Regulator to poll public on maintaining broadcast moratorium in elections and referendums
Dating back decades, the moratorium prohibits the discussion of elections on broadcast media from 2pm on the day before the public goes to the polls. File picture
Ireland’s media regulator is seeking the public’s views on whether to keep the broadcast moratorium in place for future elections and referendums.
Dating back decades, the moratorium prohibits the discussion of elections on broadcast media from 2pm on the day before the public goes to the polls. However, it doesn’t apply to online and print news outlets, or social media, where topics related to elections and referendums can be discussed.
It came to the fore again during this year’s family and care referendums, when The Ditch website published the advice from Attorney General Rossa Fanning to the Government on the referenda on the eve of the vote. The timing meant that broadcast media could not discuss the story.
It was first introduced in broadcasting guidelines ahead of the 1997 presidential election when TV and radio were the main sources of news.
The idea behind it was to allow voters a “period of reflection” before casting their votes and to guard against voters being presented with new information or misinformation at the last minute when it was too late for it to be properly evaluated or discussed.
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Ahead of going out to public consultation, regulator Coimisiún na Meán said it has engaged with broadcasters and political parties, as well as conducting public surveys on the future of the moratorium. It has put forward five different options for the public to consider.
- keep the moratorium as it is;
- amend the duration of the moratorium;
- change the types of broadcast coverage included under the moratorium;
- reframe the obligation on broadcasters as a “positive obligation to exercise particular care on issues related to elections or referendums”;
- abolish the moratorium entirely.
The closing date for submissions to the public consultation is Wednesday, September 4. The regulator said it will conclude its review by the end of October 2024, with a general election expected within months of this.
The Electoral Commission, which is a separate watchdog overseeing elections in Ireland, is among those that have called for the moratorium to be scrapped. The commission said that "at a time when online media and social media is so prevalent, these guidelines are now anomalous and open to potential exploitation".
"[The Electoral Commission] recommends that the broadcast moratorium is removed from the guidelines for radio and television broadcasters before the next electoral event,” it said, adding it should be scrapped before the next election.
Meanwhile, Coimisiún na Meán’s Aoife MacEvilly said that given the growth in the use of online sources of news, there needs to be a re-evaluation of whether the moratorium is useful. “Now is the right time to consider if changes are needed to the broadcasting moratorium for coverage of referendums and elections,” she said.
“Wherever people find their news, it is important that they can find relevant, informed, and impartial reporting that they trust. We know that more and more people are going online for their news, whether that’s to a news website or to social media, but, broadcasters are still an important source of news about elections for many people."
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