Sitemap | Links | Монгол хуудас   
Home
Management
Right to Know: Freedom of Information
Introduction
Media Specialized Lawyers, 1999
Newspapers in Education: Getting Started, 1999
Media and Corruption, round table,1999
Media legal Reform, 2000
Media and Women, 2001
Gender School for journalists, 2002
Freedom of Expression and Defamation, 2003
Public's Right to Know and Public Broadcasting, 2003
Democratic Elections and Media, 2004

Free and Fair ( Temporary Press Jury, Ethical Principles on Election Coverage), 2004

Media for Transparent Governance, (new) 2004-2005

Media monitoring (new) 2005

President election , (new) 2005

Freedom of Information
News
Media laws
Publications
Contacts
 

Independent Media

Media monitoring /2005 Presidential election/

FINAL MONITORING REPORT 2005 PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION

ONE: INTRODUCTION
Globe International, an independent, non-partisan Mongolian NGO dedicated to freedom of expression and of the media, conducted systematic monitoring of the media coverage of the May 22, 2005, presidential election. This project was conducted with material and technical support from the National Democratic Institute for International Affairs (NDI), an international NGO headquartered in Washington DC , USA , promoting democratic development worldwide.

Globe International sought to evaluate mass media performance in providing objective and balanced coverage of the candidates and their platforms to enable the citizens of Mongolia to make well-informed choices at the ballot box. The project's findings have been determined through a well-defined and rigorous methodology and are not intended to support any candidate or political party, but rather the integrity of the media environment as a whole during the campaign season.

Globe International (GI) implemented the project from March 1, 2005 to July 1, 2005. Before the start of monitoring, representatives of NDI and GI met the leaders of the political parties with parliamentary seats and of the major media outlets to be involved in the monitoring.

On April 4, 2005, GI started monitoring six TV channels ( Mongolian National TV, Channel 25, UBS, TV-5, TV-9, and Eagle TV); one radio station (Mongolian National Radio); and four daily newspapers (Daily News, Century News, Today and The People's Right), using qualitative and quantitative methods of analysis. Quantitative analysis measured the total amount of time and space devoted to elections-related coverage on monitored media outlets. Qualitative analysis evaluated whether the information about candidates was positive, negative or neutral in its content.

The results revealed disturbing problems in coverage of candidates in news and current affairs programs on most of the monitored media outlets. This made it very difficult for Mongolians to get accurate and unbiased coverage of political parties, candidates and other issues. In general, biased media coverage of the election demonstrated that Mongolia lacks a strong and independent media able to provide objective and balanced information to enable the electorate to make a well-informed choice at the ballot box.

•  PROJECT NEEDS
The media provide a forum for the exchange of opinions, public debate, confrontation and criticism, and offer the general public a chance to gain a better understanding of opinions presented by individual candidates and political parties. The roles of the media are also to provide the public with an objective portrayal of public affairs; to be a vehicle for the dissemination of information about the most important developments in a society; to unveil shortcomings of the political system; and to provide an unbiased analysis of the context in which events occur. During an election, this helps voters to make well-informed decisions as to which political entity they will give the mandate to represent their interests. During an election, the role of the media is indispensable, especially in portraying the various participants in the election competition and in interpreting their previous activities, political programs, opinions, plans and visions for the future. By enabling political contestants to communicate their messages and in presenting information about political parties, candidates and matters of political importance, the media play an essential role in the integrity of the electoral process, as the primary source of information about politics.

The principle of freedom of speech requires that journalists, editors, producers and media proprietors take responsibility for the content and form of their messages as well as the consequences they entail. The media should be assured by the government of the right to gather and report objective information without intimidation and with no arbitrary or discriminatory obstruction or censorship of their coverage of the campaign. State authorities should refrain from interfering in the activities of journalists and other media personnel with a view to influencing elections. Media management and owners should accept the principles of journalistic ethics and independence and they should not exert pressure on their employees to act at variance with these principles. While all the media should offer responsible coverage, it is particularly incumbent upon state-owned media to observe even more rigorous standards, since they are publicly funded. The citizens pay fees and the public media have therefore a legal and moral obligation to serve the interest of the general public, not partisan or private interests.

Media monitoring constitutes an important part of the overall analysis of the pre-election environment conducted by a domestic election-monitoring organization. Media monitoring is an effective tool to measure both how the state and political contestants treat the media and how the media treat contestants. Valid and credible media monitoring projects provide the general public with benchmarks to judge the fairness of the whole election process. Media monitoring also represents an important tool to highlight cases of undue interference in the editorial freedom of the media or attempts to undermine their independence.

•  PROJECT GOALS, OBJECTIVES, ACTIVITIES
The project was a part of Globe International's long-term goal of promoting fair and democratic elections; the particular project aimed to evaluate the Mongolian mass media performance in providing objective and balanced coverage of the candidates and their platforms to enable the citizens of Mongolia to make well-informed choices at the ballot box.

Before the start of monitoring, NDI representatives Scott Keirin and Rastislav Kuzel, project leader H. Naranjargal, coordinator J. Tuul and GI consultant S. Bayaraa met the leaders of the political parties represented in parliament and of the major media outlets to be involved in the monitoring, to tell them about project goals, activities and monitoring methodology, to encourage successful implementation of the project.

The project carried out the following activites:

  • Training

NDI trainer and MEMO (Slovak NGO) Director Rastislav Kuzel from March 12 to 18, 2005 conducted intensive theoretical and practical training for the monitoring team in methodology, quantitative and qualitative measures and media effects. He came to Mongolia again during the project implementation to consult on the analysis of monitoring data and on writing the monitoring reports.

  • Press conferences

The project held 5 press conferences. An introductory press conference was held on March 18, 2005, attended by the 2 NDI experts, telling those present about the goals and monitoring methodology. A press conference was held after each of the 4 periods of monitoring, giving information on results and findings. Journalists, media leaders, and representatives of civil society groups and international organisations attended the press conferences, which were covered by all media outlets except TV9.

  • Round table

A round table was held on July 7, 2005, intended to evaluate project implementation. Participants discussed the general conclusions of the monitoring and contributed to the recommendations to parliament, government and international donor organisations.

All contents © copyright 2004 Globe International NGO. All rights reserved.
®Designed & Developed by Bodicom LLC 2004.