Reporting Elections

Newspapers, television and radio thrive off reporting elections. It’s an unbelievable atmosphere for any journalist especially in the coming weeks and on the night. It’s a phenomenal medium in journalism but media organisations are under strict rules.

It’s our duty as journalists to be fair, accurate and impartial when providing information to the public. The public are expected to make decisions on the information that we produce.

There is a big difference between print and broadcast journalism when it comes to reporting elections. Newspapers have the power to be left wing or right wing. So they can support any political party they like. Television and radio are under much more scrutiny because they have to be impartial and are regulated under strict codes of conduct by Ofcom and the BBC Guidelines.

As a journalist you’re more likely to get in trouble working in broadcasting.

Danger areas of election coverage:

• False statements about candidates
• Debates / Discussions
• Constituency profiles
• Exit polls / opinion polls

False statements about candidates

So it’s a criminal offence to make false statements of fact about someone’s personal character or conduct of an election candidate, IF the purpose is to affect how many votes that individual gets. Any breach of this conduct will be an automatic fine of £5,000 under the Representation of the People Act (1983). When making false statements about election candidates the punishments are valid when formal notice is given stating when the election begins and when it ends. The duration for local governments is five weeks. The national elections start when Parliament is dissolved. But if the false statement is defamatory the publisher could face a libel action.

Debates / Discussions

Each political party or candidate must be given a fair amount of time to speak. The television debates in the run up to the 2015 general election have been very controversial due to David Cameron not willing to take part earlier in the year after the Green party were not involved. But according to Ofcom, the Greens were seen as a ‘minor party’ so they didn’t have a priority in the debates.

Constituency profiles

Journalists will produce a news packages or a write a piece about a particular constituency that is under threat in an election or even a by – election. It could be a swing seat or a marginal seat. But the news package / article should be impartial by covering all the major political parties and the minor parties that are running to claim the seat.

Impartiality

To be impartial it’s an active thing rather than a passive thing. Section 6 of the Ofcom Broadcasting code states how broadcast material must be impartial during elections and referendums. The BBC has its own rules within its Editorial Guidelines.

Exit Polls / Opinion Polls  

An exit poll is where people have voted in a survey and they are asked which candidate or political party they voted for. These surveys can be conducted when members of the public are leaving polling stations. But many issues come into play when conducting exit polls. For instance it may affect some electorates who haven’t even voted yet or cause them to change their original voting intentions. Some people may change their vote if they find out which political party is winning or not proceed to vote because they realised that their favoured candidate has no chance of securing victory or will easily win so there is no purpose for them to vote. These effects can jeopardise the democratic process. But the most important thing to remember is that you can report the results when the polls are closed. If you do it before the polls are closed it’s a criminal offence.

Impartiality

Section 6 of the Ofcom Broadcasting code states how broadcast material must be impartial during elections and referendums. The BBC Guidelines have their own standards when conducting elections Keep a log of information about party coverage

Case studies

• In 2008 Ofcom fined TalkSport radio £20,000 for breach of impartiality. The presenter, James Whale directly encouraged listeners to vote for the Conservative candidate Boris Johnson in the London mayoral elections and criticised the Labour candidate Ken Livingstone.
• Phil Woolas an ex – Labour MP breached electoral law under the Representation of the People Act. He made false statements about Elwyn Watkins the election candidate running for the Lib Dems in Oldham and Saddleworth. Woolas won the seat by over 100 votes. The former immigration minister was fined £5,000 and ordered to stay away from politics for three years. This breach of conduct also triggered a by – election.

The Electoral Commission is the independent election watchdog.