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> So, what do you suppose? Prohibition of political news stories leading up to an election? That's exactly what I propose, precisely because October surprises
by hackyhacky 6y ago
> So, what do you suppose? Prohibition of political news stories leading up to an election?
That's exactly what I propose, precisely because October surprises are not in the best interest of democracy.
Many countries [1] prohibit all political news stories during their election cycle. An added benefit of this policy would be to limit the length of the election cycle.
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Election_silence https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Election_silence
- bialpio 6y agoElection silence is unenforceable and becomes muddy in the era of the internet - with elections in USA, who do you sue if UK news outlet runs with some story? Who has jurisdiction? Besides, reporting news itself is usually still allowed as long as it is not political agitation ("Biden did something bad" is ok, "vote Trump" is not). I've been tempted to test this by posting agitation to Facebook from the USA (Poland still has election silence) or showing up with slogans to the polling stations (you can still vote when abroad in a few places set up by consulates), but I still like to visit my family from time to time.
- j8hn 6y agoIf you're worried about the interests of democracy then I would think freedom of speech would be important.
- j8hn 6y agoAnd the majority of the prohibitions in the list are a very short time frame from 24-48 hours.