Media Rights and Responsibilities at Elections

The date for the general elections, having been announced, has seen the tempo increase naturally, to a near fever pitch. What has traditionally been termed the “silly season” at times, is increasingly descending into what one bard quipped as being more “doltishness times.”

We even sadly hear persons on radio and online saying “we don’t have a Prime Minister any more”; the heights of ignorance of the electoral process.

But all is not lost, and the freedom of expression we enjoy in our democracy is being well tested in the run up to the November 27, 2025 polls.

The use of the new media environment has created a veritable challenge for the State. Traditionally, it would have been mandated that electoral notices be published in the newspapers. But, we have moved beyond the existence of just one newspaper and one radio station at Independence in 1979, to not only three newspapers, but to now having several very popular online news outlets from where the population gets its information even as events unfold. The two political contenders in the Unity Labour Party (ULP) and the New Democratic Party (NDP) are making liberal use of this platform to reach the voting public.

Given this proliferation, should not the notices from the Governor General’s and the Electoral Office then be mandated to be carried via all media outlets, including on the several radio stations? This would, of necessity call for all radio stations, newspapers, and online news outlets to dedicate space to official election related notices from the Electoral Office.

This should be part of our social responsibility. We need to reach as many of our voting population as possible. New times require new and novel approaches.

The Agency for Public Information, which increasingly has been used in coordination with the National Broadcasting Corporation and VC3 TV in providing information and coverage of national events, should play a key role in the voting processes.

During the period after the prorogation of Parliament, these media entities should be working in tandem with the Electoral Office and should be tasked with producing educational material for use and distribution to all local media. The issue of costs for the provision of this public service to the various media houses can be organized in a predetermined manner.

It is necessary for the voting public to be provided with sound information to ensure they are properly informed, and not be left at the mercy of social media mis-information by partisan propagandists. The right to the exercise of our vote is sacred.

In this the 46th year since St Vincent and the Grenadines reclaimed its Independence, we must move forward as a modern nation should. Even with less than one month to go before polling day, one can still hope that the Electoral Office will have the capacity to up its information output to the general public, and moreso, eligible voters. Successive Electoral Commission reports have recommended a broadening of the scope of the Electoral Commission, and while this obviously is not the time to make a structural change, the Electoral Department must broaden its scope in the control of the voting process and broad dissemination of information.

It must therefore fully maximise the use of all legacy and social media to educate the members of the voting population on their rights and responsibilities in exercise of this sacred right of Universal Adult Suffrage. Media Rights and Responsibilities at Elections