ABSTRACT
I am speaking to this motion, not as an impartial academic observer with an interest in this area, which I like to think I am; nor as a harried television executive having to explain yet another breach of the regulations, which I am not; but as a humble political producer, which I was for Channel Four News during the last election and have been for BBC, ITN and Sly in previous elections. I shall not speak, at least not for long, on the grand themes of democracy and the people's right to know. I want to talk about the plain stupidity of the Representation of the People Act and how it not only fails to achieve what it intended to achieve but is anti-democratic and, perhaps worst of all, produces dull political programming, something which broadcasters fear and which impoverishes the political process.
