Examples
In Britain, a candidate for parliament is entitled to ask the Post Office to deliver one item of literature free of postal charges to each person named on the electoral roll. Political parties are also entitled to allocations of free time on radio and television. The regulations require the broadcasting networks to give a 'fair' allocation of time to reporting the activities and speeches of each political party in news programmes during general election campaigns.
The provision of free or subsidised access to television is a crucial aspect of regulation of political finance in a large number of countries. The United States is one country where candidates and campaign groups are free to purchase advertising time without restriction and where broadcasting subsidies are not provided. The need to purchase broadcasting time is one explanation (though not the only one) for the escalation of campaign costs in America.
Administrative Implications
There are three sources of difficulty:
First, the broadcasting authorities may be reluctant to give enough time for political broadcasts during election campaigns. Many viewers are bored by political propaganda and are tempted to switch off their sets at the start of a political broadcast. The managers of the television and radio stations, whose motive is to attract the largest possible audience, resent political broadcasts for this reason. If political broadcasts take the form of short advertisements (on the lines of those for commercial products) viewers will have less time to switch off. Though such short advertisements - on the lines of those used during political campaigns in the United States - are less 'boring', they are also far less informative and are likely to take the form of emotional attacks against political opponents.
To ensure sufficient time for the parties to present their messages, the broadcasting authorities are obliged, in a number of countries, to make a considerable amount of time available for campaign broadcasts.
Second, there is a problem of ensuring that broadcasting time is allocated fairly to the different parties. One approach is to base each party's share on its proportion of votes in the previous election. This puts parties which are newly formed or whose popularity has recently increased at a disadvantage. Another method is to allow the same time to all parties. But this gives undue prominence to insignificant and extreme groups and is likely to tempt some groups to form themselves as 'parties' for the sole purpose of gaining free publicity. A third rule is to give parties broadcasting time only if they are putting forward a minimum number of candidates. However, this too may provide undesirable broadcasting opportunities to extreme, fringe groups with almost no followers.
In Britain, the allocation of broadcasting time is made by an informal committee that includes representatives of the main parties and of the broadcasting authorities. This has usually led to an agreed formula before every general election.
Third, technical problems may arise in countries in which there are a large number of radio and television channels and in which political campaigning is conducted by individual candidates rather than by political parties. If a party seeks to present a nation-wide message, it presents no problem if a particular television channel reaches just one city or one area. If an individual candidate wishes to appeal directly to his electors, he may face the difficulty that his electoral district does not correspond with the delivery area of any television or radio station.
Comment
Despite the administrative complications, provision of free broadcasting time is important. Unlike newspapers, which may exist without limit, there are likely to be few television or radio channels. Broadcasting is a powerful quasi-monopoly.
It is in the public interest that access to television should be allocated fairly between parties and should not be sold to the highest bidder. It is vital that the division of time between parties should be according to an agreed formula or according to an agreed procedure. The use of television should not be under the sole control of the government.
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