FIRST MEDIA MONITORING REPORT (22 MARCH TO 2ND April 2014) OF THE 2014 MALAWI TRIPARTITE ELECTIONS

1.0 INTRODUCTION

This is the first media report of the IWPR/USAID/DFID Media Monitoring Project. It covers the period 22nd March to 2nd April 2014. It should be noted that this period did not include the output of state radio and television following the undertakings they gave to the Malawi Election Commission on 4 April 2014 that their election campaign coverage would be more even-handed than it had been in the campaign to date.

The project monitored the print, electronic and social media. It is worth noting that the latter are a first in media monitoring history (as far as is known). This report highlights the emerging issues from the media monitored for balance between Presidential, Parliamentary, Local Government elections and which party was mentioned, voice – that is, which politicians or spokespeople were quoted or heard directly in print or web or on air, which issues, excluding those devoted only to party or politician matters were covered and the extent to which news items were perceived as broadly neutral or broadly pro or anti in tone with regard to a specific party or parties. The project focused on news coverage on radio, television, newspapers and social media. We focused on news not just on the grounds of limited resources but also because research from around the world indicates that news has higher audiences and greater credibility than other aspects of media outputs.

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