MONITORING THE COVERAGE OF SUDAN 2010 ELECTIONS …
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MEDIA AND ELECTIONS IN SUDAN MONITORING THE COVERAGE OF SUDAN 2010 ELECTIONS INTERIM REPORT No. 9 Period 28 May – 8 June 2010 Issued on 13 June 2010
Transcript of MONITORING THE COVERAGE OF SUDAN 2010 ELECTIONS …
MEDIA AND ELECTIONS IN SUDAN
MONITORING THE COVERAGE OF SUDAN 2010 ELECTIONS
INTERIM REPORT No. 9
Period 28 May – 8 June 2010
Issued on 13 June 2010
INTERIM REPORT No. 9, Period 28 May – 8 June 2010 2
Sudan Media and Elections Consortium
Table of contents
Foreword and Executive Summary 3
II. Post-election political coverage: general trends 4
III. Hate Speech and Post-election Violence 7
Annex I – Election and political coverage: charts 8
a. Television and radio news coverage 8
b. The print press 19
Pictures front page:
Khartoum Media Monitoring Unit - SUDIA/Eniko Nagy (left above)
Monitoring the media at Juba Media Monitoring Unit – IMS/ Brigitte Sins (right above)
Monitoring the media at Juba Media Monitoring Unit – IMS/Brigitte Sins (left below)
Database of media monitoring - IMS/Brigitte Sins (right below)
INTERIM REPORT No. 9, Period 28 May – 8 June 2010 3
Sudan Media and Elections Consortium
Foreword and Executive Summary
This report provides the findings of the media monitoring activities in the period from 28 May to 8
June 20101. This is the ninth media monitoring report published by the Sudan Media and Elections
Consortium (SMEC). The Sudan Media and Elections Consortium (SMEC) was established to
implement the Media and Elections Project in Sudan. One of the main activities of the SMEC is the
monitoring of Sudanese media election coverage. The media monitoring takes place all over Sudan
with two main joint media monitoring units, one in Khartoum and one in Juba. The media
monitoring units commenced their activities on 13 February coinciding with the beginning of the
election campaign and will continue in order to assess post-election coverage and the coverage of
election re-runs in several states. The SMEC carries out media monitoring of TV stations, radio
channels and newspapers on a daily basis2. The monitoring of election and political coverage is
based on both quantitative and qualitative analysis and aims to observe and assess the extent to
which media provide fair and balanced coverage of politicians and other stakeholders. The project
also monitors hate speech or inflammatory language to assess whether the media acted as agents of
pacification or rather contributed to increase any potential tensions related to elections.
Over the last weeks the post election news (news related to the elections) decreased, which is a
common trend. Where last month a television station like Sudan TV still devoted 9, 145 seconds to
post election news, this period it was only 2,439 seconds. Blue Nile Television, like the other
media, showed the same trend; last month the news bulletins were covering post election topics
with over 4, 000 seconds, this period it was less than half of that. Although it is natural that media
shift their news agenda, the modest attention for the post election news is remarkable since in this
period postponed elections took place. The postponed elections3 took place in 33 constituencies
throughout the country at 5 and 6 June. It were the Northern media which devoted space and time to
the postponed elections.
The newspaper Akhbar Alyoum used 9, 000 cm2 to post election news, whereas for the Citizen it
was 2, 678 cm2 for instance. With that figure, the Citizen newspaper was the English newspaper
that paid most attention to post elections news. News related to the referendum to be held early next
year dominated the Southern media.
The number of hate speech cases decreased strongly. No hate speech cases were recorded in the
Southern media, whereas only 6 cases of hate speech were recorded in the Northern media.
The Media and Elections Project, funded by United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), is implemented by the
Sudan Media and Elections Consortium (SMEC), a group of national and international organisations with expertise in
media support. These are: Sudanese Development Initiative (SUDIA), International Media Support (IMS), Norwegian
Peoples Aid (NPA), Osservatorio di Pavia, Arab Working Group for media monitoring and Fojo Media Institute.
------- For more information, contact Ms. Brigitte Sins, Project Manager, Tel. + 249 907 206 812 or + 45 8832 7005, email: bs@i- m-s.dk or [email protected]. Khartoum: Mr. Abbas Tigani, Tel. + 249 912 127 279, email: [email protected] Juba: Mr. James Boboya Edimond, Tel.
+249 955 004 798, email: [email protected]
1 The monitoring actitvity took place in Khartoum from 1 to 6 June and in Juba from 28 May to 8 June
2 Press: Al Sahfa, Al Ray Al Aam, Al Intibaha, Al Sudani, Akhir Lahza, Ajras Al huriah, Akhbar Alyoum, Al Ayam, The Citizen, Juba Post,
Khartoum Monitor, Southern Eye and Sudan Vision TV: Sudan TV, Blue Nile, Khartoum State TV and South Sudan TV
Radio stations; Omdurman Radio, Khartoum State Radio , Peace Service, Al Qwat Al Mussalaha, Saheroon, North Kurdufan, North Darfur, Red Sea,
South Sudan Radio, Radio Miraya, Radio Bakhita, Liberty FM, Junubna FM, Rumbek FM, 97.5 FM/Voice of Eastern Equatoria, South Sudan Radio Malakal, Spirit FM 3 The NEC decided to repeat the elections in 17 out of 270 national constituencies and also in 16 out of 749 state constituencies to take place at 5th
and 6th of June 2010. Six constituencies, five national and one state constituency in the state of Khartoum saw repeated elections at these dates.
Postponed elections in Southern Kordofan is scheduled to take place during November and December after receiving census results. In the Gezira state, legislative council repeat election is scheduled to place in October. All the the postponed elections are according to the National Electoral
Commission going to be conducted in the North and the disputed area of Southern Kordofan.
INTERIM REPORT No. 9, Period 28 May – 8 June 2010 4
Sudan Media and Elections Consortium
II. Post-election political coverage: general trends4
Over the present monitoring period, the airtime devoted to political actors in news coverage differed
amongst the different media outlets. In line with previous reports, Omdurman Radio, Khartoum
State Radio and Sudan TV were the channels showing the largest volume of election and political
news coverage. For the press, Akhbar Alyoum, Akhir Lahza, Al Sudani and Al Sahafa were the
outlets presenting the highest level of political and election coverage.
Chart 1 Volume of the coverage for political actors by media outlet – Radio and television
Base in seconds: 54998
Chart 2 Volume of the coverage for political actors by media outlet – Press
Base in cm2: 40559
4 The present report is focused only on news coverage. This is for a number of reasons: the decrease in attention to election-
related issues, as well as the estimated reach and audiences of news broadcasts vis-à-vis other genres of media reporting.
27,1%
15,9%
13,9%
11,8%
9,7%
5,5%
5,1%
3,8%
3,5%
2,4%
1,3%
0,0% 5,0% 10,0% 15,0% 20,0% 25,0% 30,0%
Omdurman Radio
Khartoum State Radio
Sudan TV
SSTV
SSR
Blue Nile
Radio Bakhita
Liberty FM
Junubna FM
Radio Miraya
Spirit FM
22,2%
14,1%
10,8%
10,2%
9,8%
9,3%
6,6%
6,1%
3,3%
2,5%
2,4%
2,1%
0,7%
0,0% 5,0% 10,0% 15,0% 20,0% 25,0%
Akhbar Alyoum
Akhir Lahza
Al Sudani
Al Sahfa
Al Intibaha
Al Ray Al Aam
The Citizen
Al Ayam
Juba Post
Khartoum Monitor
Ajras Al huriah
Sudan Vision
Southern Eye
INTERIM REPORT No. 9, Period 28 May – 8 June 2010 5
Sudan Media and Elections Consortium
In the media targeting Northern audiences the agenda was dominated by a few issues: Darfur peace
negotiations between the Sudanese government and Darfurian movements in Doha; the beginning
of the second round of elections in some states; NCP’s Shura council meetings and the withdrawal
of some political parties (FLP, DUPO, BCP, EDP) from the second round of the elections in Red
Sea state.
The most important issues characterising the political agenda of Southern media were essentially
related to the future referendum for the independence and the formation of new local governments.
Chart 3 Allocation of airtime in all audiovisual media
Base in seconds: 54998
Two main parties, the National Congress Party (NCP) and the Sudan People’s Liberation
Movement (SPLM) dominated media reports, both in audiovisual and print media (charts 3 and 4).
However, the print media gave space to a wider range of parties and political actors than TV and
radio and showed a higher level of balance in the distribution of the coverage.
Chart 4 Allocation of space in all print media
Base in cm2: 40559
59,6%
37,2%
0,7%
0,5%
0,4%
0,3%
0,3%
0,2%
0,2%
0,1%
0,1%
0,1%
0,1%
0,1%
0,0% 10,0% 20,0% 30,0% 40,0% 50,0% 60,0% 70,0%
NCP
SPLM
SSDF
Independent
Other
SPLM-DC
UNP
BC
PCP
DUPO
DUP
URRP
JNA
SANU
56,1%
24,9%
5,5%
2,9%
2,8%
1,7%
1,4%
1,3%
1,0%
0,6%
0,4%
0,3%
0,3%
0,2%
0,1%
0,1%
0,1%
0,1%
0,1%
0,0%
0,0%
0,0%
0,0%
0,0% 10,0% 20,0% 30,0% 40,0% 50,0% 60,0%
NCP
SPLM-DC
UNP
Other
JNA
UP-C
DUP
MBO
SSDP
AA
SBP
ILP
INTERIM REPORT No. 9, Period 28 May – 8 June 2010 6
Sudan Media and Elections Consortium
The tone of the coverage was mainly neutral or positive while negative tones were very sporadic,
particularly on radio and television. The print media displayed a more negative (albeit limited) style
of reporting. In line with the previous report the SPLM was the party receiving the largest amount
of positive coverage mainly in the TV and radio stations targeting Southern audiences.
Chart 5 Tone of the coverage in all audiovisual media
Base in seconds: 54998
Chart 6 Tone of the coverage in all print media
Base in cm2: 40559
0,0% 5,0% 10,0% 15,0% 20,0% 25,0% 30,0% 35,0% 40,0% 45,0% 50,0%
NCP
SPLM
SSDF
Independent
Other
SPLM-DC
UNP
BC
PCP
DUPO
DUP
URRP
JNA
SANU
Positive
Neutral
Negative
0,0% 5,0% 10,0% 15,0% 20,0% 25,0% 30,0% 35,0% 40,0% 45,0% 50,0%NCP
SPLMSPLM-D
CDUPO
UNP
PCPOther
IndependentJN
ASSDFUP-CUDUPDUP
URRPMBO
SConPSSDP
EDP
AA
UDPSBP
IMP
ILP
Pos itive
Neutral
Negative
INTERIM REPORT No. 9, Period 28 May – 8 June 2010 7
Sudan Media and Elections Consortium
III. Hate Speech and Post-election Violence
The episodes of inflammatory language during this period were limited; differently from the
previous report, there were 6 cases of defamation in the media who are targeting Northern
audiences. Furthermore, all the cases of hate speech recorded in the period were concentrated in the
press.
Table 1 Summary of hate speech and election-related violence cases
8-June 2010 Al Sahafa Defamation
8-June 2010 Al Sahafa Defamation
8-June 2010 Al Ray Al Aam Defamation
8-June 2010 Al Ray Al Aam Defamation
8-June 2010 Al Sudani Defamation
8-June 2010 Al Sudani Defamation
INTERIM REPORT No. 9, Period 28 May – 8 June 2010 8
Sudan Media and Elections Consortium
Annex I – Election and political coverage: charts
a. Television and radio news coverage
Chart 7 Allocation of airtime by party on Blue Nile TV
Base in seconds: 1900
Chart 8 Allocation of time and tone in Blue Nile TV
Base in seconds: 1900
65,11%
31,37%
2,79%
0,42%
0,32%
0,00% 10,00% 20,00% 30,00% 40,00% 50,00% 60,00% 70,00%
NCP
SPLM
UNP
JNA
BC
0,00% 10,00% 20,00% 30,00% 40,00% 50,00% 60,00% 70,00%
NCP
SPLM
UNP
JNA
BC
Positive
Neutral
Negative
INTERIM REPORT No. 9, Period 28 May – 8 June 2010 9
Sudan Media and Elections Consortium
Chart 9 Allocation of airtime by party on Radio Junubna FM
Base in seconds: 1219
Chart 10 Allocation of time and tone in Radio Junubna FM
Base in seconds: 1219
53,40%
45,78%
0,82%
0,00% 10,00% 20,00% 30,00% 40,00% 50,00% 60,00%
SPLM
NCP
Independent
0,00% 10,00% 20,00% 30,00% 40,00% 50,00% 60,00%
SPLM
NCP
Independent
Positive
Neutral
Negative
INTERIM REPORT No. 9, Period 28 May – 8 June 2010 10
Sudan Media and Elections Consortium
Chart 11 Allocation of airtime by party on Khartoum State Radio
Base in seconds: 5517
Chart 12 Allocation of time and tone in Khartoum State Radio
Base in seconds: 5517
98,06%
1,63%
0,31%
0,00% 20,00% 40,00% 60,00% 80,00% 100,00% 120,00%
NCP
SPLM
JNA
0,00% 10,00% 20,00% 30,00% 40,00% 50,00% 60,00% 70,00% 80,00%
NCP
SPLM
JNA
Positive
Neutral
INTERIM REPORT No. 9, Period 28 May – 8 June 2010 11
Sudan Media and Elections Consortium
Chart 13 Allocation of airtime by party on Liberty FM
Base in seconds: 1306
Chart 14 Allocation of time and tone in Liberty FM
Base in seconds: 1306
77,95%
8,81%
5,59%
5,05%
2,60%
0,00% 10,00% 20,00% 30,00% 40,00% 50,00% 60,00% 70,00% 80,00% 90,00%
SPLM
NCP
SSDF
Other
URRP
0,00% 5,00% 10,00% 15,00% 20,00% 25,00% 30,00% 35,00% 40,00% 45,00%
SPLM
NCP
SSDF
Other
URRP
Positive
Neutral
Negative
INTERIM REPORT No. 9, Period 28 May – 8 June 2010 12
Sudan Media and Elections Consortium
Chart 15 Allocation of airtime by party on Omdurman Radio
Base in seconds: 9394
Chart 16 Allocation of time and tone in Omdurman Radio
Base in seconds: 9394
86,89%
12,00%
0,61%
0,43%
0,09%
0,00% 10,00% 20,00% 30,00% 40,00% 50,00% 60,00% 70,00% 80,00% 90,00% 100,00%
NCP
SPLM
Other
PCP
JNA
0,00% 10,00% 20,00% 30,00% 40,00% 50,00% 60,00% 70,00% 80,00%
NCP
SPLM
Other
PCP
JNA
Positive
Neutral
INTERIM REPORT No. 9, Period 28 May – 8 June 2010 13
Sudan Media and Elections Consortium
Chart 17 Allocation of airtime on Radio Bakhita
Base in seconds: 1771
Chart 18 Allocation of time and tone in Radio Bakhita
Base in seconds: 1771
78,09%
13,27%
7,11%
1,52%
0,00% 10,00% 20,00% 30,00% 40,00% 50,00% 60,00% 70,00% 80,00% 90,00%
SPLM
NCP
Independent
SPLM-DC
0,00% 5,00% 10,00
%
15,00
%
20,00
%
25,00
%
30,00
%
35,00
%
40,00
%
45,00
%
50,00
%
SPLM
NCP
Independent
SPLM-DC
Positive
Neutral
Negative
INTERIM REPORT No. 9, Period 28 May – 8 June 2010 14
Sudan Media and Elections Consortium
Chart 19 Allocation of airtime on Miraya FM
Base in seconds: 822
Chart 20 Allocation of time and tone in Miraya FM
Base in seconds: 822
75,55%
12,77%
8,39%
3,28%
0,00% 10,00% 20,00% 30,00% 40,00% 50,00% 60,00% 70,00% 80,00%
SPLM
NCP
SSDF
Independent
0,00% 10,00% 20,00% 30,00% 40,00% 50,00% 60,00% 70,00% 80,00%
SPLM
NCP
SSDF
Independent
Positive
Neutral
Negative
INTERIM REPORT No. 9, Period 28 May – 8 June 2010 15
Sudan Media and Elections Consortium
Chart 21 Allocation of airtime on Spirit FM
Base in seconds: 439
Chart 22 Allocation of time and tone in Spirit FM
Base in seconds: 439
43,96%
31,89%
23,23%
0,91%
0,00% 5,00% 10,00% 15,00% 20,00% 25,00% 30,00% 35,00% 40,00% 45,00% 50,00%
SPLM
NCP
SSDF
Independent
0,00% 5,00% 10,00% 15,00% 20,00% 25,00% 30,00% 35,00% 40,00%
SPLM
NCP
SSDF
Independent
Positive
Neutral
Negative
INTERIM REPORT No. 9, Period 28 May – 8 June 2010 16
Sudan Media and Elections Consortium
Chart 23 Allocation of airtime on SSR
Base in seconds: 3364
Chart 24 Allocation of time and tone in SSR
Base in seconds: 3364
79,46%
20,54%
0,00% 10,00% 20,00% 30,00% 40,00% 50,00% 60,00% 70,00% 80,00% 90,00%
SPLM
NCP
0,00% 10,00% 20,00% 30,00% 40,00% 50,00% 60,00% 70,00% 80,00%
SPLM
NCP
Positive
Neutral
Negative
INTERIM REPORT No. 9, Period 28 May – 8 June 2010 17
Sudan Media and Elections Consortium
Chart 25 Allocation of airtime on SSTV
Base in seconds: 2439
Chart 26 Allocation of time and tone in SSTV
Base in seconds: 2439
95,47%
4,53%
0,00% 20,00% 40,00% 60,00% 80,00% 100,00% 120,00%
SPLM
NCP
0,00% 10,00% 20,00% 30,00% 40,00% 50,00%60,00% 70,00% 80,00% 90,00% 100,00
%
SPLM
NCP
Positive
Neutral
INTERIM REPORT No. 9, Period 28 May – 8 June 2010 18
Sudan Media and Elections Consortium
Chart 27 Allocation of airtime on Sudan TV
Base in seconds: 2439
Chart 28 Allocation of time and tone in Sudan TV
Base in seconds: 2439
79,24%
13,39%
1,76%
1,35%
1,18%
1,02%
0,77%
0,54%
0,39%
0,35%
0,02%
0,00% 10,00% 20,00% 30,00% 40,00% 50,00% 60,00% 70,00% 80,00% 90,00%
NCP
SPLM
SPLM-DC
BC
UNP
DUPO
DUP
PCP
SANU
Other
Independent
0,00% 10,00% 20,00% 30,00% 40,00% 50,00% 60,00% 70,00% 80,00% 90,00%
NCP
SPLM
SPLM-DC
BC
UNP
DUPO
DUP
PCP
SANU
Other
Independent
Positive
Neutral
Negative
INTERIM REPORT No. 9, Period 28 May – 8 June 2010 19
Sudan Media and Elections Consortium
b. The print press
Chart 29 Allocation of space and tone in Arjas Al Huriyah
Base in cm2: 964
Chart 30 Allocation of space and tone in Akhbar Alyoum
Base in cm2: 9002
0,00% 10,00% 20,00% 30,00% 40,00% 50,00% 60,00% 70,00%
SPLM
NCP
PCP
SPLM-DC
DUP
Independent
URRP
Positive
Neutral
Negative
0,00% 10,00% 20,00% 30,00% 40,00% 50,00% 60,00% 70,00%
NCP
SPLM-DC
SPLM
JNA
UNP
DUPO
Independent
Other
PCP
SBP
SSDF
Positive
Neutral
Negative
INTERIM REPORT No. 9, Period 28 May – 8 June 2010 20
Sudan Media and Elections Consortium
Chart 31 Allocation of space and tone in Akhir Lahza
Base in cm2: 5700
Chart 32 Allocation of space and tone in Al Ayam
Base in cm2: 2492
0,00% 10,00% 20,00% 30,00% 40,00% 50,00%
NCP
SPLM
UNP
DUPO
SPLM-DC
Other
PCP
JNA
URRP
EDP
DUP
UDUP
UDP
Positive
Neutral
Negative
0,00% 5,00% 10,00% 15,00% 20,00% 25,00% 30,00% 35,00%
NCP
SPLM
UNP
DUPO
PCP
Independent
JNA
Positive
Neutral
Negative
INTERIM REPORT No. 9, Period 28 May – 8 June 2010 21
Sudan Media and Elections Consortium
Chart 33 Allocation of space and tone in Al Intibaha
Base in cm2: 3992
Chart 34 Allocation of space and tone in Al Ray Al Aam
Base in cm2: 3753
0,00% 10,00% 20,00% 30,00% 40,00% 50,00%
NCP
SPLM
Other
DUPO
UP-C
SConP
UNP
PCP
Independent
JNA
DUP
AA
SPLM-DC
Positive
Neutral
Negative
0,00% 10,00
%
20,00
%
30,00
%
40,00
%
50,00
%
60,00
%
70,00
%
80,00
%
NCP
SPLM
DUPO
Independent
Other
PCP
MBO
UNP
DUP
JNA
Positive
Neutral
Negative
INTERIM REPORT No. 9, Period 28 May – 8 June 2010 22
Sudan Media and Elections Consortium
Chart 35 Allocation of space and tone in Al Sahafa
Base in cm2: 4152
Chart 36 Allocation of space and tone in Al Sudani
Base in cm2: 4364
0,00% 10,00% 20,00% 30,00% 40,00% 50,00% 60,00% 70,00%
NCP
SPLM
UNP
UP-C
PCP
DUPO
Independent
AA
IMP
ILP
Positive
Neutral
Negative
0,00% 10,00% 20,00% 30,00% 40,00% 50,00% 60,00%
NCP
SPLM
DUPO
UNP
UDUP
Independent
JNA
Other
DUP
Positive
Neutral
Negative
INTERIM REPORT No. 9, Period 28 May – 8 June 2010 23
Sudan Media and Elections Consortium
Chart 37 Allocation of space and tone in Juba Post
Base in cm2: 1331
Chart 38 Allocation of space and tone in Khartoum Monitor
Base in cm2: 1026
0,00% 10,00% 20,00% 30,00% 40,00% 50,00% 60,00% 70,00%
SPLM
SSDF
Independent
NCP
SPLM-DC
Positive
Neutral
0,00% 10,00% 20,00% 30,00% 40,00% 50,00% 60,00%
SPLM
NCP
SPLM-DC
Independent
Positive
Neutral
Negative
INTERIM REPORT No. 9, Period 28 May – 8 June 2010 24
Sudan Media and Elections Consortium
Chart 39 Allocation of space and tone in Southern Eye
Base in cm2: 265
Chart 40 Allocation of space and tone in Sudan Vision
Base in cm2: 840
0,00% 20,00% 40,00% 60,00% 80,00% 100,00% 120,00%
SPLM Positive
0,00% 10,00% 20,00% 30,00% 40,00% 50,00%
SPLM-DC
SPLM
NCP
Independent
Positive
Neutral
Negative
INTERIM REPORT No. 9, Period 28 May – 8 June 2010 25
Sudan Media and Elections Consortium
Chart 41 Allocation of space and tone in The Citizen
Base in cm2: 2678
0,00% 10,00% 20,00% 30,00% 40,00% 50,00% 60,00% 70,00%
SPLM
NCP
PCP
SPLM-DC
DUP
Independent
URRP
Positive
Neutral
Negative
INTERIM REPORT No. 9, Period 28 May – 8 June 2010 26
Sudan Media and Elections Consortium
