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Carter Center report says…Media were partisan in elections coverage
Weeks after Guyana’s General and Regional elections concluded and saw high participation by international observers, the Carter Center has opined that the country’s media showed bias during the elections coverage.
The Center surmised that generally the media in Guyana were partisan in their elections coverage.
The Center added, “The tone of some coverage was sensationalist, often seemingly aimed at reaffirming the narrative of a particular party. While there was a diverse range of content and opinion across the media, very little of this was neutral and unbiased.”
The Center also said that daily newspapers carried multiple pages of advertisements from political parties each day.
The report also raised allegations which stated that the state media were biased in favour of the ruling party, the PPP/C.
In its report on the recently concluded elections in Guyana, the Center noted the international obligations related to the media and elections.
These obligations, the Center said, include freedom of expression and the right to seek, receive and impart information through a range of media.
It went on to say that the media play an “indispensable role” in democratic elections through the conveyance of information to voters and political parties about major issues.
Although the Center admitted that it did not conduct a “systematic analysis” of the media during its time in Guyana, the mission noted several key aspects on the overall media framework.
The Center further said that freedom of speech was generally respected across Guyana in the lead-up to the May 11 elections, as candidates campaigned actively.
However, although six parties participated in the elections, the two largest parties – the PPP/C and the APNU+AFC coalition – received almost the entire attention of the media, the report said.
“The smaller parties’ campaigns were largely invisible, with very low levels of activity. The two main parties, by contrast, were extremely visible,” the Center said.
Meanwhile, the Center opined that the Media Monitoring Unit (MMU) of the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) required “much room for improvement”.
According to the Center, GECOM operated the MMU to facilitate the maintenance of a media environment conducive to the democratic processes.
However, the Center noted, the MMU lacked the power to sanction or discipline the media in any way, a serious shortcoming.
The Center’s concerns are ones that have been previously reiterated, particularly when politicians make explosive statements during the campaign trail and these statements are in turn published in the media.
Although the monitoring unit would publish reports during the elections period which called out media houses on their shortcomings, not much can be done beyond this naming and shaming game.
Further, media practitioners signed a self-regulatory media Code of Conduct which aimed to contain media excesses and to assist in leveling the political playing field by facilitating equitable, balanced and fair coverage of the parties’ campaigns.
However, this code was breached several times during the course of the 2015 elections, MMU reports indicated.
Meanwhile, the Center noted that civil society organisations were “largely invisible” during the election campaign, “as very little space was afforded to them in the media”.
Nonetheless, the report said, these organisations were able to use social media to share their messages, encouraging both participation and peace for the elections.
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