Media Guidelines presented to P’ment

By Ashwin Hemmathagama – Our Lobby Correspondent

Media guidelines to be followed and the policies to be observed by the electronic and print media during referendums and elections published by the Election Commission in the Gazette Extraordinary No. 1955/19 of 25th February 2016 in terms of Article 104B (5)(a) of the Constitution was presented to the Parliament yesterday.

According to these guidelines all telecasting, broadcasting  and  print  media  are to  be  neutral  and  impartial  in  their  reporting  of  election related  matters  and  discrimination  against  any  contesting  political  party  /  independent  group  or  acandidate, in allocating airtime and allotting space in the newspapers is prohibited. The accuracy and the balance of information dissemination are also made mandatory.

Setting guidelines on columns the guidelines state: “editorial opinions may seem confused and biased and therefore, electronic media are urged not to broadcast/telecast such opinions. However, if such editorial opinion is broadcast/televised/published, the affected party should be given the opportunity to broadcast/telecast/publish material to counter such opinion. Program  presenters  and  announcers  of  television  and  radio  channels,  should  refrain  from  expressing personal  views  at  the  newspaper  desks  where  newspaper  headlines  and  cartoons  are  presented,  since  such views may promote one party with prejudice to another.

“It is the responsibility of the news and current affairs divisions of all electronic and print media institutions not  to  broadcast/televise/publish  any  program  or  supplement  which  are  not  advertisements  during  the election  period,  if  such  program/supplements/news  items  are  illegal  or  biased. If  any  material  is  broadcast/televised/published  covering  an  incident  or  an  event  with  comments  of  one candidate,  all  other  political  parties  that  have  an  interest  in  the  event  or  are  concerned,  or  are  likely  to  be affected,  should also be given opportunity to express their version on the same news item or program.”