometimes violent. Umaru Fofana, of the BBC, presented techniques to avoid harm
and stay safe while reporting in potentially hostile situations. Fofana spoke
about threats to journalists and listed; political party militants or
extremists, security forces and criminals, who may want to take advantage of
crowds or rallies. He also reviewed things a journalist could or should do to
avoid harm and stay safe such as never wearing party colours, remaining behind
security forces and always being aware of your surroundings. Fofana’s
experiences and detailed story-telling techniques added a great deal to his
presentation and generated an abundance of discussion.
The media has three roles to play during an
election campaign, on voting day and throughout the political cycle. First, the media informs people about the
election. The media reports fairly on the campaigns of all the political
parties so the people can make their own choices. It
also presents educational information to tell citizens who the candidates are
and where to vote, and how to cast a vote in secret, etc. And, the media may
carry advertisements from the political parties seeking the people’s support.
Secondly the media is the watchdog over the
fairness of the election campaign and the voting. It is the media’s job to
report if there is no free speech because some candidates are afraid to speak,
or if there is corruption in election and voting procedures, or if the election
management bodies are doing their jobs fairly.
And thirdly the media should be the voice
of the voters. The election is not just for the politicians. An election is
also an opportunity for ordinary people to speak up, to say what issues they
think are important and why. The media should go out into the community and be
the voice of the ordinary voters, and also be the voice for those who cannot
speak up or have been ignored in the past.
The participants at the SLAJ training
agreed, a professional work of journalism must be accurate, verified, balanced,
neutral, gender-aware and respectful of human dignity. Implicit in these
requirements is a sense of morality and of responsibility. Above all, a
journalist’s primary responsibility is to his fellow citizens.
