Question 1

What is purdah, and what changes during an election period?

Accepted Answer

**Purdah** — now officially called the **pre-election period of sensitivity** — is the convention restricting government announcements and activity in the weeks before an election, so that public resources are not used to influence the result.

**What it restricts.** Civil servants and public bodies are expected to avoid:

**New policy announcements** or major initiatives that could influence voters.

**Publishing material** that could be seen as politically contentious.

**Making significant appointments** or long-term commitments.

**Using public funds** for anything that could be read as supporting a party.

**What continues:** essential government business, day-to-day administration, and responses to genuine emergencies. **The government does not stop functioning**, which is a common misconception — ministers remain in office and decisions that cannot wait are still taken, with appropriate consultation.

**It is a convention, not a statute.** Guidance is issued by the Cabinet Office, and adherence rests on civil service norms rather than legal enforcement — though breaches attract significant criticism.

**The broadcast rules, which are separate and legally grounded.** During an election period, broadcasters are subject to stricter requirements under the Ofcom Code:

**Due impartiality applies with particular rigour**, and appropriate coverage must be given to parties and candidates.

**Constituency and electoral area reporting** has specific rules: if a candidate takes part in an item about their constituency, the others must be offered the opportunity, and candidates cannot act as broadcasters during the period.

**Opinion poll results** may not be published on polling day itself until voting closes.

**Party election broadcasts** are allocated according to defined criteria.

**Again, newspapers are unaffected** and may campaign openly for a party throughout, which is the sharpest illustration of the difference between print and broadcast regulation in the UK.

**Other election-period rules:** campaign spending limits, both national and constituency-level; **imprints** required on campaign material, now including digital material, identifying who produced and promoted it; and restrictions on activity within polling stations.

**Local and devolved elections** trigger the same conventions for the relevant bodies.

Question 2

What is the lobby system in political journalism?

Accepted Answer

The lobby is the group of journalists granted privileged access to Parliament and to government briefings, operating under long-standing conventions about attribution. It shapes a great deal of

Question 3

What does a press officer do, and how much of the news do they shape?

Accepted Answer

Manages an organisation's relationship with the media — and the honest answer on influence is that a substantial proportion of published news originates in material supplied by press offices, which

Question 4

How is the UK press regulated?

Accepted Answer

Through a self-regulatory system for newspapers and a statutory one for broadcasters — a split that is central to understanding why they behave differently. Broadcasters are statutorily regulated.

Question 5

What is due impartiality in broadcasting?

Accepted Answer

A regulatory requirement on UK broadcasters to treat matters of political or industrial controversy and current public policy with impartiality — and the word "due" is doing essential work, because

Question 6

What does a local democracy reporter do?

Accepted Answer

Covers councils, local authorities and other public bodies as a dedicated beat — attending meetings, reading papers and reporting decisions — under a funded scheme created specifically because

Question 7

What is a press embargo?

Accepted Answer

An embargo is an agreement that information supplied to journalists in advance will not be published until a specified time. The source provides material early; the recipient agrees to hold it. Why

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