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| Sunday, 6 November 2005 |
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Features |  |
| News Business Features Editorial
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Ranil's balancing act on media coverage Light Refractions by Lucien Rajakarunanayake There are new discoveries we make each day about Mr. Ranil Wickremesinghe, the UNP's presidential candidate. The latest is his sudden realisation that President Chandrika Kumaratunga is "someone who has a strong belief in democracy." He has forgotten all he said about her being a dictator, or running a one-woman show, at the time they were in political cohabitation from December 2001 to February 2004. The UNP posters that showed she was opposed to democracy; their protests about her exercising her right to prorogue parliament are all suddenly forgotten, when he seeks to exploit her commitment to democracy to get more coverage for his campaign in the State media. Balanced coverage Funny man this guy, apart from the asinine remarks he makes at election rallies, when he seeks balanced coverage in the State media for all the candidates in the Presidential Election. He has forgotten how he and his media advisors treated the then opposition led by his recently discovered democrat Chandrika Kumaratunga, when the UNP controlled the State media from December 2001 till November 3, 2003. There was hardly any space for the opposition, with his media advisors acting as if no opposition existed in the country. If the Prime Minister gets more coverage on state media than Mr. Wickremesinghe does, it is because of his office, with certain official functions to perform that can be newsworthy, apart from his election campaign. Regrettably, Mr. Wickremasinghe is not Prime Minister anymore and does not have as much opportunity to participate in such functions of state, the private sector or the community. In his letter to the President, he refers to providing balanced coverage for all candidates. This Presidential Election has 13 candidates. I would ask Mr. Wickremesinghe, with his upbringing in a media background his father was Managing Director of Lake House, of which his grandfather was Chairman, and Ranil Wickremasinghe still owns some shares at Lake House, how one can have balance in any media outlet for 13 candidates? This talk of balanced coverage is all tosh. It's an old fashioned catchword good for the chattering classes and cocktail circuit. Any intelligent journalist or media practitioner would know that there can be no balance with regard to candidates, but balance and fairness with regard to the newsworthiness of what one reports. Mr. Wickremasinghe says efforts to broadcast informercials of his, lasting 1 to 11/2 hours, on popular belts of Rupavahini and ITN are being blocked. He is obviously ignorant of the demand for time on the channels of these two TV stations; he also lacks understanding that the belt a programme is placed in depends on its newsworthiness, viewer interest and relevance to public debate. The fact that this is an editorial judgment left to the relevant stations is of no interest to him. That is the true democratic nature of the media. It does not come from getting directions from ministers in charge or proprietors. By their very nature an "infomercial" raises many questions. He must be aware of the quality and bias of the so-called "informercials" that the George W Bush campaign ran on TV against his Democrat rival at the last Presidential Election. As for TV viewer time, one cannot understand his whinging about this, when people today often watch TV even into the wee hours of the morning. Discovery Can anyone doubt that Mr. Wickremasinghe has in fact received far too much exposure on State TV for his campaign? If not, how do people know of his desire to usher in a new Perakum Era giving an entirely new meaning to Pasdun Korale as land filled by "Prince Parakramabahu" to help grow cinnamon and other commercial crops? State TV made the public fully aware of his policy to build the world's largest dagaba, when we already have at least two ancient dagabas that are the largest in the world. State TV gave much publicity to his wanting to make this country the centre of Theravada Buddhism, which it already is. Similarly, thanks to State TV the people discovered Ranil's knowledge about the first and second Sanghayanas of the Buddhist Order being held at Lumbini; a huge revelation to many. Recalling In fact the State media gives Mr. Wickremasinghe more coverage than needed, by recalling some of his speeches at the last general election, that cultivation of so much rice was useless and that paddy fields should be filled up and, profitable industries built on them. Mr. Wickremesighe's letter to the President, praising her democratic credentials, is another way of inviting the Elections Commissioner to impose censorship of the State media, particularly TV. In any event, with all the very favourable publicity he gets almost exclusively on all private TV channels, it is heartening to note his accepting the fact that: "The State media still control the attention of the vast majority of people in this island, despite a thriving private media." Wouldn't Mr. Wickremasinghe like to get a hold of this for his own
purposes if elected Executive President? |
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