Reporting Elections

The Election period is a highlight for journalists, we are relied upon by voters to educate them on the upcoming elections and party campaigns. As journalists, it is an expected role to cover elections, it has the biggest impact to the people as governmental changes are imposed.

For broadcasters, they must be completely impartial when covering elections, giving all the major parties equal coverage, whereas Newspapers are allowed to be partial depending on whether they left or right wing.

To maintain impartiality, we have to keep an accurate log of party coverage, in keeping with the distribution across major and minor parties. Ofcom have ruled that UKIP is to be treated as a major party in the context of the European Elections, to ensure that they receive equal coverage as the other main three parties: Conservative, Labour and Liberal Democrat.

As broadcast journalists we have to keep a reporting stance, ensuring that we check the facts and challenge statements that we hear. The Representation of The People Act 1983 makes it a criminal offence to make or publish a false statements about election candidates. This refers back to the Phil Woolas case, who was thrown out of Parliament and the Labour Party after breaking electoral law. He made up damaging allegations about his main general election opponent, implicating false statements. We should constantly think in disbelief to ensure everything is accurate and precise, we are the messengers, therefore we have to double check that we are not spreading the wrong information.

There are dangers with reporting on elections, in particular it is important to be careful with opinion polls. Forming a poll helps to create a sense of how people are voting, however it is extremely crucial to notify viewers that it is in no way scientific. With polls we have to understand that they are subject to error, and it is important to take into consideration how big the sample is, the time it was taken and the age range or social economic position of those involved in the poll. These factors are important as we do not want to give a false view of where the parties are standing.

An Exit poll is a survey taken when people are leaving the polling station to find out which party they voted for. It is a criminal offence to publish before a poll has closed any statement about how people have voted or any forecast of the election results. Rules follow that an exit poll can only be published after the polls have officially closed. It is legal to publish at any time opinion poll informationon voting intentions which was gathered before voting began because this information is not based on how peope sya they have actually voted. When we covered the Eastleigh By-Election last year, we carried out an exit poll at various different stations, which we broadcasted live after the 10pm cut off. As you can see from the video below, we warn the viewers that the poll is not conclusive and it is well within the margin of error. 




News organisations can cover election periods in multiple ways, for example following campaign trails, providing that there is a balance of party coverage. There are other ways such as a question time style by bringing in guests to discuss party policies or covering profiles of certain candidates or areas.

On polling day you will see minimal reporting of policies from the campaigners and journalists, the main aim of the day is to urge people to vote.