Introduction
The participants conducted monitoring of the media for the official campaign period of the presidential elections from 25 December 2004 to 7 January 2005 in Ramallah using international methodological standards of quantitative and qualitative analysis. The project assesses the performance of the media in its coverage during the official campaign period. There is a specific focus on the coverage of the media using normative principles, including the right of access, allocation of coverage and balance in the mass media.
In addition the legal framework that pertains to the role of the media in covering the elections was reviewed to assess its effectiveness. The qualitative analysis and quantitative monitoring of media coverage was undertaken over the duration of the official campaign period and it was conducted by a Palestinian team under the training and supervision of an international expert, David Ward of the Centre for Media Policy and Development (UK) and Wafa' Abdel Rahman of The Palestinian Initiative for the Promotion of Global Dialogue and Democracy (MIFTAH) who initiated and organised the project and conducted part of the qualitative component of the monitoring. The project was organised in cooperation with the Open Society Foundation – Network Media Programme and International Media Support.
Methodology for the analysis of media coverage
The monitoring unit observed media coverage of elections in order to assess:
- whether political parties and candidates gained fair access to the media;
- whether political parties and candidates were covered in a unbiased and equitable manner;
- whether the media and the authorities abided by the rules and regulations covering their conduct during the campaign – both in terms of national legislation and international standards;
- the effectiveness of media law pertaining to the media and election coverage.
Between 25 December 2004 and 7 January 2005 the monitoring covered the public channel Palestine Television, the privately owned television channel Watan which covers the Ramallah area, and the two pan-Arab channels Al Arabiya and Al Jazeera. These channels were monitored daily at peak time between 18.00-23.00 hours throughout the official campaign period. The unit also monitored the two privately owned newspapers Al Ayyam and Al Quds as well as the state supported title Al Hayat Al Jadida. The Internet portal of Wafa, the official news agency was monitored as well as the public radio station Voice of Palestine.
The actors for the quantitative analysis were defined as the presidential candidates and the parties, where relevant to these candidates, four of which stood for election as independent candidates. It has not classified other actors in the analysis such as those political parties that did not put forward a candidate for the presidential elections or other political figures. As well as measuring the time and space allocated to political actors, parties and candidates, the media unit also measured the tone of media coverage according to a three level scale (positive, negative and neutral) in order to assess the overall tone of the media outlets towards contestants and the different political parties.
The quantitative analysis for the newspaper coverage was categorised into the following pages: business, culture, arts and entertainment, election specials, first page, foreign news pages, politics, local affairs, foreign affairs, religion, sport and others. The format of the news coverage was also categorised based on: headlines, article, editorial comment, photos, paid advertisements, cartoons, news item, and news report. Positive and negative coverage was recorded only if the monitoring team agreed on judging it to be unequivocal.
Israeli Assault on Gaza By Numbers in 30 Days
Date posted: August 09, 2014
By Safa Agency
