If there is to be some regulation of what the media may or may not do during an election, then logically this is likely to apply to a specified campaign period. There will be a given period of official campaigning during which the regulations will apply, while otherwise normal practice will prevail. Logical, perhaps, but not entirely unproblematic.
One issue is voter education. Information on issues such as voter registration will usually need to be communicated to the electorate well in advance of the official campaign. Regulations will be aimed to ensure that this information is communicated in an accurate and impartial manner.
There is no doubt also that voters are just as much influenced by what they learn from the media at an earlier period. Media monitoring teams, for example, would always start their work well in advance of the official campaign period.
Political wisdom (and experience prior to the 2000 election) in the United States has it that the candidate who is leading on Labour Day (in September) will win the presidential election (in November). So nothing that happens in the final two months of the campaigning (longer than most countries' official campaign period) has much influence. The American approach is to have no designated campaign period at all - indeed roughly two years out of every presidential term are taken up with campaigning. But this would not suit most countries.
The opposite extreme is represented by Israel, where the electoral law relating to media coverage covers a time frame of 150 days before the election - that is, nearly five months. During the 30 days immediately before the election no campaigning is permitted in cinemas or on television, although there are no such limitations on radio.48
And few countries have election periods quite as closely defined as Estonia, where the law relating to the obligations of broadcasters in the election creates a clearly separated pre-election and election period, with the latter then subdivided into four further periods, each with its own different reporting rules: the application period, the election campaign, the voting period and the period of determining and publishing the election results (see News Blackouts). See 'mex09'.
But the application of such strict regulation presupposes that there will be a set date for the election. In many countries, particularly those that have an electoral system based on the British one, choice of the election date lies with the incumbent head of government. Alternatively, in most systems an election may be precipitated by an event such as parliamentary vote of no confidence. In such cases, it will be impossible to apply media regulations that extend beyond a fairly limited campaign period.
The best option perhaps is for the system of electoral media regulation to be well meshed with the general system of media regulation - ensuring that the media are pluralistic, vibrant, professional and free from censorship at all times, not just during campaign periods.
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