Elections Commissioner Dayananda Dissanayake has declared that coverage given to the President and the Prime Minister should be treated as coverage given for the political party to which they belong and therefore others contesting the presidential poll should be given equal coverage.

Dayananda Dissanayake

His 21-point media guideline, issued after nominations for the polls were received on Thursday, applied to newspapers, television and radio, though most are directed at the electronic media.

The guidelines say coverage of news conferences called by the President, Prime Minister, Ministers and members of the ruling party and public statements made by them regarding political controversies shall be subject to a right of reply with equal time for political parties opposing them.

The electronic media have been asked to act fairly in selecting participants for panel discussions while in phone-in programmes, fair opportunities should be given to all callers irrespective of the content of their questions and contributions.

The guidelines also state that an employee or member of the board of a broadcasting, telecasting or newspaper institution, publicly identified as holding an office in a political party, should withdraw from journalistic function until the election is concluded and not be permitted to function in a journalistic capacity by the management.

The media have also been asked to stop programmes or reports where one candidate promotes the candidature of another. The guidelines also deal with the publication of opinion polls. The Elections Commissioner says that if results of such a poll are made public, the media concerned should identify the organisation that conducted the poll, the organisation or person who commissioned and paid for it, the methodology employed, the sample size, the margin of error and the fieldwork data.

In addition the broadcaster or publisher should state that the poll reflects public opinion only at the time when the poll was taken. The Elections Commissioner has also urged media organisations to voluntarily refrain from holding discussions, debates or carrying advertisements related to the election at least 48 hours before the poll to enable voters to decide on an informed choice.