News media in Sudan primarily focus their election coverage on the candidates of ruling parties ahead of April’s elections, says new report published Wednesday.
In the run-up to the April 11 to 13 elections, monitoring of Sudanese media coverage shows that Omar Hassan Al Bashir and Salva Kiir Mayardit are so far the most covered candidates in all media.According to the second report on media coverage monitoring conducted by Sudanese monitors as part of the “Sudan Media and Election Project”, the NCP, and its representatives obtained the largest part of their editorial coverage on television.
They were followed by SPLM, with 28 per cent. This trend is also mirrored in radio coverage where the NCP was given 49 per cent of the overall editorial coverage and SPLM, 21 per cent.
The findings show a similar trend in printed media. Most of the monitored media outlets provided either the NCP or the SPLM with the largest amount of print space.
Overall the two parties were allotted 68 percent of the entire press coverage for the period observed while the other contesting parties received less attention.
Finn Rasmussen, Coordinator of International Media Support’s Media and Conflict Unit says that this is the first time that efforts have been made to monitor how Sudanese media cover elections.
He added that the professionalism of media is critical during election periods to promote fair and safe elections and help citizens make informed decisions of who to vote for.