If there is to be some regulation of what the media may or may not do during an election, then this is likely to apply to a specified campaign period. There will be a given period of official campaigning during which the regulations will apply, while otherwise normal practice will prevail. Many countries have campaign periods with clearly defined lengths; others vary depending on when the election is called, when parliament is dissolved, and other factors. The United States is unusual in having no defined campaign period.

Some examples of campaign lengths are as follows:[i]

• In Canada, the minimum length for a campaign is 36 days, and the longest ever was 74 days (in 1926);
• In Australia, the campaign must be a minimum of 33 days (the longest ever was 11 weeks in 1910);
• In France, the official election campaign usually lasts no more than 2 weeks;
• In Japan, campaigning is allowed for 12 days;
• In Singapore, the minimum length is 9 days;
• In Israel, the electoral law relating to media coverage covers a time frame of 150 days before the election, and during the 30 days immediately before the election, no campaigning is permitted in cinemas or on television.[ii]

A clearly defined campaign period is logical, perhaps, but can still be rather problematic. For example, voters may be just as much influenced by what they learn about candidates, parties, and platforms from the media at an earlier period, and not just what they learn during the official campaign period. For this reason (among others) media monitoring teams often start their work well in advance of the official campaign period.

Indeed, political wisdom (and experience prior to the 2000 election) in the United States has it that the candidate who is leading on Labor Day (in September) will win the presidential election (in November). So nothing that happens in the final two months of the campaigning (longer than most countries' official campaign period) has much influence. The American approach is to have no designated campaign period at all - indeed roughly two years out of every presidential term are taken up with campaigning. But this would not suit most countries.

Few countries have election periods quite as closely defined as Estonia, where the law relating to the obligations of broadcasters in the election creates a clearly separated pre-election and election period, with the latter then subdivided into four further periods, each with its own different reporting rules: the application period, the election campaign, the voting period, and the period of determining and publishing the election results.

But the application of such strict regulation presupposes that there will be a set date for the election. In many countries, particularly those that have an electoral system based on the British one, choice of the election date lies with the incumbent head of government. Alternatively, in most systems, an election may be precipitated by an event such as parliamentary vote of no confidence. In such cases, it will be impossible to apply media regulations that extend beyond a fairly limited campaign period.