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Polls Chief warns state media

Heads reprimanded by Ministry
By Santhush Fernando
The heads of state media institutions have been warned by Information and Telecommunication Ministry Secretary Tilak Ranaviraja to refrain from misusing letterheads of the Ministry.

The warning came after it was revealed that the heads of the state media institutions had written to the Commissioner of Elections using a Ministry letterhead without approval of the Ministry Secretary.

Mr. Ranaviraja told The Sunday Times that no formal inquiry was held into the issue, but he had told them not to make use of the Ministry letterheads without his permission.

He said the state electronic media bosses had acted in that manner "due to lack of knowledge".

Sri Lanka Rupavahini Corporation Chief Harim Peirs, ITN Chairman Newton Gunaratne, SLBC chairman Hudson Samarasinghe and Lake House Chairman Kesaralal Gunasekara had written the letter to the Elections Commissioner last week regarding state media coverage of the election campaign.

Elections Commissioner Dayananda Dissanayake has warned state media heads that a Competent Authority could be appointed to manage the state-run Broadcasting Corporation and Rupavahini corporation in the event of violation of guidelines he issued this week.

The Commissioner, acting under the powers vested in him under the 17th Amendment to the Constitution, issued these guidelines. But Mr. Dissanayake on Thursday told a news conference that he had no powers to ensure that his guidelines would be adhered to.

Sri Lanka Broadcasting Corporation Chairman Hudson Samarasinghe confirmed last night that he had received these instructions from the Elections Commissioner.

Under the 17th Amendment, the Commissioner is empowered to take over the management of the Broadcasting Corporation and the Rupavahini Corporation in respect of all political broadcasts or any other broadcast, which impugn on the election.

The Commissioner of Elections has called on all radio and television broadcasters to refrain from broadcasting any programme likely to be construed as biased and partisan towards any particular political party, independent group or candidate contesting the election.

The guidelines come in the wake of a constant battle between the main political parties over the state media and the private owned media election coverage.

The SLFP yesterday complained to Media Minister Lakshman Kadirgamar that the private media were biased towards the UNP and were a tightly controlled family business with close connections to the UNP and its leader Ranil Wickremesinghe.

SLFP spokesman Mangala Samaraweera was responding to a complaint lodged by UNP General Secretary Senarath Kapukotuwa to Minister Kadirgamar expressing concern about the bias on the part of the state media.

Mr. Samaraweera said that when the UNP was in charge of the state media, the President was "essentially blacked out of the media, there was little or no real media debate on public issues and the news and views of the political opposition were virtually non existent".

"It is also pertinent to bear in mind that the private media in Sri Lanka are a cartel of closely held and tightly controlled family business, all with close connections to the UNP and its leader," the letter said.

The SLFP letter said that the Wijeya Newspaper Group, TNL Radio and TV Station, MTV and Sirasa Media Group and the Leader Publication were all connected to the Prime Minister or the UNP. The UNP General Secretary has sought an appointment with Mr. Kadirgamar to discuss the issue of state media being biased.

The Polls chief in a statement has also called the chairmen of SLBC and SLRC to adhere to the guidelines regarding political broadcasts. He said, " the electronic media, specially the Government-owned must be particularly scrupulous in complying with their obligations to provide accurate , balanced and impartial information in their reporting news and current affairs".

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