KHOROG, February 16, 2010, Asia-Plus – Press Club at the Khorog public association, Madina, held a meeting on February 15 to discuss issues related to the coverage of elections in media.
The meeting, formally titled “Role and Place of Media in Elections,” brought together reporters of a number of local and republican media as well as representatives from independent and regional media to discuss the coverage of two aspects: the election process (information about the beginning of elections process, activities of the central electoral commission, constituencies and polling stations, nomination and registration of candidates, pre-election meetings and debates of candidates); and the agitation campaign.
The meeting participants noted that while covering propagation of pre-election platforms of political parties and programs of candidates reporters must observe not only requirements of the election legislation, they also must observe ethical norms of journalism.
It was also noted that reporters who had been accredited beforehand had the right not only to cover the election process, they also had the right to monitor the voting process at polling stations.
We will that the first interim report released by an election observation mission of the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) for the 28 February parliamentary elections in Tajikistan on February 8 notes broadcast media are the main source of information, also on the election process. However, only state-owned TV channels and radio broadcast nationwide. While there are a relatively high number of print media, most have a small circulation and are published only once or twice a week. Their reach outside urban centers is limited. The lack of diverse viewpoints in the media raises concern over voters’ access to a broad range of information.
