Election coverage

As the special Majlis, or parliament, is arguing over the final clauses of the constitution, the Ministry of Information is planning for election coverage, trying to come up with rules to guarantee that it will be "free, fair and transparent." Literally, the whole world is watching. The EU, the British Commonwealth and the UN all have observers and advisors here. We were honored when the Minsitry of Information turned to our team for advice on how to make sure that TV and radio news election coverage is fair to all participants.
Fortunately, Bob has advised on similar issues in the former Soviet countries where he has trained journalists. He proposed a complete package of coverage ideas, ranging from traditional debates to "voice of the people" segments. He is accustomed to officials nodding and smiling and then not doing much. Here in the Maldives, his recommendations were enthusiastically discussed with the focus being on HOW they will put some of these ideas into practice and get the opposition parties on board as part of the plan.
I have some concerns about carving out an independent role for the journalists we are training. With so much talk of time allotments for each of the many sides in this election, it may be impossible to use any real news judgment when the stopwatch is running on every question asked and answered, every campaign event covered or not covered. I would hope they make the distinction we have in the United States between campaign time, in which all sides are treated equally, and bona fide news programs in which journalists strive for for fairness but don't have to balance out to the second. There is also the question of whether the state broadcasters and private broadcasters will be able to sell time to candidates and what the policy should be for equal access on that. With the US election system overtaken by big money advertising, I hope these well-meaning policy makers in the Maldives won't miss their chance to get it right.
Update: Having a presidential debate here may not be as easy as we thought. There was a referendum last year on the question of whether the new government should be a presidential system (like the US) or parliamentary (like Britain). It dissoved into a near riot when an opposition party packed the seats with rowdy supporters. The participants in the debate had to leave the stage.