Regulation of Electoral Advertising in Europe

Abstract

The production of electoral advertising such as television and radio spots or newspaper ads is controlled by parties and candidates and their campaign advisers and therefore does not underlie any changes by journalists as is the case, for instance, with news reports. Spots and ads are delivered to the media which simply distribute them but do not have any say in their design or contents. However, advertising, in general, and electoral advertising, in particular, has to follow certain rules and regulations established either by the media companies and/or by law. The fact that European countries see a need to regulate television advertising reflects a culture where responsibility for individual well-being is not completely left to the citizen and the state takes on the role of a protector. This chapter provides an overview of the regulations drawn up for electoral television advertising and posters in the 28 European Union member states. The data presented refer to the regulation in effect for the European election in 2014. They were collected by means of an online questionnaire that was answered by political communication experts in the respective countries