National and provincial election broadcast regulations published
Independent Communications Authority of South Africa (ICASA) has published regulations for national and provincial election to ensure fair and equitable treatment of contesting political parties by broadcasting service licensees.
The 'Regulations on Party Election Broadcasts, Political Advertisements, the Equitable Treatment of Political parties by Broadcasting Licensees' were published on 17 February 2014.
Its aim is to prescribe a framework and guidelines under which party election broadcasts (PEB) and Political Adverts (PA) shall be conducted and carried by broadcasting service licensees during the 2014 national and provincial government elections.
Process
• The authority will receive the final list of contesting political parties from the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC)
• Upon receipt of the list, it will invite contesting political party representatives to a briefing session to allocate the PEB slots in accordance with the formula as outlined in the regulations
• The public broadcaster and other broadcasting service Licensees who have indicated interest in transmitting PEB will also be invited
• The ICASA council will proclaim the election broadcast period• The authority will publish the PEB schedule in the government gazette within two days of the allocation of slots
The authority will ensure that extensive monitoring of election coverage in terms of the regulations and licence conditions of broadcasters is undertaken.
