Many countries, whether by law or custom, have a period when no news of the election is reported through the media. It is very common for this to be the case once voting itself has started. This is analogous with the usual prohibitions on campaigning within the vicinity of a polling station. The United Kingdom, for example, has a customary and voluntary abstention from reporting election campaigning on polling day itself and many Commonwealth countries observe a similar practice.
Perhaps the best known example of an obligatory reflection period is France, where it lasts for seven days. Italy and Sweden are other countries where this news blackout is prescribed by law, in both cases for one day before polling. Denmark also has a one-day blackout before polling day, but in that case it is traditional and not legally binding.103
Without question the country with the most extensive news blackout is Israel, where television (though not radio) is prohibited from showing political campaigning for at least 30 days before the election. The Independent Broadcasting Authority has interpreted this provision very strictly, cancelling current affairs programmes on political and social issues for about 10 weeks before election day. Effectively journalists must cover the campaign without showing politicians. One of the most extraordinary instances was in 1981, when Prime Minister Menachem Begin had a historic meeting with Egyptian President Anwar Sadat. This could not be shown on television news - although there was no restriction on his party including footage of the meeting in its own direct access broadcast. In another example, the Labour party chose Ephraim Katzir, the former president and an eminent scientist, to close their party list of candidates - a symbolic gesture since he clearly would not be elected. When he took part in a widely publicized international scientific convention during the election campaign, his presence could not be shown.104