Sudan 2010 election poster. Photo: Lars Møller

With upcoming elections in Sudan in April 2010 and a fragile peace agreement at stake, the role of the Sudanese media during the elections is more crucial than ever. Lars Møller, journalist and IMS media trainer, reports on media training in Sudan 

Over two months in October and November 2009, IMS trained journalists in Northern and Southern Sudan on the professional and ethical reporting of elections. The “Joint Media Elections Training for Sudan” in Northern and Southern Sudan boosted the analytical and reporting skills of Sudanese editors and journalists ahead of April’s Presidential and Parliamentary elections. The media training course was organised in coordination with UNESCO, UNIFEM, and United Nations Development Fund for Women.

Team reporting

The first course module took place in Juba in Southern Sudan in October, and the second module in Khartoum in the North. Between the courses, the participating journalists from both Northern and Southern Sudan carried out team reporting assignments and were provided with mentors to help guide the process. The participants were energetic, eager to learn, hard working and almost all succeeded in carrying out team reporting.

They learned about the systems and procedures for elections, were introduced to new concepts of electoral coverage, how to apply professional standards and ethics to electoral coverage, and how to report on gender and conflict-sensitive issues during elections.

The four roles of media during elections

Focus was on conceptualising electoral coverage as much as possible, allowing the participants to bring back concepts ready-made to carry out. The training focused on the concepts of:

- the four roles of media during election – the role of the moderator, the monitor, the educator and the advocate for the voters
- news on election meeting
- mini-surveys
- the voters’ voice reporting
- the detection of malpractice, rigging, tribalism, hate speech and conflict escalation
- safety procedures
- Editorial strategy for electoral coverage.

Practical hands-on training

Most of the journalism training was practical hands-on activities and interactive feedback and discussions, acting out role-playing in order to bring to life the experience of reporting during elections. Following one particular role play the participants wrote a news story about an election meeting. After another role play they moderated a TV debate. They carried out authentic mini-surveys on the registration process.  They carried out “voters’ voice” interviews with tea sellers and they made watchdog-interviews with the election commissionaires. Every assignment was followed by feedback and discussions.

We trained basic journalism skills such as news angling, source criticism, interview and assessment of findings, all focused on the upcoming election. Many of the participants found the training challenging because of the lack of educational facilities available for aspiring journalists in Sudan.

Analytical skills key to good reporting 

The training was a stepping stone to more balanced election coverage, but further strengthening of the participating media workers’ analytical skills would be fruitful, for the journalists not just to report, but also to reflect more on content when reporting. As a trainer I have encountered the need for stronger analysing skills amongst journalists in many countries across the world. Any specialised media training should include this aspect.

Analytical skills are needed to develop a story, to devise a strategic plan for research and the critical questions and follow-up questions that need to be asked. Analytical skills are also necessary for journalists to assess their findings and identify appropriate angles which balance news values with other editorial values such as gender sensitive and conflict sensitive reporting values.

Avoiding the pitfalls 

The election training in Sudan took the starting point of the participants very seriously. The participants could influence the learning objectives. This was also reflected in the program, allowing maximum time for research exercises and feedback. The journalists know what constitutes fair coverage of election meetings, and can detect malpractice and rigging, tribalism, hate speech and conflict escalation. They are aware of the pitfalls in electoral coverage – and want to do their level best to avoid falling into them.

For more on media in Sudan and the upcoming elections also read "Upcoming elections in Sudan will put media to the test" .

State of Media in Sudan - in brief

Sudanese broadcasting is restricted and subject to censure by the military. Both state-run radio and TV reflect government policy. Radio is the most popular medium. The private press enjoys a greater degree of freedom than the state broadcasters and offers a limited forum for opposition views, but the state retains and uses powers to influence what is published.

The print media are present, but are struggling. None of the Southern newspapers are daily; some are published once a week, others twice or three times a week. Some come up to disappear again after a while or to be continued as a web publication. Since there is no printing press available yet in South Sudan, the newspapers are printed in Khartoum, Nairobi or Uganda. In the North some 17 daily political newspapers are published in Arabic. Some are reported to be relatively independent.