Ofcom has signalled the start of the 2024 election season by issuing its advice to broadcasters on coverage of the local elections in May. It does this before every election to help its licensees maintain their legal obligation of impartiality. But in our editorial and regulatory experience, stretching back 40 years, there has never been so much cause for confusion and concern about what lies ahead in broadcast coverage of both local and general election campaigns.
Is Ofcom going to allow senior party officials to present election programmes as long as they are not actual candidates? Could a channel host party loyalists from only one side, delivering nightly unchallenged polemics on each day’s campaign news? Will channels with poor compliance records and fewer viewers than the public service broadcasters be given greater flexibility in achieving “due impartiality” on the basis of what Ofcom calls “audience expectations”?
