These Guidelines are designed to cover compliance issues and the political ‘rules' to be observed by all parties. While parties are responsible for the content of the broadcasts, they are required to observe the following guidelines, which have been agreed between the broadcasters and will be applied equally to all parties.
They are designed to reconcile the editorial standards of the broadcasters and their audiences' expectations with the freedom of political parties to convey their political messages, and to ensure that these are met on all outlets.
- All broadcasts must observe the law - for example, on copyright, libel, contempt, obscenity, incitement to racial hatred or violence.
- All broadcasts must comply with the Ofcom Broadcasting Code, and the provisions of the BBC Editorial Guidelines, that relate to harm and offence (Chapter 8 of the BBC Editorial Guidelines) and fairness and privacy (Chapters 5 & 6 of the BBC Editorial Guidelines), having regard to the political context of the broadcast.
- Subject to the matters set out above, accuracy is the responsibility of the parties making the broadcasts.
- The party responsible for the broadcast will indemnify the broadcaster for all legal or regulatory actions resulting from the contents of the election broadcast.
It is the responsibility of the political party to ensure all permissions and rights - such as for music and archive – including for online, have been secured prior to transmission. Broadcasters may seek written confirmation following the delivery of broadcasts and before transmission.
- Impartiality is achieved over the series of PEBs as a whole. There is, of course, no obligation on the parties to achieve impartiality within each broadcast.
Extracts of recordings from proceedings from the Houses of Parliament may NOT be used in Political Broadcasts.
Subject to the Rules of Coverage for the respective institutions, extracts of recordings from proceedings in the Scottish Parliament, the National Assembly of Wales, the Northern Ireland Assembly and the London Assembly may be used featuring a speech or extract by a member of the party making the broadcast and the member's consent has been obtained. Extracts in sound or vision featuring members not of the party making the broadcast must have the consent both of the member and the other party concerned.
- Extracts from party conference speeches of the party allocated the broadcast may be used and can be bought in the normal way from the broadcasters.
- Archive or news clips of members of any other political party should not be included without the permission of the individual and the party concerned. This applies to both visual and audio material alike. Undistorted stills are allowed.
- Where candidates are included in a party election broadcast there must not be any oral or obvious visual reference made to their constituencies. This does not apply in the European elections to Nations that are a single region - e.g. Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. It also does not apply to pictures of the Houses of Parliament, the Scottish Parliament, the Senedd or Stormont, which can be used in broadcasts featuring candidates for the constituencies in which those buildings are located, provided there is no reference to constituency issues.
- No individual should be featured prominently in a broadcast in a manner that appears to support either a party and/or a political policy without that person's consent.
- Shots which include broadcasters - such as interviewers or reporters - in vision or in voice are not permissible.
- The use of actors in a broadcast must be made clear to the audience if there is any possibility that the audience could be confused or misled by their appearance. The same applies to reconstructions.
- Where political parties are planning to use telephone or text numbers in their broadcasts, they must consult with individual broadcasters at least one week before transmission in order to ensure there is appropriate compliance with the strict rules which apply in this area, in particular, the form of words to be used both in text and voice. Party Broadcasts will not be transmitted unless the agreed form of words is used. No revenue-generating telephone numbers are to be used in a broadcast. Appeals for members of the audience to contact the party at the end of the broadcast by telephone, e-mail etc are allowed but direct appeals for funds are not.
- Broadcasts which closely mimic the format of established programmes on any channel, particularly news programmes, run the risk of misleading the audience and therefore they must be clearly labelled throughout.
- Straight news footage featuring a party's own leader and politicians may be purchased from broadcasters in the usual way but clips which identify the programme in which they featured, on screen logos, theme music or the voice or face of a presenter/reporter will not be allowed. Nor will footage featuring politicians from other parties without the permission both of the individual and the party concerned.
Format
Broadcasts should be delivered on digi-beta tapes in widescreen format (16x9 full height anamorphic). The sound can be in mono or stereo. Two digi-beta tapes should be delivered together with two VHS or DVD copies.
Duration
TV Broadcasts (and Radio 4) can be one of three lengths, 2'40", 3'40"
or 4'40". The Broadcasters must be informed of the duration selection a minimum
of 2 weeks in advance of the broadcast date.
For Radio 2 and BBC Radio in Scotland,Wales and Northern
Ireland, broadcasts should be 1' 30".
For commercial radio, broadcasts may be any duration up to
2' 30", but the preferred length is 1' 30".
Delivery
The tapes, transcripts and details of any music used must be delivered by 10am the day prior to transmission.
Broadcasts scheduled to be transmitted on a Monday must be delivered no later than noon the preceding Friday.
Broadcasts scheduled to be transmitted on a Bank Holiday must be delivered no later than noon of the preceding normal working day.
The full technical specifications for broadcasts on BBC television are available on the BBC website. (Note that the requirements for programmes delivered in Scotland are different to those delivered to London).
Radio Broadcasts
For technical specifications for broadcasts on BBC radio please see BBC Radio Resources website.
Radio broadcasts should be supplied on 2 CDs, and these must be data discs [CD or DVD] and NOT audio CDs.
