Election campaigns in the media – legal considerations

Abstract

One of the most interesting social phenomena in the field of social communication, that is the emergence of the new media in the 21st century, has obviously been noted and used by election committees. The paper tries to analyze whether this phenomenon has been similarly noted and accounted for by Polish legislators. An impulse for these considerations was additionally provided by the Act of 5 January 2011 on the Election Code passed in 2011. This normative act has been adopted in the digital era but it virtually ignores the presence of the ‘new media’. While it is true that the interpretation of some regulations may be broadened to include them as well, this will likely generate numerous doubts and a sense of legal uncertainty. Given the transformations in the media market, the legal solutions adopted may soon turn out to be irrelevant to the main course of election campaigns.