(FMM/IFEX) – The following is a 21 June 2004 FMM press release: European Union makes its media recommendations public and urges transformation of state-controlled media into public-service media On 17 June 2004, the European Union (EU) released its monitoring report on the April 2004 general election. While commending the conduct of the elections as free […]
(FMM/IFEX) – The following is a 21 June 2004 FMM press release:
European Union makes its media recommendations public and urges transformation of state-controlled media into public-service media
On 17 June 2004, the European Union (EU) released its monitoring report on the April 2004 general election. While commending the conduct of the elections as free and fair, except for a few incidents, the EU said that state media coverage of the election was biased towards the United People’s Front Alliance (UPFA), stating that “the state media displayed an evident bias in favour of the UPFA with regards to news and informative programmes, thus disregarding their duty to provide equitable and fair coverage of the election contestants. Particularly, state television (Rupavahini and ITN) dedicated 68% of their election coverage to the UPFA while only 22% to the UNP. In addition, the UPFA was generally covered in a very positive manner while a large part of the time devoted to the UNF was negative.”
The report went on to state four important recommendations for the fair coverage of elections and media in Sri Lanka:
– All media should draft and implement internal guidelines and codes of conduct for election coverage, particularly the state media.
– The role of the Press Complaints Commission should be reinforced in order to ensure an internal mechanism for regulation and complaints addressed against print media.
– The criteria for the appointment of state media management should be based on professional considerations rather than political reasons. The choice of state media management should be the result of an agreement between the government and the opposition.
– State electronic media should be transformed into genuine public services.
The FMM fully endorses these recommendations and calls upon the relevant authorities and state structures to enact and give life to them as soon as possible.
Sunanda Deshapriya
Spokesperson, FMM