By Kellys Kaunda
DEFENDING THE RECORD OF THE RULING PARTY VS DEFENDING PUBLIC INTEREST – AN OPEN LETTER TO THE MEDIA
It’s that season again when the country goes to the polls to elect a President, Councilors and MPs.
In the run-up to that day, contestants will be selling themselves, their manifestos and their political parties (in the case of those standing on party tickets).
In this note, I am concerned with the ruling party. The stakes will be particularly high for it.
As a defender, the ruling party has much to lose or gain depending on the outcome of the election.
The UPND will be defending its record in office which is well-known by now.
But because it’s election time, the party, with ‘epic fury’, will leave no stone unturned in defending its record.
On the macroeconomic front, the items will include the single-digit inflation rate; the stable exchange rate; foreign reserves hitting a record 5plus billion dollars; and the successful negotiations around restructuring the country’s foreign debt.
Elsewhere in the social and economic sectors, the UPND will be defending the free education policy; student meal allowances; the school-feeding program; Increased social cash transfer; Increased CDF; continued recruitment in the public service; clearance of salary arears in local authorities; Increased production in the mines; and opening of old and new mines among other things.
As a media, you have covered these stories many times over so you know them by heart.
But UPND will remind you and the voter of them. How do you cover them without sounding repetitive or like you were the ruling party’s public relations wing?
Here is the principle you should be guided by – your historical, fundamental and traditional role is to defend public interest.
Remember that ruling parties are primarily concerned with defending their record in office which they will project as being in public interest.
It might as well be but you must understand that for ruling parties their eyes are primarily on winning an election. The reference to public interest is merely a selling point.
So, how do you defend public interest as a media covering electoral campaigns?
Take each policy, program, project and claim made by the ruling party and ask yourself: where was this implemented?
Everyone of the claims government makes has a specific town, community, residential area, institutions, people or individuals that were the intended recipients or target audience.
Dedicate significant amounts of editorial resources to covering this population group and the geographical areas of their location.
Utilizing still photography, sound, video and text, you must tell their side of the story.
This editorial approach will, in some instances, confirm ruling party claims while in others, say otherwise.
What’s the point in this editorial approach? You will be telling impartially the story of the ruling party in office while affording the voter an opportunity to vote intelligently.
When the media performs its traditional role, the voter becomes entirely responsible for his or her choice.