Today the BBC Trust is opening the final stage of its consultation on the BBC’s draft election guidelines, an important document in allowing us to cover May’s general election campaign fearlessly but fairly. Part of the consultation started in November, but today the Trust is publishing draft guidance for our journalists and other output producers about the levels of coverage different political parties can expect to receive during the campaign.
This election looks set to be one of the most competitive and complicated in living memory. Different elections since 2010 and strong opinion poll evidence suggests there could be significant changes to political representation in Westminster. However we have tried to produce a straightforward and objective analysis of the different parties’performance that will help inform our coverage.
The guidelines – which supplement the BBC’s overarching editorial guidelines - are there for programme makers to refer to when considering how to put together their coverage during the election period. They provide a framework for consistent decision making, whilst still allowing producers an appropriate degree of editorial freedom.
The political parties, candidates, and indeed anyone can contribute to the Trust’s consultation. Once the draft guidelines, and any amendments, are approved by the Trust they will come into effect from the 30th March until election day on 7th May.
As well as publishing the appendix setting out the basis for decisions aboutcoverage for different parties, today the Trust has also published an Electoral Landscape paper, with supporting evidence, which we have produced to demonstrate how the data underpins these judgements. We will continue to look at any new evidence as the election approaches.
It’s vital to make sure there is sufficient opportunity to test the record and hear the promises of those who want to govern us. To put it simply, we believe that the electorate and licence fee payers are best served by giving the parties which demonstrate clear evidence of substantial electoral support more coverage (and indeed more scrutiny) in an election period than those who do not.
The Electoral Landscape paper considers the factors that go into assessing the relative support of each party. The starting point for this is the result of the previous (2010) election, but some weight is also given to electoral support at subsequent elections, to robust and consistent trends in opinion polls and tothe broad political context (such asconsidering any electoral pacts, coalition agreements, the formation of new parties, etc.). It also takes account of the number of candidates a party is fielding.
With such a complicated picture, not just across the UK as a whole, but also within Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, it is clear that there will be different views about the relative support the parties can call on – which is precisely why this period of consultation is open for a wide array of views to be heard.
Finally, many of you will want to knowhow these guidelines and the appendix could influence the composition of a leaders’ debate on the BBC. In short, although clearly high profile, any debate broadcast by the BBC would be treated in the same way as any of its other election coverage – governed by the same rules as all political output during the campaign. It’s too early to say what the outcome of the discussions on the election debates will be, but we and the other broadcasters remain confident of them going ahead and will continue to work with all the political parties in an attempt to ensure they happen again this year.
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