Media needs to help fully inform voters

Speakers urge journalists to exhaustively pick apart manifestos, party claims

PESHAWAR: Journalists and media officials have been urged to highlight election laws and the code of conduct issued by the top poll body for the candidates to ensure transparency and impartiality of the democratic process.

This was urged by experts on elections and governance during a three-day training session on civic education, election laws and administrative and role of political parties organised by Individual land, a research-based consulting and advocacy firm, in collaboration with Tabeer - Consolidating Democracy in Pakistan.



The training workshop concluded on Sunday in which journalists from both print and electronic media had participated.

The participants were given tips on reporting on politics and political parties, monitoring the performance of political parties. They were also given a detailed lecture on media’s role in the efficient functioning of the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) and briefed about key points in the Election Act 2017. Later, experts on governance talked about civic education, good governance, their elements, the role of local governments, the concept of citizenship, local governance and accountability and identifying civic indicators.



Khurram Malik from Tabeer said that the media should thoroughly delineate manifestos released by political parties so that citizens are well aware of the roadmap that each party is promising to follow if elected into government.

Shabir Ahmad, an elections expert, spoke on the features of the new Elections Act 2017.

 

Published in The Express Tribune, July 2^nd, 2018.