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Blogs on polling day

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Giles Wilson Giles Wilson | 15:42 UK time, Thursday, 4 June 2009

Readers of BBC News blogs might have noticed that they are today unable to leave comments on posts about political matters. This is because of the elections being held for the European Parliament and English local authorities, and it will remain the case until the close of polling in the UK at 2200BST on Thursday. You can find out more about the BBC's policies on broadcasting during elections from this Editorial Guidelines document [172Kb PDF].

Giles Wilson is the features editor of the BBC News website.

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  • 1. At 10:53am on 05 Jun 2009, mediahustler wrote:

    This comment was removed because the moderators found it broke the House Rules.

  • 2. At 1:30pm on 05 Jun 2009, SiriusWonderblast wrote:

    I'm confused on two levels by Giles Wilsons note above.

    1) If blogs on political subject are banned on polling days, isnlt that defeating the very point of them? The zeitgeist might be pretty feral, because many people ar every angry, but that is what si there and should be reflected. Not to do so is extreme censorship of a most totalitarian sort.

    2) If what is said is true, why does the main Have Your Say front page lead with "What now for Labour?"

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  • 3. At 2:00pm on 05 Jun 2009, northern_steve_uk wrote:

    SiriusWonderblast - it's pretty much the only option the beeb have to make sure they comply with the Representation of the People Act. It's a lot less draconian than it used to be, with people sitting in TV studio galleries with stopwatches making sure each party got an equal amount of airtime.

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  • 4. At 2:02pm on 05 Jun 2009, forensix wrote:

    This comment was removed because the moderators found it broke the House Rules.

  • 5. At 2:13pm on 05 Jun 2009, uh10029 wrote:

    This comment was removed because the moderators found it broke the House Rules.

  • 6. At 4:02pm on 05 Jun 2009, chiptheduck wrote:

    The EU elections were the most important event of the week yet I was unable to comment on Have Your Say.

    Internet Explorer 8 (latest version) does not show the map so I was firstly excluded as I was unabe to post.

    Then when I finally accessed it through a PC running IE7 my comments were rejected for no obvious reason and without explanation of any kind - certainly it did not break house rules.

    The level of censorship is now so severe that HYS offers a biased BBC view on any important topic.

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  • 7. At 5:56pm on 05 Jun 2009, lizzylite123 wrote:

    This comment was removed because the moderators found it broke the House Rules.

  • 8. At 09:56am on 06 Jun 2009, emtycee wrote:

    This comment was removed because the moderators found it broke the House Rules.

  • 9. At 3:34pm on 06 Jun 2009, someoneordinary wrote:

    This comment was removed because the moderators found it broke the House Rules.

  • 10. At 06:53am on 07 Jun 2009, meltonmark wrote:

    This comment was removed because the moderators found it broke the House Rules.

  • 11. At 09:03am on 07 Jun 2009, forensix wrote:

    This comment was removed because the moderators found it broke the House Rules.

  • 12. At 12:55pm on 07 Jun 2009, Disolutioned wrote:

    This comment was removed because the moderators found it broke the House Rules.

  • 13. At 2:20pm on 07 Jun 2009, quietoldinthetooth wrote:

    This comment was removed because the moderators found it broke the House Rules.

  • 14. At 3:55pm on 07 Jun 2009, ikamaskeip wrote:

    Just one Question for you Mr Wilson:

    If BBC cannot allow Public contributions and debate on EU/UK Politics on Election day how is it BBC manages to Publish Johnny Dymond's EU Tour guide including his personally very positive comments on how good the EU is???

    It seems there's one rule for the UK Citizens and an entirely different one for the BBC, so long as it is pro-EU!

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  • 15. At 7:40pm on 07 Jun 2009, lordBeddGelert wrote:

    This comment was removed because the moderators found it broke the House Rules.

  • 16. At 7:43pm on 07 Jun 2009, lordBeddGelert wrote:

    ikamaskeip

    How right you are, I saw a similarly ra-ra-ra film by someone from BBC South West [I think] with absolutely no 'sceptical enquiry' or independent viewpoint.

    What disgusts me more, is that it is not even explicable by the BBC wanting to give an alternative viewpoint to the right-wing media by being a bit lefty, since people like Tony Benn are anti-EU.

    It is the fact that the EU is anti-democratic we detest - why can't the BBC be far more inquiring of their motives ??

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  • 17. At 00:46am on 08 Jun 2009, 20vincent wrote:

    This comment was removed because the moderators found it broke the House Rules.

  • 18. At 07:40am on 08 Jun 2009, ObsoleteExocet wrote:

    #14,#16

    I agree that the BBC seem unable to maintain a "neutral" perspective on EU matters. Peter Hain MP, on radio late last night kept on about the poor election results being an "anti-expenses" rebellion, not even challenged about the failure to hold a referendum on the Lisbon Constitution, and systemic failure of democracy via EU Directives.

    It is also worth noting that the Representation of the Peoples Act is not clear about media balance when it comes to "public comments" rather than those made by candidates or their parties. Isn't a report such as "it has been very quiet here" outside a Polling Station just as "sensitive" as someone posting on here "I am not going to vote"?

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  • 19. At 11:33am on 08 Jun 2009, CJBOREHL wrote:

    This comment was removed because the moderators found it broke the House Rules.

  • 20. At 11:57am on 08 Jun 2009, dotconnect wrote:

    This comment was removed because the moderators found it broke the House Rules.

  • 21. At 5:35pm on 08 Jun 2009, UKIPNorthfield wrote:

    This comment was removed because the moderators found it broke the House Rules.

  • 22. At 6:01pm on 08 Jun 2009, ObsoleteExocet wrote:

    This comment was removed because the moderators found it broke the House Rules.

  • 23. At 6:31pm on 08 Jun 2009, SEGALB wrote:

    This comment was removed because the moderators found it broke the House Rules.

  • 24. At 11:08pm on 08 Jun 2009, Alexandralivia wrote:

    There is one comment i would like to add regarding your article "In pictures: EU elections quiz" and the pictures you chose to use for describing the electoral outfit of various countries inhabitants. Im wondering, do you( the author of the article) happen to know how the romanian traditional costume looks like? If not I could help you out with this by sending you pictures and movies or recommend you some sites you could visit on internet. Or maybe there is something personal you have with the people living in this country... but its hard for me to believe that when im thinking that you are a respectable journalist working for the BBC UK and one of your most precious qualities should be based on the impartially point of view.
    So, yes. Im upset..Im upset because you've never came here to see how does a transilvanian costume looks like, because you've never visit the bucovinian churches and never met the romanian people living in this country, im upset because you've never listened to the music of George Enescu or Gheorghe Zamfir and never seen Nadia Comaneci perfoming at the Olympics and most of all im upset because you take the picture of the poorest gipsy woman in the smallest village in Romania and use as an emblem for the romanian people. In the end... its just something you cant do as a journalist because its just like you wouldnt be capable to realize that even for the british emblem there are some faces who could represent very well your nation nowadays, the indians and pakistani.

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  • 25. At 05:23am on 09 Jun 2009, Wherewhich wrote:

    #24

    I cannot answer for the BBC journalist concerned, nor those responsible for the page containing the article you refer to, but I can assure you that I have listened to the infectious rhythms of George Enescu's wonderful music and watched and marvelled at Nadia Comaneci performing in European, World, and Olympic championships, courtesy of the BBC.

    However on your main point I do believe that our media, including the BBC, tend to use lowest common denominators when expressing views about many things including descriptions of some of our European colleagues. This patronage is not limited to those outside the UK; the UK media is often guilty of doing the same to its own citizens. I hope your comments will lead to the BBC showing us a much more accurate picture of Romanian life.

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  • 26. At 10:45am on 09 Jun 2009, emtycee wrote:

    This comment was removed because the moderators found it broke the House Rules.

  • 27. At 10:58am on 09 Jun 2009, impassive wrote:

    So I see HYS is back in a to normal - though we still have no idea of
    the problems.

    And by normal, I mean normal; extraordinary moderation decisions,
    extraordinary moderation delays and despite a plethora of excellent suggestions, very little sign that any of them will be taken up.

    You, like the government, need to do better.

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  • 28. At 11:19am on 09 Jun 2009, WebNewsReader wrote:

    This comment was removed because the moderators found it broke the House Rules.

  • 29. At 9:34pm on 09 Jun 2009, Wherewhich wrote:

    Given the supposed amount of time and effort devoted to identifying and correcting HYS problems it does seem a little strange that you are still doing the same things as before. Was there a fault or was the "breakdown" a convenient way of avoiding having to release sensitive information via a FOI request?

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  • 30. At 10:07pm on 09 Jun 2009, pongabit wrote:

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  • 31. At 11:33am on 10 Jun 2009, ThePoliticalGuru wrote:

    This comment was removed because the moderators found it broke the House Rules.

  • 32. At 10:24pm on 10 Jun 2009, pongabit wrote:

    This comment was removed because the moderators found it broke the House Rules.

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