Many
in the media would see a system of self-regulation in elections as an ideal
solution. This clearly works best where there are well-entrenched independent
media and a long tradition of democratic elections, so that the solutions
adopted to the problems of election coverage are sanctified by long-established
practice.
Perhaps
the best-known example of this approach is in Britain, where direct access
Party Election Broadcasts are allocated by a Broadcasters Liaison Group, which was formed in 1997 and comprises of representatives of each of the broadcasters
who make airtime available to registered political parties. The BLG works
closely with the Electoral Commission to ensure a consistent approach.
However,
it has not only been long-established democracies that have adopted a
self-regulatory approach. Before the independence elections in Namibia in 1989,
the state-controlled South West Africa Broadcasting Corporation (as it was then
known) invited political parties to join a standing committee to consult on
election coverage. The committee agreed on a schedule of direct access slots,
although it was not able to address the problem of biased news coverage.
Hungary
in 1990 also adopted a self-regulating approach. National television and the
news agency, in collaboration with representatives of 12 political parties and
the Independent Lawyers Forum, drafted a voluntary Electoral Code of Ethics.
All the major parties adopted the code, along with most major news
organizations.[i]
The
state-owned Polish Radio and Television adopted a mixed approach. Allocation of
direct access broadcasting is the responsibility of the State Electoral
Commission, but in their campaign news coverage, radio and television are
answerable only to the National Broadcasting Council, the general regulatory
body. The management of Polish Radio and Television have issued detailed
guidelines to staff, including the following:
[Polish Radio and
Television should] provide comprehensive coverage of the campaign and
information about the candidates. News and current affairs programmes should
provide extensive information about the parties, their election platforms and
candidates, without any bias in favour or against any party and without
promoting any set of political views. The main principle should be equality of
access which puts channel controllers, programme departments and regional
stations under an obligation to maintain records of the amount of airtime
devoted to particular parties or candidates and to make sure that principle of
equality is honoured.
[i] Guidelines for Election Broadcasting in
Transitional Democracies (London: ARTICLE 19, 1994), 38
