Whose Media, Whose Agenda? Monitoring the Malawi 2014 Tripartite Elections

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.