4G Elections : Constituency Reports
In reports during an election about particular constituencies or constituency matters, special rules exist to ensure that candidates are not given any unfair advantage over other candidates. In particular:
- If a candidate appears in an item about his/her constituency or electoral area, each candidate standing for the major parties and other candidates with previous or current support should be offered the opportunity to take part.
- If a particular candidate refuses or is unable to take part, the report may still go ahead. It would normally be stated that such candidates were invited to take part but either refused or were unavailable.
- Constituency reports should contain a list of all the candidates standing giving their first and last names and the party they represent, in sound and/or vision.
- Where politicians are appearing in programmes for whatever reason after an election has been called, he/she must not be given the opportunity to make constituency points when no other candidates will have a similar opportunity.