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Kadirgamar,
state media chiefs differ Mr. Kadirgamar told The Sunday Times he was unaware that the four state media heads had responded to a complaint made to the Elections Commissioner by UNP deputy leader and Minister Karu Jayasuriya about biased reporting by the state media nor was he aware that they had done so on his new ministry letterheads. The letter faxed to newspaper offices on Thursday from the office of the Chairman of the SLRC clearly contradicted Minister Kadirgamar's earlier guidelines on how the state media should conduct itself during an election campaign. However, Ministry Secretary Tilak Ranavirajah told The Sunday Times that the state media chiefs were given clearance to respond to the allegations made by Minister Jayasuriya "in an appropriate manner", but he was unaware that a Ministry letterhead had been used to write direct to the Elections Commissioner. In their letter to Elections Commissioner Dayananda Dissanayake, the four state media bosses had taken a different line to caretaker Minister Kadirgamar's call for "balanced reporting" in the state media during the election campaign, arguing that the private media were biased towards the UNF government, and therefore the state media should rectify the bias. In their letter issued on the letterhead of the new Ministry of Information and Telecommunication, the four media chiefs of Lake House, Rupavahini, ITN and the SLBC have said that the complaint by Minister Jayasuriya was "hollow and hypocritical". The letter came hardly 48 hours after PA Minister Kadirgamar issued what he called were guidelines for the state media to act impartially during the forthcoming election campaign. In his statement released to the press on Monday, Mr. Kadirgamar said the private media were owned by individuals and they could do as they please, but the state media were owned by the people, and therefore they "cannot be used by the government of the day as it pleases". The state media bosses said that as the private media were "increasingly biased" in favour of Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe" it becomes incumbent on the state media to not only ensure an internal balance of news and views within its own institutions, but also to ensure an overall balance of reportage and coverage in the media as a whole. The letter sent by the state media bosses, however, only included the signatures of Rupavahini Chairman Harim Peiris and SLBC Corporation Chairman Hudson Samarasinghe. Earlier in the week, Mr. Jayasuriya wrote to Minister Kadirgamar complaining of bias on the part of the State media. He later followed this up with a telephone call to Mr. Kadirgamar where the two ministers discussed common issues relating to election coverage. Mr. Kadirgamar said the letter had only been copied to him, and hence he had not formally replied the letter. |
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