The
common characteristic of systems in which there is paid political advertising
is that advertising is unlimited - parties and candidates can buy as much as
they can afford - whereas free direct access broadcasts are limited to a
pre-determined share.
But
this is not always the case, and a number of countries that operate a mix of
paid advertising and free direct access limit the share of the former in
proportion to the latter. Canada has a system in which a ceiling is set on the
amount of advertising time that each party can purchase, on a basis that is
closely akin to systems elsewhere for allocating free direct access time.
It is,
in fact, relatively unusual to find a system that is characterized solely by
paid political advertising with no free direct access. For many years Finland
was an almost solitary example in Europe, with most other examples to be found
in the Americas.
Venezuela,
for example, allows no political advertising on the two government broadcasting
channels, but unlimited advertising on private commercial channels. Political
parties generally appear to be prepared to pay the same rates as other
advertisers. There is a state subsidy for spending on advertising. The
electoral law authorizes the Supreme Electoral Council to contribute to
parties' advertising campaigns. The way this has generally worked is that after the election the Supreme
Electoral Council gives grants to parties that obtained at least 10 per cent of
votes cast in congressional elections.
An
extraordinary characteristic of the Venezuelan system is that the incumbent
administration is also allowed to buy advertising. The administration's
commercials are not allowed by law to promote the ruling party - but the
government's and the ruling party's commercials can be broadcast one after the
other creating a strong argument in favour of the incumbent. In 1978, the
government spent almost as much on television advertising as the two main
political parties. Venezuela has an extremely high level of spending on
political advertising - according to some estimates the highest per capita rate
in the world.[i]
The United
States is the best-known example internationally of a system of paid political
advertising. But contrary to first impressions, the US system is far from
unregulated. Legislation limiting campaign donations has a particular impact on
television advertising, which is by far the largest item in the campaign
budget.
But
that is not by any means the full extent of regulation. The Federal
Communication Act of 1934 as amended requires broadcasters to offer to sell
equal time to all candidates for federal office. This must be available at the
lowest rate charged to non-political advertisers. Equal opportunity means that
stations that sell time to one candidate must give the opportunity to others.[ii]
These are important principles, which ensure that political advertising does
not entirely become the preserve of those with the biggest campaign war chests.
They have been emulated in political advertising regulations worldwide:
- Advertising is offered at
the lowest rate.
- If advertising space is
offered to one candidate it is offered to all.
[i] Howard R.
Penniman and Austin Ranney, "The Regulation of Televised Political
Advertising in Six Selected Democracies", (Committee for the Study of the
American Electorate, n.d.)
[ii] Robert M.
Entman, "The Media and U.S. Elections: Public Policy and Journalistic
Practice", in Media and Elections: a
Handbook, eds. Yasha Lange and Andrew Palmer,(Dusseldorf: European Institute for the Media, 1995)
