2007年VOA标准英语-Senegal Campaign Media Battle Heats Up

By Jordan Davis
Dakar
17 February 2007

With a little over one week before Senegal's presidential elections, candidates are working hard to win over voters. Though some have called into question the fairness of traditional media outlets¹, candidates are trying new technologies to connect with voters. Jordan Davis reports from VOA's Dakar bureau.

During the three weeks of official campaigning, evening programming on Senegal's state television channel, RTS, is dominated by montages of campaign rallies, and prepared statements from candidates. The idea is to give all 15 candidates equal airtime.

The media watchdog group, Reporters Without Borders has been monitoring how much airtime each candidate gets. In the first week of campaigning, it found incumbent² President Abdoulaye Wade³ and his supporters appeared on television screens significantly more than any other candidate.

Reporters Without Borders' Africa director, Leonard Vincent, says much of the bias⁴ stems from news coverage⁵ of projects laid out by government ministers, often members of Mr. Wade's campaign team.

"When a minister comes out and says that, in one year, they will do this and that, that means this will be only possible, if Mr. Wade is elected," he said.  "So, this is why it is important to tell the Senegalese journalists, who work in the public media that it is very different what they [reporters] do now, and what they were doing one month ago."

Alioune Tine, who is with the Dakar-based human rights group known as RADDHO, says RTS and the country's broadcasting authority have actually been receptive to complaints of bias. Tine says he met with broadcasting authority representatives in recent days.

"I have seen that, for some candidates that got less time, there is a system of compensation. And, it is a very transparent⁶ process," he said.

Opposition⁷ parties have also complained that, in Dakar, they have been unable to get space on roadside billboards⁸, because all of them were reserved by President Wade's campaign.

But a number of candidates in this election campaign are turning to less traditional ways of getting their messages out.

Cell phone text messaging is becoming a key strategy for a number of candidates, especially because of the country's sizable youth population.

Malik Diop is the youth coordinator⁹ for opposition candidate Moustapha Niasse.

Diop says, now, almost everyone has access to a cellular¹⁰ phone, and sending a text message is very inexpensive for a campaign. He says, the campaign sends text messages about the candidate to the country's youth, and asks them to pass it on to their friends.

Incumbent President Wade's victory in 2000 was largely attributed to him carrying the youth vote.

Campaign observers say nearly two million more people have registered to vote for this year's election than seven years ago.  Most of them are believed to be young, first-time voters.

1 outlets   

n.出口( outlet的名词复数 )；经销店；插座；廉价经销店

参考例句：

• The dumping of foreign cotton blocked outlets for locally grown cotton. 外国棉花的倾销阻滞了当地生产的棉花的销路。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• They must find outlets for their products. 他们必须为自己的产品寻找出路。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

2 incumbent   

adj.成为责任的，有义务的；现任的，在职的

参考例句：

• He defeated the incumbent governor by a large plurality.他以压倒多数票击败了现任州长。
• It is incumbent upon you to warn them.你有责任警告他们。

3 wade   

v.跋涉，涉水；n.跋涉

参考例句：

• We had to wade through the river to the opposite bank.我们只好涉水过河到对岸。
• We cannot but wade across the river.我们只好趟水过去。

4 bias   

n.偏见，偏心，偏袒；vt.使有偏见

参考例句：

• They are accusing the teacher of political bias in his marking.他们在指控那名教师打分数有政治偏见。
• He had a bias toward the plan.他对这项计划有偏见。

5 coverage   

n.报导，保险范围，保险额，范围，覆盖

参考例句：

• There's little coverage of foreign news in the newspaper.报纸上几乎没有国外新闻报道。
• This is an insurance policy with extensive coverage.这是一项承保范围广泛的保险。

6 transparent   

adj.明显的，无疑的；透明的

参考例句：

• The water is so transparent that we can see the fishes swimming.水清澈透明，可以看到鱼儿游来游去。
• The window glass is transparent.窗玻璃是透明的。

7 opposition   

n.反对，敌对

参考例句：

• The party leader is facing opposition in his own backyard.该党领袖在自己的党內遇到了反对。
• The police tried to break down the prisoner's opposition.警察设法制住了那个囚犯的反抗。

8 billboards   

n.广告牌( billboard的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Large billboards have disfigured the scenery. 大型告示板已破坏了景色。 来自辞典例句
• Then, put the logo in magazines and on billboards without telling anyone what it means. 接着我们把这个商标刊在杂志和广告看板上，却不跟任何人透漏它的涵意。 来自常春藤生活英语杂志-2006年4月号

9 coordinator   

n.协调人

参考例句：

• The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, headed by the Emergency Relief Coordinator, coordinates all UN emergency relief. 联合国人道主义事务协调厅在紧急救济协调员领导下，负责协调联合国的所有紧急救济工作。
• How am I supposed to find the client-relations coordinator? 我怎么才能找到客户关系协调员的办公室？

10 cellular   

adj.移动的；细胞的，由细胞组成的

参考例句：

• She has a cellular telephone in her car.她的汽车里有一部无线通讯电话机。
• Many people use cellular materials as sensitive elements in hygrometers.很多人用蜂窝状的材料作为测量温度的传感元件。