Whose media, whose agenda? Monitoring the Malawi 2014 tripartite elections

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Periodical article

Title:	Whose media, whose agenda? Monitoring the Malawi 2014 tripartite elections
Authors:	Gaber, Ivor Lora-Kayambazinthu, Edrinnie
Year:	2014
Periodical:	Ecquid novi: African journalism studies (ISSN 1942-0773)
Volume:	35
Issue:	3
Pages:	106-114
Language:	English
Geographic term:	Malawi
Subjects:	elections 2014 mass media social media mass communication
External link:	https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/02560054.2014.964937
Abstract:	In 2014 Malawi experienced its first-ever tripartite elections involving presidential, parliamentary and local government contests. The role of the media was monitored in a major operation covering radio, television, newspapers, news websites and social media. The results revealed that, with the exception of state-controlled media, news outlets played a broadly positive role, providing fair coverage for the four leading candidates and reporting on a broad range of topics. Social media provided a lively platform for the views and opinions of mainly partisan participants (presumably mostly from the urban elite). On the negative side, coverage of the presidential and to a lesser extent the parliamentary contests dominated, so that the amount of news about local government issues was minimal. The most important negative aspect of the campaign was the one-sided coverage provided by the two state radio channels, the state television station and its online news service. Bibliogr., note, sum. [Journal abstract]