Globe International Center conducted two-day online training-discussion, named “Fair, Ethical Elections and the Media” for Ulaanbaatar and provincial journalists and media workers. The training was timely as it reviewed the legal framework for the June 2021 Presidential election and highlighted the importance of balanced and ethical reporting for journalists and media staff. The first two-day training held on March 3 and 4, 2021 saw 64 journalists and media staff participating from 21 provinces while the second (March 11 and 12) 68 from Ulaanbaatar, reaching a total of 132 journalists and media staff.
The training was co-taught by professional journalism teachers and facilitated by experts including those from Fact-check, Mongolia, Media Council, the biggest online news website, gogo.mn, Voter’s Education Center and Globe International Center and it covered the following four main topics:
- The role of the media in elections;
- Working with open sources in election reporting;
- News sources and fact-checking;
- Data integration to report elections;
- Following ethics in election reporting;
- Ensuring safety in election reporting.
Moreover, specialists at the General Election Commission and Communications Regulatory Commission provided detailed information on the electoral and media legal environment in Mongolia.
The training was of mutual importance. First, journalists and media staff learned how to plan election information efficiently and ethically, how to report election information in a balanced way, how to use data and appropriate sources, and how to verify them. In addition, participant journalists learned how to effectively and efficiently use various forms and methods of data journalism, information as well as communication to improve voters’ education and exercise their right to vote, as well as the characteristics of information dedicated to voters’ education.
Second, in addition to receiving theoretical and methodological support, journalists and media staff have been informed on access to media and elections, such as radio and television campaign coverage and monitoring procedures, electronic election campaign monitoring procedures, and the 2021 Presidential Election Legal Framework and received general information on related legal documents and their provisions. This was provided by experts from relevant organizations, such as B. Oyumaa, Head of the Information, Research and Methodology Division of the General Election Commission, N.Togtokhsuren, Head of the Regulatory Implementation Division of the Communications Regulatory Commission (CRC), and G. Battulga, Specialist of the CRC Regulatory Policy Implementation Department, thereby discussing the challenges that journalists working in the capital city and the provinces face.
As a result of the issues raised by local and capital city TV journalists during the discussion, a new clause is being added in the draft “Regulations on broadcasting and monitoring of election campaigning/advertisements on radio and television”. For instance, in the Regulation, clause 3.17 is added, stating that “Radio and television should broadcast election news, information, election propaganda and voter education programs in accordance with Article 6.1.1 of the Law on the Mongolian Language as well as Article 23.1 of the Law on the Mongolian Language in the official language of Mongolian. If it is broadcast in another language for ethnic minorities, it would have subtitles,” as N. Togtokhsuren informed us. In addition, the CRC will consider whether or not to use the term of ‘information source’ in order "to avoid provisions related to specifically mentioning of information sources."
The Fair and Ethical Elections and Media online training is one of Globe International Center's advocacy and empowerment activities under the International Republican Institute's "Empowering Youth and Women Journalists" program being implemented with the support of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID).