S.L. 350.21 Art. 3

Televoting and Internet Polls 3.1. When reporting ring-in (also known as "televoting" or "phone-in") polls or internet polls (that is, those where readers are given a number or address to register a vote), it should be made clear that, as the results have been generated by self-selected respondents, and not by proper statistical sampling, they are not necessarily representative of the whole population. In reporting the results of such polls, expressions such as "most people" and "the public" should be avoided if likely to give a misleading opinion that the poll results are representative of public opinion.

3.2. These may accurately he called "straw polls" even when the subject is serious. Programmes which want to carry them out need to understand their severe limitations. They do not sample opinion: they are simply a programme device which illustrates certain viewpoints.

3.3. Phone-in polls must never be used by programmes as a means of gathering serious information on party political support. In other contexts, phone-in polls may produce interesting, even impressive results. But it must not be implied that those results have any wider significance.

3.4. Questions in phone-in polls should be as neutrally worded as the context calls for. Slanted questions give slanted results.