The latest report of the Media Monitoring Unit for the recently held General and Regional Elections has once again exposed the deep partisan nature of the media landscape in Guyana.The report, which was compiled from the performance of the various media houses during the month of November, pointed to media bias, especially the state media, in favour of the various political parties.Except for a few privately owned outfits, some media went over board to promote the political parties to which they are closely aligned, while lambasting those that they oppose.The latest report is the third and penultimate one produced by the MMU for the 2011 General and Regional Elections.It provides information on the Unit’s observations, analyses and conclusions of the performances of the print and broadcast media vis-?-vis the 2011 Media Code of Conduct (MCC), for the period 01/11/11 to 27/11/11.In addition to the quantitative statistics produced,NFL Jerseys China, the Unit has also documented for the record, those instances of unethical reporting or qualitative breaches of the Media Code of Conduct, which were detected during the course of the reporting period.The broadcast and print media from where coverage was timed and measured for the political parties are: Television:- CNS Ch 6, WRHM Ch 7, HBTV Ch 9, NCN Ch 11, TVG Ch 28,Wholesale NFL China Jerseys, MTV Ch 65 and NTN 69; Radio:- Voice Of Guyana (VOG) and Newspaper:- Guyana Chronicle, Stabroek News, Guyana Times and Kaieteur News.In analyzing the period the MMU noted that undoubtedly, the print and broadcast media played an influential and defining role in the provision of information which helped to determine voting preferences in the lead up to the elections, which took place on November 28.Each of the three major political parties, which contested the elections, intuitively recognized the utility of employing a two-prong strategy of campaigning by promoting their public meetings in consonance with media campaigns, so as to effectively get their messages across to the converted, the first-timers and the undecided.However, it is within this milieu that the Unit observed the abandonment of strong Editorial control in the broadcast media, reflected in what was allowed to be channeled to viewers through their television sets.As was expected, the better financed political parties bought up prime airtime to broadcast replays of their public rallies and meetings via television.According to the MMU, as is customary at these meetings, politicians want to give in to their base instincts and indulge in anti-social behaviour and language when ‘playing to the gallery’But the MMU pointed out that because of the intrinsic ability of television to reach a large disparate audience by the flick of a button, the unedited airing of these meetings was totally unacceptable and repugnant in that they served to bring the animus of the campaign hustings uninvitingly into people’s living rooms, thereby exposing them in the process, to the crass ad hominem attacks and general indecorum directed by the politicians towards their competitors.The Unit said that the unedited airing of these meetings on television was a contravention of Section B 2 (C) of the Media Code of Conduct which, inter alia, advises editors to always exercise judgment in favour of good taste and respect for public decency, by refusing or insisting on the modification of material submitted by political parties for publishing/airing that does not conform to acceptable legal, moral and other standards.On another related issue, the Unit observed that on the day before elections, there were unrestrained broadcasts of rallies, talk-shows and commentaries, promoting the contesting political parties on various television channels, as candidates used the available opportunities to make their final pitches to the electorate.“But, as much as this may have appeared to be innocuous, the time-frame of the airing of these promotional events violated Section M of the Media Code of Conduct which expressly forbids media organizations from giving coverage to activities by political parties for a period of twenty-four (24) hours prior to the opening of Polling Stations on the day of Polling, and lasting until the close of polling.”According to the MMU, the television stations which knowingly or unknowingly breached this provision of the Code were Channels 6,Cheap Jerseys Wholesale, 9, 28, 65 and 69.“After taking into consideration the number of Channels that fell foul of the aforementioned Section of the Code, the Unit was concerned that maybe after being signed, the Media Code of Conduct is probably gathering dust on the shelves of many of the country’s media houses.“Anyway, the Unit will not publicly indulge in unproductive speculations regarding the origins of the contraventions of the Code; instead,