In modern campaigns, access to
the media is crucial to electoral success. Since this is how the most voters
can be reached, it is essential to ensure fair media access for every
candidate. Media buys can be expensive, and not every political party has the
same financial resources.
Most countries’ electoral laws
or regulations have provisions on media access. Many systems require the media
to allow time/space on equal terms to all parties and candidates able to pay
for advertising. Some may also require the media to allocate airtime fairly
among candidates. Some systems provide public funds or free airtime to achieve
a balance in the time available to the different parties. Eligibility
requirements for equal time or public funding may be based on how a political
party is categorized by electoral administrators when it registers, such as by
the percentage of the vote it won in the previous election or the number of
seats it holds in the legislature.
Equal
Access
Most election laws or
regulations require equal access and treatment for those wishing to broadcast
election advertisements. In New Zealand,
for example, the law “prohibits a broadcaster from offering or giving to any
political party terms for broadcasting time that are more favourable than those
offered or given to any other party for comparable time.” [1]
Equal access does not
necessarily mean equal treatment. In a crowded field of competing candidates
and parties, it may be difficult to decide who should appear in the media and
in what order. Is there enough time for all the candidates’ advertisements to
air within the official campaign period, or for the voters to absorb these
messages? What time slots are the candidates allotted in the campaign, and
when? Even if candidates have equal airtime, do they also have equal access to
production resources needed to create their advertisements?
Allocation
of Public Funds or Free Airtime
Even if all parties have equal
access, they do not all have the same resources to pay for advertisements. To
even out these differences, most systems allocate public funds for broadcast
time or provide a certain amount of free airtime, for example on the national
broadcaster (if applicable). An equitable formula for allocating resources or
airtime may be based on how each political party has been categorized by the
electoral management body (see above).
In Canada,
the Chief Electoral Officer appoints a Broadcasting Arbitrator, who allocates
paid and free airtime to political parties during an election according to a
formula set by law. In India,
the Election Commission gives all national and regional parties extensive free
airtime on government-run media outlets. The Commission makes its allocations
equitable by offering each party a fixed minimum number of hours plus
additional time linked to the party’s performance in the previous election.
In New Zealand,
parties may not use their own funds to buy radio or television time for
broadcasting their election programs. Instead, the Broadcasting Act
provides for allocation of free airtime during the official campaign period.
This includes broadcasting the opening and closing speeches of political party
leaders.[2] To
qualify, political parties must have registered at least three months before
Parliament was dissolved, or have at least five candidates running in the
election. The allocation of free time is based on a number of criteria,
including how many people voted for the party in the previous election, popular
support for the party as shown in opinion polls, party membership figures and
the number of MPs who belonged to that party at the time of dissolution of
Parliament.[3]
Enforcement
of Access
Countries that protect equal
access to the media through legislation and regulations also generally have
enforcement mechanisms. These are needed to ensure that the intent and letter
of the law are applied. Enforcement differs according to the system and the
legal requirements. In New Zealand,
the law requires every broadcaster to provide the Electoral Commission with a
report on all election programs broadcast for parties and candidates during the
campaign period. The report must include:
- the name of the candidate
or political party for which each election program was broadcast;
- the length of each
election program and the time when it was broadcast; and
- the amount paid for
broadcasting each election program and the rates by which the amount was
fixed [4]
In most systems, the law also enables
parties or candidates to take legal action against broadcasters who they
believe have treated them unfairly. Related criminal offences are handled
separately through the criminal justice system.
[1] Elections New Zealand,
Broadcasting at Parliamentary Elections: A Guide of Political Parties,
Candidates and Broadcasters, Wellington,
1999, p. 18
[3] Elections New Zealand, Everything You Need to Know
about Voting Under MMP, New Zealand's
Electoral System, Wellington,
1996, p. 27
[4] Elections New Zealand, Broadcasting at
Parliamentary Elections, op. cit.
