Georgetown: Commonwealth Secretary General Kamalesh Sharma has called on the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) to enforce stricter measures as it relates to the breaches of the Media Code of Conduct (MCC).
Sharma, during a meeting with Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) Chairman, Dr Steve Surujbally, noted that with regard to the functioning of the local media during the election period, it was recommended that the signed Media Code of Conduct be accompanied by severe punitive measures for offenders, so as to dissuade other potential violators. Also, that the state-owned media must provide equitable coverage of all political parties and move away from the temptation to provide unfettered access to one party only.
The media in the lead-up to the May 11 General and Regional Elections had come in for severe criticism for the reports and the opinions expressed in the election coverage. Some media houses were criticised for what was described as the “swelling antipathy towards good journalism practices” and the lowering of standards.
Contraventions of MCC
According to the Media Monitoring Unit (MMU) May-June report, over the four-month duration of the programme, there were eight serious violations of the MCC, ranging from the publication of inflammatory content to inaccurate reporting, which the Unit felt had the potential to bring the whole electoral process into disrepute.
“Instructively, these violations were committed by media houses in both the print and broadcast media, with the overwhelming majority indulged in by the print media. There was also a great many other violations committed, which were not duly highlighted in our reports, since, in the estimation of the Unit, they were merely minor irritants of a systemic nature, which posed no untoward threat to the electoral process. One such violation that was fairly widespread was the editorialising of news reports,” the report read.
The MMU said that the submerging of high journalistic and ethical standards by political favouritism was reflected mainly in the quanta and types of coverage afforded the competing political parties, by the various media houses, in the print and broadcast media; and, in the number of breaches of the MCC that were committed by media practitioners, in their haste to spin stories to suit the political agendas of their media houses.
On a scale of 1-4, the media houses were judged for their balance, accuracy and fairness, of which a rank of 1 represented excellence, 2 – good, 3 – average and 4 – poor.
Guyana Times was able to score a rating of 3 for balance, a rating of 2 for accuracy and 3 for fairness, while the Stabroek News received 2, 1 and 2 in the respective areas.
The Guyana Chronicle scored 4 with regard to balance, 2 for accuracy and a 3 for fairness while the Glenn Lall-owned Kaieteur News scored 3 for balance, 2 for accuracy and 3 for fairness.
In the meantime, in echoing the observations made by the Commonwealth Secretariat’s Elections Observer Mission, that the 2015 General and Regional Elections were conducted in a credible manner, Sharma further engaged the GECOM Chairman in discussing a few recommendations that could serve GECOM well in future elections.
According to GECOM, one key area of discussion centred on the multi-step system currently employed by GECOM for the transmission of election results. Both gentlemen agreed that this system was loaded with all sorts of delays which can likely result in a number of unintended consequences inimical to the maintenance of peace and preservation of the good order of society. Moving forward GECOM could try to reduce the many steps currently used to transmit elections results while still maintaining unmitigated transparency.
Other important recommendations addressed in the Commonwealth Secretariat’s Final Report on the 2015 General and Regional Elections would be the need to utilise more buildings as polling stations that are properly equipped to facilitate persons living with physical disabilities.
Further, there was the issue of allowing election candidates and Cabinet members to enter polling stations as Political Party Agents.
This practice the Commonwealth Secretariat recommended should be revised and further clarified, so as to avoid unnecessary confusion among electors on Polling Day.
GECOM said that it remained cognisant of the important role of the Commonwealth Secretariat during Guyana’s electoral period, and looked forward to more of the same professional and objective engagements with the Secretariat in the future.
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