Reporting Elections

Broadcast journalists must maintain impartiality during their coverage of elections and referendums. This different to print publications who can have party partiality.

Section 6 of the Ofcom broadcasting code outlines the rules on how broadcasters must remain impartial during an election, the BBC is not subject to his section but they contain similar regulations in their own guidelines.

Broadcasters must allocate equal coverage to all of the major parties, and appropriate coverage to all other parties and independent candidates. The major parties are primarily considered as being Conservative, Liberal Democrat and Labour. However over the last several years UKIP have landed themselves in the public view and their popularity has increased dramatically, as was evident during the Eastleigh by-election. Ofcom have since ruled that during the European Election, UKIP must be regarded as a major party.

Under the Representation of the People Act 1983 it is a criminal offence to publish a false statement about the character or conduct of an election candidate, if the purpose of publishing this material is to affect how many votes they will get. Such claims can only be published if they can be justified on reasonable grounds as being a fact (even if it turns out later to be untrue). The ban on such false statements is in place from the date that the election is formally announced, until the end of the election. If the false statement is defamatory then the publication may also face libel action.

Defamation is a massive risk to publications during the election period as opposing parties may publish defamatory material against other candidates. There is no privilege in place which protects the media in re-publishing this content which leaves them open to being sued for libel. An example of this is former Labour Government Minister Phil Woolas, who in 2010 lost the Oldham East and Saddleworth seat which he had held at that years general election with a majority of 103. He was banned from standing for Parliament for three years after being convicted of knowingly publishing two false statements about the Liberal Democrat candidate, Robert Watkins, in election leaflets. As broadcasters it is our responsibility to ensure that we aren’t publishing false information.

In the UK it is a criminal offence, under section 66A of the Representation of the People Act 1983, to publish an exit poll, or any information regarding how people have vote, before the poll is closed. It is also a criminal offence to publish any forecast or predictions on how the voting may go, before the poll is closed. This is because such information may influence how people choose to vote, thus resulting in an unfair election. This would be highly damaging to the democratic process. 

The WINOL team provided a highly competent report of the Eastleigh By-Election, whilst ensuring that we all adhered to the Ofcom and BBC guidelines.