Candidate's broadcasts broke election rules

Devon oldies' station didn't understand regulations

A Devon radio station breached broadcasting rules when it allowed a presenter to go on the airwaves whilst standing as a candidate in a Plymouth City Council by-election.

The ruling follows a complaint from a listener about the Gavin Marshall Show on DevonAir Gold, during the run-up to a local election in January.

Mr Marshall, an independent candidate for Moor View, submitted his nomination on 13 December last year and, under rules to ensure fairness in elections, wasn’t permitted to broadcast until voting closed a month later.

Following a complaint by a listener, Ofcom concluded that although Mr Marshall’s show was music based with no political coverage or mention that he was standing for council, the broadcast itself disadvantaged other candidates.

The regulator said the rule exists: “to help secure the integrity of the democratic process, and the public’s trust in that integrity, by preventing any unfair electoral advantage being afforded to a particular candidate.”

East Devon Radio, a community station in Exmouth that runs DevonAir Gold as a commercial station broadcasting in Exeter and online, defended its programme by saying “nobody in the ward in Plymouth could hear the presenter on a licensed transmitted radio signal” some 40 miles away from the broadcast area.

The company claimed the rules are “ambiguous” and claimed it had not appreciated that a candidate “was unable to act as a presenter in any part of the UK while in an election period.” It suggested Ofcom should change the wording in its rules because it isn’t clear that the phrase “Candidates in UK elections” covered people standing in local elections.

It had previously breached the same rule in 2013 when a Devon County Councillor presented programmes on its Exmouth station. At the time it said it had “overlooked the rules” and its breach was “an unfortunate error….a hard lesson learned and a mistake we will ensure will not happen again.”

This time round, Ofcom said it had taken into account that Mr Marshall was standing in an election in a different area, explaining: ‘It may have mitigated the potential for harm to an extent, though it did not preclude the possibility of electors in the relevant ward hearing the programme.”

East Devon Radio highlighted the presenter’s experience as a broadcaster and said that he had taken care not to refer to his candidacy in this by-election, or to elections more generally, while broadcasting during the election period, and that he had avoided discussion of political matters and had not referred to Plymouth. It was confident that no material which could have inappropriately influenced UK voters was broadcast.

It explained that to avoid a recurrence, they had put in place additional training and briefed the programme controller and all presenters about the rules on elections in the Broadcast Code.

Ofcom acknowledged that community radio stations faced challenges preparing themselves for broadcasting, but that they have responsibility to ensure they have an adequate understanding of the code.

After being unsuccessful in the January by-election for Moor View, Mr Marshall stood again at the local election in May, where he came third out of five candidates. At the time, he announced that he wasn’t a politican.  “I really struggle with the party political fighting,” he said. “Hence why I feel the time is right to stand as an independent candidate. Locally, and nationally, the party system isn’t working.

“Being independent, I wouldn’t have to take any party line. I will take my constituent’s line. As neither of the man parties has a majority in Plymouth right now, the election of just one additional independent councillor will mean that the Independent Alliance can influence meaningful change from next Friday.”

East Devon Radio has been contacted for comment.