CAIRO: Media guidelines provided by the Supreme Electoral Commission (SEC) include vague points and lack a strategy for implementation, media experts argued.
The guidelines, issued by SEC last week, stipulate the transparency and impartiality of the media’s elections coverage. However, the document left media experts with many unanswered questions.
"This is very difficult to evaluate," Naila Hamdy, professor of journalism at the American University in Cairo, told Daily News Egypt. She described these points as subjective to the personal and political views and ideologies of the monitors.
The SEC will establish a committee to monitor media coverage of the parliamentary elections in accordance with the guidelines. It will include a number of experts, media professors, and representatives from the Egyptian Radio and Television Union, the Media Free Zone, privately-owned channels, political parties and human rights and civil society organizations.
It will "intervene to eliminate any violation in line with the applicable rules," according to the guidelines published by the Middle East News Agency (MENA) last week.
"The SEC needs to clarify how this committee will intervene…will it shut down the channel that commits these violations or what?" Hamdy asked, adding that the guidelines would only be efficient if they are implemented on the ground.
Journalist and media expert Yasser Abdel Aziz agreed, pointing out other issues in the guidelines that need clarification.
The guidelines state that the media must refrain from covering anything that would shake people’s confidence in the electoral process or obstruct its completion. "It’s not the media’s [job] to enforce the people’s confidence in the electoral process or eliminate any doubts they might have," Abdel Aziz told DNE.
"The media’s job is to honestly and objectively cover anything related to the integrity of the electoral process and its ability to meet the people’s standards," he added.
It’s the media’s responsibility to dig for any violations or any possible rigging of the elections, Hamdy explained.
SEC also stressed that tarnishing candidates’ reputation or violating the sanctity of their private lives, directly or indirectly, would not be tolerated. Abdel Aziz said that there needs to be a differentiation between the candidates’ personal lives and any personal behavior that would directly affect their public service.
"What if a candidate works as a government official and appoints his brother-in-law in the same institution using his position? Or if a candidate was caught at a brothel?" he asked. "These are the kinds of things that should be announced to the public so they can know who they’re voting for."
He stressed that any accusations must be backed with evidence to avoid defaming candidates.
"Candidates [should be] allowed to point out the political affiliation and previous experiences of their competitors, which would effect their role in the parliament," he said. However, the SEC guidelines prevent candidates from criticizing competing political parties and candidates, their background or ethics, directly or indirectly, using "words, photos, innuendos, symbols, gestures, graphics or any other form."
Hamdy speculated that political powers would find other ways to out candidates affiliated with the disbanded National Democratic Party (NDP).
"We have [suffered] from 60 years of nonsense elections," Hamdy said, adding that the ruling Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF) was experimenting on how to hold free and fair elections like everybody else.
Several campaigns have been launched to expose candidates affiliated with the NDP competing in the elections slated to start on Nov. 28, as SCAF failed to fulfill its promise to issue a political exclusion law against former NDP candidates and MPs.
The campaigns include "emsek flol" (catch out remnants of the former regime), which consists of Youth for Freedom and Justice, April 6 Youth, and emsek flol movements, as well as the Coalition of the Revolutionary Youth.
Equal opportunity
Ten minutes of broadcast will be given to political parties for free to campaign on state TV channels including Channel 1 and Nile TV, while independent candidates will be allowed five minutes of free broadcast on their local TV and radio channels.
Thirty minutes of paid broadcast will be given to political parties and 10 to independent candidates in each phase of the elections.
The People’s Assembly and Shoura Council (lower and upper houses of parliament) elections will each be held over three phases, each including nine governorates.
Hamdy pointed out that campaigning through the internet and private channels wasn’t mentioned in the guidelines, incorrectly insinuating that the people are only exposed to state-run media.
The guidelines prevent the use of any religious slogans or symbols, any kind of campaigning activities based on Islamic references, and discrimination against candidates based on religion, gender or race.
Hamdy described this point as "contentious."
"It’s not clear what falls under religious symbols, what defines it?," Hamdy asked.
The guidelines also tap on the issue of polls, enforcing a number of restrictions on publishing the results of any poll. The entities responsible for organizing the poll and its funding, the questions included, the size of the sample surveyed, the area it was held in, when it was held, the method used and how the information was accumulated are all necessary information that have to be disclosed alongside the results.
Both Hamdy and Abdel Aziz agreed with this point, saying it would guarantee the validity of the polls’ results. Hamdy said disclosing the funding source of the poll was specifically important, because of the growing stigma of foreign funding, which has become synonymous with interference in Egypt’s internal issues.
She, however, noted that these restrictions wouldn’t prevent holding online polls, which was also left out of the guidelines.
The SEC also warned against mentioning results of polls in media one week prior to the elections and until the results are out to avoid influencing voters.
"I believe this should be reduced to 24 hours," Abdel Aziz said.
With campaigning already underway, Hamdy said there wasn’t enough time to figure out or address these vague points in the announced guidelines, whether as media experts, politicians, or even within the government.
