Maharat Foundation published the election coverage on local television stations report for the month of January 2022 based on a monitoring process it conducts on television stations and by monitoring their news bulletins and talk shows. This monitoring program, which is conducted by Maharat in cooperation with UNESCO, seeks to keep pace with the parliamentary elections scheduled for next May in the context of strengthening democracy and public freedoms, as well as monitoring the media, which play a major role in preparing for the electoral process.

The monitoring process assists the progress of the preparations for the electoral procedure, such as: the attention given to the electoral process, the space of coverage in news bulletins and talk shows, the parties benefiting from the media space, the space given to electoral education and the role of women, the position of Lebanese parties in the coverage and others.

Monitoring results recorded the absence of electoral education on television stations, with only 1% of electoral awareness. The percentage of space allocated for following up on the preparations for the elections according to the requirements and entitlements of the electoral calendar was 7%. As for the other spaces, 92% approached other topics related to the elections, such as campaigns, positions, activities, opinions, figures and analyzes related to the elections.

The monitoring also showed the absence of those responsible of the electoral process from the media scene, such as the Ministry of the Interior and the Election Supervision Commission. In the space of coverage, representatives of the electoral process administration came to the last in terms of media appearance and coverage space, which indicates the absence of the Ministry of Interior, the Directorate of Political Affairs and the Supervisory Authority on media appearances and communication with voters and candidates. Whereas traditional politicians came first, followed by two categories of journalistic analysts and electoral experts, then emerging political groups, some candidates, clerics, and civil society activists.

The study showed that OTV allocates the highest space for the elections, while Al-Manar station ranks last among the rest of the stations in keeping pace with the topic, during the month of January 2022.

And the monitoring of the stations showed that the traditional parties still dominate the media scene and enjoy the largest space of news coverage and of talk shows on these stations, which calls into question how the emerging parties and change movements can define themselves and present their vision for change.

The monitoring also showed the persistence of male dominance in the political and media scenes, as the share of women on these stations is still marginal and does not exceed 10%. Meanwhile, a glimmer of women's hope emerged through the emerging political movements, in which women play an active role. However, the issue of women's political participation, their position and the role assigned to them in public policies and the women's quota were absent from the electoral debate, as they received only 0.05% of the news and dialogue content.

It is to be noted that this is the third monitoring report issued by Maharat after the two reports covering the months of November and December 2021.

Full Report for the month of January 2022