One of the most important practical aspects of the law or regulations on media in elections is who is responsible for implementing it. There will often be much greater day-to-day contact between editors and the regulatory authority responsible for media during elections than there would normally be with, for example, a broadcasting regulator. The relationship is likely to be (or at least should be) a collaborative one.
There are several possible approaches that can be taken:
- An existing regulatory body may be given responsibility for the specific issues that arise during election periods.
- The media may set up their own regulatory body, possibly in collaboration with the political parties themselves.
- The existing electoral supervisory body, such as an electoral commission, may take on this responsibility, sometimes through a specialized sub-committee.
- A specialist body may be set up specifically to regulate the media during elections.
- The responsibility may be assigned to the judiciary.
This presentation is inevitably a little schematic. It is quite common for different aspects of electoral coverage to be regulated by different bodies. In Poland, for example, regulating the broadcasting of free direct access slots is the responsibility of the State Electoral Commission, while responsibility for campaign coverage rests with the usual broadcasting regulator, the National Broadcasting Council. [1] The advantage of such an approach is that it separates areas where the regulator may have to develop strict and binding rules from those matters of professional practice that are best left to the media themselves to determine. The disadvantage is that two different regulatory bodies are operating in two closely related areas, with the danger that they may step on each other’s toes.
Whatever system is adopted, the media (and anyone else affected, such as an individual complainant) will have a right of appeal to a higher independent body, usually a court of law.
[1] Karol Jakubowicz, "Poland and the 1993 Election Campaign: Following the Line of Least Resistance", in Yasha Lange and Andrew Palmer (eds), Media and Elections: a Handbook, European Institute for the Media, Dusseldorf, 1995.
