The Media and the Democratic Process

Abstract

“The right to vote in peace and freedom is a fundamental democratic right”, postulates His Lordship Justice V.C.R.A.C. Crabbe, Supreme Court judge of Ghana and first Sole Electoral Commissioner of Ghana. Martin Luther King, Jr., the iconic civil rights leader of the USA, said: “a voteless people is a powerless people”. But the electorate must know who they can vote for, where, when and how to exercise their fundamental civic right, and have the right to register and vote in peace and freedom. The electoral process encompasses promulgating an enactment, evolving procedures and modalities, and mobilizing, informing, educating and whipping up interest among the electorate. Thus the media become the hub around which any electoral process revolves. Countries in the south take cognizance of this and, notwithstanding a paucity of resources and their inadequacies, have for decades been searching for appropriate strategies to achieve this goal.