Media in Sudan at work. Photo: Issraa El-Kogali/SUDAAK

News media in Sudan primarily focus their election coverage on the candidates of ruling parties ahead of April’s elections in Sudan, says new report published today

In the run-up to the elections in Sudan in April 2010, monitoring of Sudanese media coverage shows that President Al Bashir and President Salva Kiir in South Sudan so far are the most covered candidates in all media.

According to the second report on media coverage monitoring conducted by Sudanese monitors as part of the “Sudan Media and Election Project”, President Bashir’s party, the NCP, and its representatives obtained the bulk of their editorial coverage on television (an average of 54 per cent of the overall time). They were followed by the ruling party in South Sudan, SPLM, with 28 per cent. This trend is also mirrored in radio election coverage where the NCP was given 49 per cent of the overall editorial coverage and SPLM, 21 per cent.

The findings show a similar trend in print media. According to the reporting team, the editorial line followed by most of the newspapers. “reflected a clear polarisation between the NCP and the SPLM and a clear concentration of the coverage on these parties. Most of the monitored media outlets provided either the NCP or the SPLM with the largest amount of print space. Overall these two parties were allotted 68% of the entire press coverage for the period observed while the other contesting parties received less attention.”

- This is the first time that efforts have been made to monitor how Sudanese media cover elections, says Finn Rasmussen, Coordinator of International Media Support's Media and Conflict Unit.

- The professionalism of media is crucial during election periods to promote fair and safe elections and help citizens make informed decisions of who to vote for. This offers a unique baseline for the Sudanese media in their efforts to enhance their reporting skills for present and future elections.

Tone of coverage 

In addition to the evidence of bias reflected in the time and space dedicated to the main parties, the trend is confirmed by the tone of the coverage. The findings show that the NCP enjoyed the highest score of positive visibility. In general, however, the tone of the coverage so far has also been either neutral or positive, while negative reporting has been sporadic. Negative or “non-neutral” language was mainly directed at the NCP and the SPLM in all monitored media.

“Large parts of election-related news items covered the campaign launches of the main candidates' campaigns for the Presidential race as well as for the State Governors. There were reciprocal accusations of fraud and misbehaviour including supporters’ harassment and misuse of state resources”, the report states.

Hate speech

Hate speech is another element monitored in the media. So far, a total of 101 cases of explicit hate speech were recorded in the period between 13 February – 7 March. This figure is considered low in relation to the total coverage. Most cases were found in the print media and the sources were predominantly politicians and parties (53 cases). The media themselves were responsible for 36 cases of hate speech.

“Most of the cases observed were related to a vehement style of campaigning and confrontation between the main contestants rather than on targeted calls to violence and discrimination. The most recursive type of inflammatory language concerned episodes of defamation among candidates (81 cases), while more serious cases – such as calls for violence or conflict escalation – appeared limited (14 cases). These examples of hate speech mainly involved topics regarding elections and candidates. They did not touch on broader issues and target groups”, the report states.

For more information, contact Ms. Brigitte Sins, Project Manager, International Media Support (IMS), Tel. +49 59 36 93449, email: bs[snabela]i-m-s.dk or  britsins[snabela]hotmail.com or Lotte Dahlmann, IMS, tel. +4588327005 or ld[snabela]i-m-s.dk.

Download the report in English here.

For a version in Arabic, please click here.

Notes for editors:

Since 13 February 2010, media monitoring has been conducted all over Sudan with two main joint media monitoring units - one in Khartoum and one in Juba, and parallel media monitoring units in seven states. As the findings already show, monitoring the coverage of the electoral campaign is providing valuable information on the Sudanese media’s performance during the campaign period serves as a feedback to the media outlets themselves on their work.

On a parallel track the project is training journalists to enhance their election reporting skills. The findings of the media monitoring illustrate local cases of election reporting that may serve as concrete examples of excellence – or the contrary.

Media Monitoring Units began their activities on 13 February 2010 at the opening of the election campaign. Monitoring will continue untill the end of May 2010 to assess post election coverage.

The monitoring includes four TV stations, seventeen radio channels and thirteen newspapers on a daily basis. The media included in the sample have been selected according to a number of criteria, including territorial reach, estimated audience, and circulation2. All selected media are monitored according to a methodological approach created in 1995 and based on content analysis.

The Media and Elections Project, funded by United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), is implemented by the Sudan Media and Elections Consortium, a group of national and international organisations with expertise in media support. The group comprises the Sudanese Development Initiative (SUDIA), International Media Support (IMS), the Arab Working Group for Media Monitoring (AWG), Fojo Media Institute, Norwegian Peoples Aid (NPA), and Osservatorio di Pavia.