“The first ten days after Nomination were remarkable in some respects for all media houses.

“In this period, the Media Monitoring Unit failed to find any grievous breach of the Media Code of Conduct in terms of content. In terms of balance there was, in the majority of cases, a most welcome and in some cases almost startling shift towards equitable coverage”, it said.

The MMU said there were, however, several exceptions.

“The sudden surge in statements of intent, manifestoes, party meetings, rallies etc. has provided a welcome flood of material for voters to consider. Most media houses have risen to the task of filling programmes and newspapers giving opportunities for voters to hear or read about the alternative policies of the parties in the election race”, the unit reported.

It said there has much more positive coverage was given than in previous months with relatively little coverage of negative value to political parties.

In radio, it found that NCN VOG produced a very reasonable overall balance with negligible negative news.

Among TV stations, the report found that Channel 2 has done well in balance terms - favouring one major party but giving the other a substantial on-air profile.

“GAP/ROAR and JFA hardly register and one would expect all six parties running nation-wide campaigns would figure after ten days of full out campaigning. Editors should be looking to fill these absences over the final two weeks before polling day by pro-active journalism and not relying on the `in-tray’ only”, the unit said.

It found that Channel 6 CNS, by comparison, produces a very different picture of balance.

“The owner, main presenter and presidential candidate, Mr. C.N. Sharma frequently offers space on his channel to other parties and feels that, while there is little response to his offer, having made it, he is free to dominate the airwaves with his own programme JFA”, the report said.

“However it should be noted with approval that the news programme NEWS TODAY did very well during these ten days with reasonable coverage of 4 of the 6 parties running national campaigns. As with Channel 2, it is to be hoped that any gaps will be filled in the coming weeks by a determined effort to reflect the whole political scene.”

Channel 7, it said, achieved a very well-balanced chart both in overall coverage and in the output by CAPITOL NEWS. “Some increase in coverage of GAP/ROAR would be appropriate to give the electorate a really balanced picture of their options in terms of national politics but the fact that all six parties is featured is to the newsroom’s credit”, the report said.

The MMU reported that with Channel 9, there is a marked difference between the overall coverage of this channel and the larger parties’ balance achieved in this period by Prime News (much better than in July too!).

All six parties running for national election gained at least some time on the news, but the unit said the “overall share of time – something like 10 to 1 in favour of one party – is well outside the spirit of the Media Code in terms of balance.”

According to the MMU, Channel 11 (NCN) has not achieved the overall balance aimed for in the Media Code of Conduct, adding “2.5 to 1 is a large gap in provision between the two leading parties in a democracy.

“Some of the difference can be accounted for by the elements of GINA (Government Information Agency) programmes that strayed from government business into party politics (less than ten minutes)”, it said.

“In the period under review, this would not substantially alter the imbalance. Having said that, once again, the newsroom has achieved a good measure of balance and included very little negative news”, the unit said.

The MMU said that as forecast in the last report, the owner of Channel 28, Mr Tony Vieira has now moved his Commentary out from the middle of the Evening News and has temporarily handed over the publisher role to Mr Chris Ram.

“Both commendable moves are intended to help the channel remain within the terms of the Media Code of Conduct. The overall balance was quite good in the period from Nomination Day to August 5, both in general though the output of the Evening News was almost 2–1 in favour of PNCR-1G. Some coverage of the other two national level parties is necessary to give a fair picture to the voters. The period under review was only 11 days, so there is time to bring GAP/ROAR and TUF to the viewers attention.”

On Channel 65 MTV, the unit said the share proportions between the two largest parties of almost 11 to 1 cannot be said to score high marks in terms of Media Code adherence. This is the score for the overall output.

News Update, at 2.5 to 1, looks a bit better, if not matching the performance of the best state or private media.

“The fact that, when parties are campaigning at full speed, only two of six national parties with presidential candidates get substantial coverage is noticeably out of tune with the concept of providing a balanced political diet”, the report said.

The MMU said all newspapers gave substantial space to major parties and covered most of the other national level campaigns.

The Guyana Chronicle covered all six, it said.