Covering Elections

The Election period is a busy time for journalists; this is because the public rely upon new packages to educate them on the upcoming elections and party campaigns.            

Broadcasters, they must be completely impartial when covering elections, giving all the major parties equal coverage, compared to newspapers which are allowed to be partial depending on whether they left or right wing.              

To maintain impartiality, it is essential to keep an accurate log of party coverage, in keeping with the distribution across major and minor parties.             

The Representation of the People Act 1983 makes it a criminal offence to publish any 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 general election opponent, implicating false statements. As journalists we should therefore be aware of this Act by constantly checking that all information broadcast or published is accurate and precise 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. 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 the parties.

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 a 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 information on voting intentions which was gathered before voting began. This is because this information is not based on how people say they have actually voted. During the Eastleigh By-Election last year, WINOL carried out an exit poll at various different stations, which we broadcasted live after the 10pm cut off. Therefore this was legal.    

News organisations can cover election periods in multiple ways, such as following campaign trails (providing that there is a balance of party coverage). Another way is 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 the public to go out and vote.

Codes of practise and Ethics

As a Journalist you are expected to follow the below mentioned Codes of Practise in order to produce work of the correct conduct and ethics.
Ofcom- The licensing authority. It is independent of government, the broadcast regulator.

PCC (Press Complaints Commission) for magazines and written publications. 

BBC- editorial guidelines. 

Ofcom is a powerful regulator, PPC is not.

There is currently a on the regulatory codes at the moment due to the Leveson Enquiry. The regulation for written publications is under debate and will be probably overtaken under Leveson’s instruction. Broadcast regulation is not affected by this. 

The cause of this divide originally was phone hacking scandal. It has given us the opportunity to talk about press ethics. The phone hacking dilemma has put journalism in a new spotlight. 

Who guards the guardian? 

Newspaper regulation is in limbo. The press want their own regulator- the IPSO the independent press standards organisation but the government want a royal charter, a statute regulation. For the newspapers this was too much state intervention and no freedom of the press.

The PCC does still exist and it is still being used but it is all about to be replaced. The problem with the PCC was that nobody in the PCC highlighted the issues of phone hacking. This huge ethical scandal went on while the PCC was in operation and therefore it has failed. The problem being with the PCC was that it was a self regulator. This argument is very similar to who polices the police.  

Although broadcast journalism is safe under how it is regulated it is still important to pay attention to how and what things are broadcast. The motive for broadcast journalists to behave ethically is that we represent an organisation and we must ensure the public trusts us. If we treat people properly and we have a good reputation this will give the organisation a better image. If the broadcasters make mistakes the public can turn against watching it.

Examples of ethical transgressions
The documentary about the Queen on BBC One was edited in a way that it was misrepresenting the Queen. The BBC One controller Peter Fincham had to resign from his job. 

Similarly, in 2008 Russell Brand and Jonathan Ross prank phone call scandal on the BBC radio 2. Ended Jonathan Ross's career on the BBC. 

http://www.theguardian.com/media/2008/oct/27/russell-brand-jonathan-ross-andrew-sachs-calls

The main codes:

·         The PCC- newspapers and magazine 

·         Ofcom- broadcasters

·         BBC- for bbc staff and licence payers. 

·         NUJ- Code of Conduct

What does it matter?

1.       Ethical issues

2.       How far can we go to get a story?

3.       The codes of practice will tell you when it is ok to get a particular story. In

investigative reporting there are ethical issues surrounding secret filming, persistence etc. 

4.       The public interest regarding the story needs to be there and public interest should be taken into account. You may be intruding but you may be raising a public interest issue. 

5.       Under cover investigating, secret filming may provide you a story that is justified by an overriding public interest. 

6.       Circumstances

7.       Motives

Codes provide a benchmark to calibrate your own ethics. 
Reassure our audiences, build the trust. 
E.g. NHS exposure. Someone will complain- this will be your tip off, leading you to investigate. There is an expectation that something is failing. Often these exposures will help things improve. 

The murder of Lee Rigby in Woolwich London contained coverage captured on a mobile phone. Broadcasters are required to warn the viewers of the distressing content, and in this case the broadcasters did so. To show someone's moment of death would be distasteful and it wouldn't be shown on any news programme. 
The watershed (after 9pm) can show more explicit content. 

In broadcast you must be impartial in stand with the Ofcom guidelines. Newspapers can be partial. 

Ofcom powers
-Direction not to repeat programme
-Corrections or findings must be broadcast
-Impose fines- up to 5% of revenue. 
-Revoke broadcast licence 

ITV was fined 5.68 million for phone hoax and the BBC was fined 93,000 for hoax competitions.

Features: Writing Reviews

A review is the simplest format of an article. It can be anything from a book, film, work of art or live performance and is used to tell consumers:

• What it is
• Is it any good?

Any review that is written must have two elements:

1.       A description of what the item is that you are reviewing

2.       Must be a comment on whether it is any good

You are allowed to make comment because you will have legal protection and will not be sued for libel. Defence= justification for making the comment, it has to be a true statement of which it can be proved. Public Interest is also a necessary precondition since there is no Qualified Privilege since it is not in court. Therefore you can legally review anything as long as you add in comment based on truth. You are also permitted to use material of what you are reviewing due to Fair Dealing in compliance with Copyright Law.

Unfortunately gonzo has begun to be incorporated into reviewing item. This can sometimes go beyond the reviewers own personal preferences and reaction to the work which is no good for professional journalism. Readers want a service and do not care what you think about the item.

Contrast with the highly professional reviews in Sight and Sound magazine (British Film Institute).

The magazine actually separates the “what is it?” from the “it is any good?” typographically, using italics to differentiate between the two.  It starts with a summary of what the film is about, the actors starring in the film and the length of the film etc. It then continues on to pass a balanced and informed opinion on whether the film achieves what is has apparently set out to do. All professional review writing should follow this two part format.

Another style of review is a comparative review. This is where you review a number of similar items in the same review.  This is a good defence against accusations of malice. You need to have a reason why you are reviewing only one item e.g. a phone. A bad review can ruin the sales of an item therefore companies take reviews very seriously, need to have a defence.

Another elaboration on this basic format is the Feature Review which involves reviewing a host of products under a single heading, for example ‘Young British film makers’. This sort of feature review supposedly detects a new trend in culture and is featured in the arts and cultures sections of newspapers and magazines.

Reader Response (Generic Feature)

Originally letters to the magazine/editor, now comment on blogs- ‘Agony Aunts’ is a way of publishing reader response too. ‘How To’ articles.

Reader response has become more important in recent years, the aim is to get “WIN” and “FREE” on the front cover as this will attract readers. Elements such as horoscopes, agony aunts, newspaper bingo and cash prizes are also used as this will set the tone of the paper, magazine or radio show which then builds up reader loyalty.

There are a number of developments and ‘featurisation’ that are prominent in magazines and newspapers:

• Letters
• Agony Aunts
• “How to…..” advice from experts
•  Diet
•   Health and Beauty
• Fantasy Football league (Daily Telegraph)
• Crossword, quizzes and other ‘coffee break’ fillers
• Prize competitions and give away
• Cover mounts
• Horoscopes

The importance of reader response has grown drastically in recent years due to the internet. Readers can now respond instantly through e-mail and attach ‘have your say’ reply forms on web pages.

An example of this is Femail, (The Daily Mail online) where the front page of this is primarily reader response.