On May 22nd there are European Elections being held which makes this blog even more relevant.
The Representation of the of the People's Act 1983 states that it is a criminal offence to make or publish false statements about election candidates. The expected role of a journalist is to broadcast everything you can in regards to what is happening in the run up to the election day. The broadcasters rules are different to those of print where you can say 'vote for'… whereas this cannot be done in broadcasting due to Ofcom and the BBC guidelines that state this.
Impartiality is vital with broadcasting as stated in section 6 of the Ofcom broadcasting code. In news papers you are able to remain partial as you are free to write editorials. When broadcasting you must give coverage to the major parties during the election evenly to prevent promoting a party more than the others. You must also give appropriate coverage to other parties and independent candidates.
There was a big case with an MP Phil Woolas in 2010 who lost his seat and banned from standing for parliament for three years. This was due to putting a false statement about the liberal candidate Robert Watkins in election leaflets stating that he was 'wooing extremist votes from the Muslim community'.
We have to be careful what we report/ say as a lot of the statements made by people will be defamatory statements which may be made from rival candidates. When it comes to the exit polls which is a survey where people are asked who they have voted for at the polling station which allows a prediction to be made on the election result ahead of the official declaration. There are restrictions on publishing this information and the predictions as it can persuade people to change their votes or to not vote at all if their party appears to not be doing so well.
Opinion polls can be bias and some can be unreliable as they all differ from one another. It is legal to publish them on voting intentions gathered before the voting begins as they are not based on how people have actually voted but on their intentions. Section 66a Representation of the Peoples Act 1989 states that it is an offence to publish before the poll is closed at 10pm any statements about how people have voted in the election and to publish before a poll is closed any forecast or estimate of the election result.
They use samples of people and a different age range and social economic standing in the polls which must include a context and clarify.
Journalists, TV crews and photographers etc do not have to be let into the count by the Returning Officer unless they are also a candidate.
Impartiality is an important aspect for journalists to consider when reporting for each party. A log of the party coverage should be kept to record the amount of sound bites each party receives to keep it fair. You need to define who the major parties are which has changed this year as UKIP are now seen as a major party in the European election even though it does not contain any MP's. Ofcom and the BBC need to make this decision whether to include UKIP as one of their major parties when reporting on the election.
In Press Gazette it appears that Ofcom have already ruled that they will treat UKIP as a major party but not in Scotland. They based this information on a variety of opinion polls over the past year or so. You should expect guidance when you are a journalist as to which parties are major and the ones that are minor but should still receive some coverage.
If you are going to do a show like the Daily Politics panel with around 3-4 people you should include a person to represent the top 3 parties and then you would need to choose a popular minor one to also be represented.
When covering elections there are safe seats which barely matter. Rowenna Davis did a marginal seat report on who is up or down in the voting system and constructed a profile on what is going on at the polling station. The news package report would have contained footage of all of the major parties which don't have to contain the exact amount of screen time. If there is a less popular party they do not have to have as long on screen as a popular party as long as they are covered this should be enough.
There is a such thing as tactical voting where you don't vote for a party if they are a lot further behind the others. People then vote for the opposition of the party that they don't want to win to try and prevent them from gaining the overall majority of votes.
If you want to profile individual candidates and their campaign you should produce one for each day on the news as long as you make it clear to the viewers that you are doing everyone else too. This is the same for an interview on a radio show as you would have to give everyone a chance to speak.
It is important to make sure your reporting is impartial and accurate as citizens base their choices on your reporting. Politicians love to shoot the messenger when things go wrong- in other words this will be you as the reporter. Campaign language is often heated which must be remembered if you were to do a live broadcast.
On polling day itself there is minimal reporting at all and no exit poll speculation. It is a criminal offence to publish anything before the polls have closed. Politicians even remain quiet too on this day.
The Electoral Commission dictate how the elections are run and are like a watchdog and regulator of the party and election finance. They also deal with any complaints and provide an outline for what is fair/ reasonable to report for the broadcasters.
The Representation of the of the People's Act 1983 states that it is a criminal offence to make or publish false statements about election candidates. The expected role of a journalist is to broadcast everything you can in regards to what is happening in the run up to the election day. The broadcasters rules are different to those of print where you can say 'vote for'… whereas this cannot be done in broadcasting due to Ofcom and the BBC guidelines that state this.
Impartiality is vital with broadcasting as stated in section 6 of the Ofcom broadcasting code. In news papers you are able to remain partial as you are free to write editorials. When broadcasting you must give coverage to the major parties during the election evenly to prevent promoting a party more than the others. You must also give appropriate coverage to other parties and independent candidates.
There was a big case with an MP Phil Woolas in 2010 who lost his seat and banned from standing for parliament for three years. This was due to putting a false statement about the liberal candidate Robert Watkins in election leaflets stating that he was 'wooing extremist votes from the Muslim community'.
We have to be careful what we report/ say as a lot of the statements made by people will be defamatory statements which may be made from rival candidates. When it comes to the exit polls which is a survey where people are asked who they have voted for at the polling station which allows a prediction to be made on the election result ahead of the official declaration. There are restrictions on publishing this information and the predictions as it can persuade people to change their votes or to not vote at all if their party appears to not be doing so well.
Opinion polls can be bias and some can be unreliable as they all differ from one another. It is legal to publish them on voting intentions gathered before the voting begins as they are not based on how people have actually voted but on their intentions. Section 66a Representation of the Peoples Act 1989 states that it is an offence to publish before the poll is closed at 10pm any statements about how people have voted in the election and to publish before a poll is closed any forecast or estimate of the election result.
They use samples of people and a different age range and social economic standing in the polls which must include a context and clarify.
Journalists, TV crews and photographers etc do not have to be let into the count by the Returning Officer unless they are also a candidate.
Impartiality is an important aspect for journalists to consider when reporting for each party. A log of the party coverage should be kept to record the amount of sound bites each party receives to keep it fair. You need to define who the major parties are which has changed this year as UKIP are now seen as a major party in the European election even though it does not contain any MP's. Ofcom and the BBC need to make this decision whether to include UKIP as one of their major parties when reporting on the election.
In Press Gazette it appears that Ofcom have already ruled that they will treat UKIP as a major party but not in Scotland. They based this information on a variety of opinion polls over the past year or so. You should expect guidance when you are a journalist as to which parties are major and the ones that are minor but should still receive some coverage.
If you are going to do a show like the Daily Politics panel with around 3-4 people you should include a person to represent the top 3 parties and then you would need to choose a popular minor one to also be represented.
When covering elections there are safe seats which barely matter. Rowenna Davis did a marginal seat report on who is up or down in the voting system and constructed a profile on what is going on at the polling station. The news package report would have contained footage of all of the major parties which don't have to contain the exact amount of screen time. If there is a less popular party they do not have to have as long on screen as a popular party as long as they are covered this should be enough.
There is a such thing as tactical voting where you don't vote for a party if they are a lot further behind the others. People then vote for the opposition of the party that they don't want to win to try and prevent them from gaining the overall majority of votes.
If you want to profile individual candidates and their campaign you should produce one for each day on the news as long as you make it clear to the viewers that you are doing everyone else too. This is the same for an interview on a radio show as you would have to give everyone a chance to speak.
It is important to make sure your reporting is impartial and accurate as citizens base their choices on your reporting. Politicians love to shoot the messenger when things go wrong- in other words this will be you as the reporter. Campaign language is often heated which must be remembered if you were to do a live broadcast.
On polling day itself there is minimal reporting at all and no exit poll speculation. It is a criminal offence to publish anything before the polls have closed. Politicians even remain quiet too on this day.
The Electoral Commission dictate how the elections are run and are like a watchdog and regulator of the party and election finance. They also deal with any complaints and provide an outline for what is fair/ reasonable to report for the broadcasters.
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