SL Election Media Monitoring Report.Pub

Report of the Election Media Monitoring Team Sri Lankan Parliamentary Elections December 2000 REPORT OF MEDIA MONITORING TEAM OF CPU IN SRI LANKA DURING ELECTIONS IN OCTOBER 2000 he Commonwealth Press Union put together and sent a five-person team to T Sri Lanka for nearly three weeks to observe the conduct of the print media during the last parliamentary elections held there in October 2000. The members of the delegation were drawn from five different Commonwealth countries - Uganda, India, Malaysia, Zimbabwe and the United Kingdom, bringing a wealth of professional experience and insights to the assignment. The CPU was partnered in this unique and pioneering initiative by the Editors Guild of Sri Lanka, an independent body comprising of the island’s leading editors. Without their co-operation and acquiescence, this assignment could not have succeeded. Mention must also be made of the co-operation given by the Sri Lanka government in general and its information department and the diplomatic missions in particular. At no stage was there the slightest hesitation in giving information or indeed facilitating the task of this mission. The government had already opened its doors to various observer missions, including from the European Union and the Commonwealth and the media monitoring team was accorded the status of visit- ing media-men, with all the rights and privileges therein. Right from the beginning the office of the competent authority responded to every request with alacrity and without this assistance, the monitoring team’s task would have become difficult. OBJECTIVE & METHODOLOGY he objective was very clear and focused: to observe how the print media, T both government-controlled and independent, covered various aspects of the election campaign. The terms of reference for the mission stated the its job was: ¾ To assess the newspaper coverage of the election campaign ¾ To assess the professionalism of the coverage ¾ To assess whether the coverage is sufficiently informed thus allowing the elec- torate to make a fully informed decision on who to vote for ¾ To monitor and document fully incidents of harassment, coercion or intimi- daion of journalists and publishing houses the government of the day. The pa- ¾ To assess whether the independent pers from this stable are among the media reflects a genuinely bal- highest circulating publications in the anced view of candidates, mem- country. bers, parties and policies Upali - a leading privately owned ¾ To assess whether the State-owned publishing house which publishes the press reflects a reasonable cover- only other major English daily, The age of non-PA candidates, mem- Island as well as a Sinhala paper. bers, parties and policies Wijeya - this group owns the most The mission was very clear that it well regarded Sunday English paper, would not in any way get involved in The Sunday Times, as well as the the actual coverage of the campaign- highly respected Sinhala daily Lanka- ing. The idea was to observe and deepa, apart from an English morn- monitor, not influence. To the very inger Mirror, which has only recently end, there was no diversion from that turned from being a tabloid to a tenet; this needs to be seen in the broadsheet. context of the fact that all the monitors spent over two weeks closely In addition, one monitor was attached working with journalists from various to the Sunday Leader, which, though newspaper groups, in and outside the only six years old, has emerged as a newsroom. high-profile English weekly, not the least because of the stories it has bro- As there was no precedent for this ken and its well-publicised battles kind of initiative, the group had to with the government. The monitors chart out its own course and method- also spent time with other papers, no- ology. tably with the Virakesri group, pub- lishers of the leading Tamil daily of Each of the four monitors, barring the same name and which also has an the team leader, who co-ordinated the English weekend paper, the Weekend entire effort, was attached to one of Express. The monitors also routinely the three major newspaper groups, met journalists and editors from other with some given the additional re- papers such as Ravaya, a well- sponsibility of working with other, respected Sinhala weekly and Thiru- smaller publications. kural, a relatively new Tamil paper, as The three major groups are:- well as other publications. Associated Newspapers Limited All the major groups have English as (popularly called Lake House) - the well as non-English - Sinhala or Tamil state-controlled newspaper group or both - newspapers in their stable. which was nationalised in 1973 and To monitor the non-English publica- still continues to be in the hands of tions, we set up a three-pronged sys- tem to get the best possible analysis: two translators (neither of them be- operative and allowed us free access ing journalists) were hired, a regular to each and every department and newspaper translation service was en- editor, allowing us to liase freely with gaged and there was close co- the staff. ordination with independent individu- als as well as with prominent NGOs Each team member gave a weekly re- involved in media monitoring, such as port of their observations and experi- INFORM and Centre for Policy Al- ence and the team held one, some- ternatives.. times two daily meetings to discuss the day ahead and to take stock of the The four monitors, who began their day gone by. task immediately after arriving in Sri Lanka around the 24th of September, FINDINGS were rotated after the first week, to ensure objectivity as well as to get Though naturally there are many dif- more than one point of view. ferences between each newspaper’s structure and approach and the way They attended office each day at their they covered the elections, there are respective newspapers, attending some general comments which can be meetings and editorial conferences made about the Sri Lankan print me- (which are not the norm in Sri dia: Lankan newspapers), going out on as- signments - in and out of Colombo - • Newspapers are by and large and interacting with reporters, sub- poorly staffed, with less than editors and senior staff. optimum number of journalists and even fewer trained A monitor could not be sent in the journalists beginning to Associated newspapers, or Lake House as it is popularly • There are serious infrastruc- known, which is government- tural problems and constraints managed and which controls some of in most newspapers - low the largest circulating publications in budgets, lack of computers etc. the country. This was mainly because and this shows up in the over- some of the group’s editors are not all quality of the newspapers members of the Guild and also because the Lake House management • Journalists are paid badly and told us it had not been informed for- therefore it is not a very attrac- mally by the Guild about this mission tive choice as a profession. and what was expected of them and Bright young graduates tend to hence would not be any position to go into other professions, or if participate. they do become journalists, leave after a few years. This was done the week after and after that, the group was very co- In terms of coverage, these weak- accused in an incident of firing on a nesses reflect in the poor quality of convoy of opposition candidates, was writing and reporting in papers, played down by government newspa- though many Sri Lankans point out pers and when the three accused were that non-English papers are closer to produced in front of a magistrate, their readership and often do have Lake House’s Sinhala daily Dinamina professionally competent writing and simply blanked out the news. reportage. State owned papers would carry sto- But, the one strongly observed aspect ries that showed the ruling dispensa- of the Sri Lankan media, one that be- tion in a flattering light and run down comes apparent even to the casual the main opposition parties, often in reader, is the strong polarisation of language laced with invective. views which in turn leads to partisan and one-sided reporting. This goes A sample headline for a lead story beyond mere editorial stance or point about an opposition candidate, a den- of view, and spills over from the edi- tist, who made allegations about the torial page into the news sections. President: “UNP dentist opens verbal Newspapers are strongly “anti-this” sewer.” Serious allegations were made or “pro-that”, and tend to equate per- against the leader of the opposition in sonalities with issues. Hence, an “anti- the state-owned media while his de- government” newspaper would not nial hardly found place anywhere. find anything redeemable not only in government policy but also in the If the government papers carried re- President personally and in her entire ports of speeches or statements of cabinet. opposition leaders at all, these were used almost always in the inside The polarisation is not limited to po- pages; the front pages were reserved litical views, though that is the most for proclamations by ruling party can- obvious divide, but also on ethnic is- didates, statements by ministers who sues. This reflects in coverage at all were also contesting, stories ridiculing times, but during the elections took the opposition and, occasionally, as- on a sharper hue. Selection and cover- tounding allegations by government age of stories therefore is dependant functionaries about leading opposi- on the editorial policy of the paper, tion figures, without even a single line and such bias, if it can be termed of rebuttal.

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