laws with regard to personal privacy, official secrets, and media disclosure of names and facts from criminal cases and civil lawsuits differ widely, and journalistic standards may vary accordingly. different organizations may have different answers to questions about when it is journalistically acceptable to skirt, circumvent, or even break these regulations. another example of differences surrounding harm reduction is the reporting of preliminary election results. in the united states, some news organizations feel that it is harmful to the democratic process to report exit poll results or preliminary returns while voting is still open. such reports may influence people who vote later in the day, or who are in western time zones, in their decisions about how and whether or not to vote. there is also some concern that such preliminary results are often inaccurate and may be misleading to the public. other outlets feel that this information is a vital part of the transparency of the election process, and see no harm (if not considerable benefit) in reporting it.