The state media is being utilised in a very partisan manner to support the candidature of incumbant President Mahinda Rajapaksa for the forthcoming Presidential Elections on January 26. The state organisations are also guilty of a mud slinging campaign against opposition’s common candidate, General (rtd) Sarath Fonseka.

These sentiments were strongly expressed by members of the newly formed State and Independent Media Organisations Alliance (SIMOA) at a media briefing yesterday at the Sri Lanka Press Institute auditorium.

The representatives of the SIMOA includes those from Lake House, Sri Lanka Rupavahini Corporation (SLRC), Sri Lanka Broadcasting Corporation (SLBC), Independent Television Network (ITN), Free Media Movement and other media establishments.

They all condemned in unison regarding the non implementation of the decisions reached by the Supreme Court and Elections Commissioner, Dayananda Dissanayake, for impartial media coverage to all candidates at the forthcoming Presidential Election, which has been violated in toto by the managements of state media institutions.

Sanjeewa Samarasinghe (Lake House) disclosed the fact and figures of ANCL publications’ circulation which had dropped drastically, and the management’s decision not to charge for printing of advertisements, posters etc. in favour of President Rajapaksa.

"Lake House resources are used for the purpose. Twenty thousand posters were printed free of charge and transported in an army vehicle on Tuesday (January 19). Just because there was a letter favouring General Fonseka in the Dinamina of January 1, 19,200 newspapers were destroyed. A special 52-page supplement on President Rajapaksa was printed at a cost of Rs. 85,000, while the Silumina is to carry an eight page supplement with its issue on January 24 at a cost of Rs. 1,25,000. The bus service to Jaffna is a farce with ANCL paying Rs. 90,000 a day for the transport hire", said Samarasinghe.

H. K. Alagiyawanna (SLRC) said that the Media Ministry Secretary had visited the premises of Rupavahini and made order to disregard the decisions of the Supreme Court and Elections Commissioner. He said that there was a drop in revenue as well as viewers and that the banners the employees had displayed opposite Rupavahini were removed by last morning. A majority (nearly 95 per cent) of the employees are against the ad hoc decisions and behaviour on the part of the management.

Nimal Premasiri (SLBC) said that the SLBC has been highly politicised by its Chairman, Hudson Samarasinghe and also condemned SLBC being utilised for propaganda purposes for the re-election bid of President Rajapaksa. He also disclosed that certain SLBC employees are preparing to assault employees who are non supportive of the mud slinging campaign carried out by the management on directives of government politicians.