The Reflection of the Second Presidential Election of Afghanistan in the Press: A ContentAnalysis of Four Newspapers (Anis, Hasht-e Sobh, Bakhtar, and Mandegar)between June 16th and August 17th 2009

The present study reviews the manner of reflecting the second presidential election of the Republic of Afghanistan in four leading newspapers of this country (Anis, Hasht-e Sobh, Bakhtar, and Mandegar) aiming at examining, recognizing, and comparing the manner of covering election news and contents. This study has reviewed the last two months before electoral campaigns of the second presidential election of the Republic of Afghanistan (from June 16th to August 17th) relying on political trust and foregrounding theories using content analysis method. Hamid Karzai and Abdullah Abdullahwere the two main competitors in this electoral campaign. Anis and Bakhtar newspapers were supporters of Karzai and Hasht-e Sobh and Mandegar newspaperswere supporters of Abdullah. Of two months under study, one month was selected using classified sampling method.It resulted in 513 electoral contents that were then analyzed. Based on the findings of this study, Hamid Karzai allocated a greater portion of electoral contents to himself. In presenting electoral news and contents, the prevailing style was ‘news’ and most of the behaviors towards the candidates were ‘respectful’.More specifically, respectful behaviors were four times more than disrespectful behaviors. With regards to the type of support, ‘direct’ support for the candidates was higher. With regards to the type of content, Afghan journalists addressed ‘process related’ contents more than ‘event-related’ ones. Based on the obtained data, the candidates of the second presidential election of Afghanistan paid more attention to ‘democracy’ and ‘attention to the votes of the people’ in their plans, emphasizing ‘participation of the people’ more than other electoral topics. In total, based onthe data, Afghanistan newspapers had turned the manner of reflecting electoral contents into a demonstration of exercising democracy, along with supporting their favorite candidate, and maintaining frameworks of professional principals of journalism, and despite direct criticism at and support for the candidates, they showed their adherence to moral standards of journalism.