The Consortium for Elections and Political Process Strengthening (CEPPS) & The International Foundation for Electoral Systems (IFES): Pakistani Media Utilize Training on Responsible Reporting for Elections
Media have an integral role in fostering an environment that is conducive to transparent and credible elections. In Pakistan, disinformation and misinformation are prevalent in civic discourse, sowing distrust of institutional actors and undermining efforts to introduce governmental reforms or implement free and fair elections. As Pakistan prepares for general elections on February 8, 2024, the ability of Pakistani media to provide accurate, impartial and informed reporting to the public on the elections will be critical in enabling the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) to conduct a successful election.
Under the USAID-funded Inclusive Democratic and Governance Program (IDPG), the Consortium for Elections and PoliticalProcess Strengthening core partner the International Foundation for Electoral Systems (IFES) has been working with the ECP’sMedia Coordination and Outreach (MCO) wing to develop and implement a training program for media personnel in Islamabad and across all four provinces. The objective of the training, entitled “Responsible Reporting for Peaceful and InclusiveElections,” is to improve the knowledge and skills of media personnel on topics including accurate reporting on elections, responsible reporting following ECP’s code of conduct for media personnel, countering disinformation, misinformation, and hate speech, and gender and inclusion sensitive electoral reporting. Through this program, the ECP reached a total of 385 journalists at the provincial level and an additional 31 members of the Islamabad Desk Editors Association.
Since the completion of the training program, IFES has been monitoring the news stories and articles written and published by journalists who participated in the training. These pieces have been featured in prominent newspapers and broadcast channels, including 20 election-related news stories by 6 journalists identified online, all containing accurate and verified information. The trained media personnel have been impartial reporting on election-related news, EPC codes of conduct, shedding light on election related rules, inclusion of transgender individuals and persons with disabilities in electoral process as well as impartially covering other sensitive local topics such as rallies and demonstrations. Furthermore, CEPPS/IFES obtained feedback from 13 of the selected participants of the media training, 95% of whom reporting that as a result of the training, they now meticulously verify news stories before publishing them and use fact-checking methods. The same percentage also noted that the training provided substantial clarification on questions related to the electoral process and policies and expressed an enhanced understanding over maintaining impartiality.
The gains made in the accuracy of news reports, the arrangement by trained media personnel of special sessions with field reports, and overall commitment of the journalists to transparent coverage showcases the ECP and CEPPS/IFES successful training program initiative. This pool of journalists has not only committed to supporting the ECP’s efforts to improve voter awareness for the upcoming elections, but also aims to provide fair coverage to all political parties, prevent misinformation and hate speech and promote inclusivity.