Kumaratunga rapped for misusing govt media

Kumaratunga rapped for misusing govt media
AGENCE FRANCE PRESSE

Colombo, Oct 9: Three independent media watchdogs slammed Sri Lankan President Chandrika Kumaratunga's Government on Monday on the eve of national elections for misusing state-run media to smear and undermine the opposition.

The Centre for Policy Alternatives and Inform, both Sri Lankan bodies, and the London-based Article 19 said in a joint statement that Kumaratunga's People's Alliance (PA) was "advancing the opinions and candidates of the ruling party at the expense of balanced debate." The statement said: "There is a legal duty upon the public-funded media to present unbiased and impartial news," pointing out that this was clearly stated in two Sri Lankan laws.

The government-controlled Daily News on Monday published a front-page story predicting a 57.1 per cent victory for the PA in the 225-seat federal parliament in elections Tuesday. It was based on a survey conducted by a hitherto unknown organisation called the Sri Lanka Data Services, which claimed to have interviewed people in 19 of the country's 22 districts between September 24 and 30.

The daily said Data Services had worked on the project with an unspecified "reputed UK firm of public opinion survey." Independent experts, on the other hand, predict a fractured vote leading to a hung parliament. The three media watchdogs on Monday said the PA had misused state media to make allegations against the United National Party (UNP) led by Ranil Wickremesinghe.

Kumaratunga had accused Wickremesinghe of excesses, of threatening the safety of her two children as well as corruption. She claimed he had concluded a clandestine deal with Tamil Tiger separatist rebels based in North and eastern Sri Lanka, who have been fighting a bloody war that has claimed more than 60,000 lives over 20 years.

Kumaratunga alleged that the UNP had promised to give the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) rebel group administrative control over the North and East. While Kumaratunga's comments figured widely in reports by the state-run media, UNP leader Wickeremesinghe's denial of the supposed deal and his challenge to Kumaratunga for a television debate on the issue was downplayed.

The three media monitors said: "The need for impartiality is especially strong during an election, when voters depend on receiving full and accurate information in order to cast their ballots." They slammed the "unhealthy culture of secrecy, rumour and unsubstantiated allegations" in the government media resulting in "poor quality debate and news." The statement exhorted the state-controlled media such as Daily News

, Sri Lanka Broadcasting Corporation, Sri Lanka Rupavahini Corporation and Independent Television Network to play fair. "We expect that the media will now respect the end of political campaigning and restrict their coverage of politicians and election-related events accordingly," it said.

Another contentious issue which received biased media coverage according to the three groups was the ruling party's complaint about the chief election commissioner Dayanda Dissanayake to the human rights commission. The PA said the commissioner's attempt to prevent electoral malpractice and vote-rigging somehow violated the rights of a ruling party candidate.

The case was withdrawn amid mounting public criticism and remarks by European Election monitors that they fully supported the commissioner's bid to ensure a free and fair election.