The most important role of the media in an election campaign is to allow voters to be well-informed about their choices. Another role is to observe whether the election is free and fair. A third role for the media is to report on the strategies the parties are using to try to win votes. Voters deserve to know if a party is making different promises to different people. Voters need to know about party leaders but also party policy and the party’s past record.

Party Strategies: Core Vote

One essential strategy of a party is to win the votes of people who supported the party in the past. This traditional support is called the party’s political base or core vote. The party’s base may be from a region that likes the party because it has defended its interests. Or the party may be a long-time supporter of the interests of farmers or working people.

During a campaign, reporters need to consider how well a party is attracting its base support. Is the party well-organized? Did it encourage supporters to register to vote? Does the party leader spend much time speaking only to the base support? Is the party losing its base support? What do voters in the base support say about this? 

In many elections, a party cannot win with only its core vote. The party must also attract the votes of people who are undecided. Undecided voters may be young people who are voting for the first time. This can be a very large group. Undecided voters can also include people who are no longer satisfied and loyal to their old party and want a change.

In some democracies, parties send campaign volunteers to every house to ask for the support of undecided voters. The parties also send letters and printed material to undecided voters, and put advertising in the media. This work takes many volunteers and is expensive. And sending volunteers and letters to ask for voters’ support can frighten some voters. This outreach may not be possible in many countries where many people live far away in the countryside, or cannot read. In some countries, the parties rely on village chiefs, or prominent people over whom they have control, to tell the local people how to vote. It is illegal if the chief or local official uses threats or bribes to direct the vote. Everyone should have the freedom to personally decide for whom to vote.

To overcome traditional loyalties and the influence of local officials, political parties everywhere turn to the media to get their message directly to the voters. The media reporting and the advertising – especially radio and also now television – have become very important to election campaigns.

The objective of a political party’s media strategy is to influence people to vote for the candidate because of what they see, hear and read about the candidate in the media. This media strategy is especially aimed at undecided or dissatisfied voters who may not pay much attention to politics most of the time. Journalists need to understand what the parties are trying to do through the media.

Media Strategies

Political parties use their leader to show the best positive public image of the party. They want voters to have a good emotional reaction to the image of the leader. They hire experts to tell the leader how to give good speeches, how to dress, how to look friendly, and to never get angry in public. They show pictures in the campaign signs and advertisements, which make the leader look attractive to voters.

The party knows many people believe what they see and hear in the news media. The party tries to create soft news. Soft news makes the candidate look appealing by showing the candidate visiting voters in their homes, kissing babies, and greet- ing crowds of enthusiastic voters. The party will also hold news conferences during which the leader presents policies or promises and attacks other candidates and parties’ policies. The parties may not want their leader seen directly debating with another leader. Often the leaders will only give interviews to newspapers or on radio and television that supports their party.

This news manipulation is a difficult challenge for reporters. Professional journalists want leaders to address the problems the community is talking about, or to give the voters differences between their promises and those of other leaders. Journalists cannot ignore soft news and press conferences because other media will report it. But professional journalists can insist on asking tough questions, instead of letting political leaders say only things that make them look good. And reporters also must seek balance by asking other leaders and affected voters to comment on what was said in a press conference or speech. It requires courage to ask questions. Reporters should be polite and respectful. It takes more time and work to produce a report that is balanced. But professional journalists always seek to include all sides.

Source: Media and Elections: An Elections Reporting Handbook