Views on SLBC...

I feel compelled to respond to the media observations made by the EU Observer Mission and the Sierra Leone Broadcasting Corporation (SLBC).

I’ll start with the relevant sections of the SLBC Act… where it clearly states the duties and responsibilities of the public broadcasting corporation. Then, I’ll highlight the findings of the EU Observers Mission… Finally, let’s look at what the SLBC said in their press release.

PART III–FUNCTIONS OF CORPORATION

10. (1) The object for which the Corporation is established is to provide information, education, entertainment and reflect all shades of opinion throughout Sierra Leone.

(2) Without prejudice to the generality of subsection (1), the Corporation–

(c) shall allow and accept limited sponsorship for programmes and advertisement, except that no sponsorship shall be allowed for news programmes or accepted from political, ethnic or religious groups or institutions;

(o) shall provide appropriate coverage of the proceedings of key decision making bodies, including Parliament;

11. (1) In the discharge of its functions under section 9, the Corporation shall be guided by principles geared toward the development of free and educated opinion, the respect for the rule of law, human rights and with due regard to issues of public interest and fair play.

(2) Without prejudice to the generality of subsection (1), the discharge of its functions of the Corporation under section 9, shall be guided by –

(a) Sierra Leone’s constitutional guarantees of freedom of expression;

(b) the principles enshrined in the Media Code of Conduct adopted by Sierra Leone’s Independent Media Commission;

(c) promotion of fair competition based on internationally accepted principles for a public broadcaster, which include independent management, public servile ethos and representation of all viewpoints and sectors of society in a non-partisan and objective manner;

d) accountability to the public through an independent board, protected against interference of a political or economic nature, with editorial independence and adequately funded in a manner that protects it from arbitrary interference;

(e) transmission covering the whole country and politically balanced programmes .

From the EU Observers preliminary report – delivered at a press conference on Monday the 19^th, 2012.

The public broadcaster Sierra Leone Broadcasting Corporation (SLBC) gave access to all political parties on radio and to nine political parties on television. Contestants were granted two hours of free airtime to present their political proposals on the public TV channel during the campaign period – although only PMDC, UDM, SLPP, RUFP and PDP made use of it. SLBC national and regional radio stations also offered free airtime to political parties and local candidates to address their messages to voters. Nevertheless, in key areas like news bulletins and election related programmes SLBC showed significant quantitative unbalance in favour of the ruling party. EU EOM’s media monitoring findings show that, from 17 October to 15 November, SLBC TV allocated double the amount of airtime (40 per cent) to APC than to SLPP (18 per cent). On top of that, additional 21 per cent of airtime was devoted to APC led government activities, meaning that 61 per cent of all coverage was devoted to the governing party. On SLBC radio the unbalance was slightly lower, with APC receiving 40.5 per cent of total airtime on news and programmes and SLPP being afforded 23 per cent of the coverage. None of the remaining seven parties received more than 8.5 per cent of coverage either on SLBC Radio or on SLBC TV. The tone of the coverage on SLBC Radio was generally neutral, while 23 and 27.5 per cent of news on SLBC TV related to APC and the government, respectively, were presented in positive tone.

PRESS RELEASE
THE SIERRA LEONE BROADCASTING CORPORATION HAS DESCRIBED THE EUROPEAN UNION OBSERVATION MISSION’S STATEMENT ON SLBC’S COVERAGE OF POLITICAL PARTIES AS MISLEADING AND CONTRADICTORY.

Tuesday November 20, 2012

After careful reading of the European Union Observation Mission Preliminary Statement, the Sierra Leone Broadcasting Corporation (SLBC) has described the Mission’s statement on SLBC granting 60% airtime to the APC and 18% airtime to the main opposition party as misleading and contradictory. According to the EU Observation Mission, while the SLPP was allocated only 18% of airtime, the SLBC allocated 40% airtime to the APC and an additional 20% to the APC Government.
After a closed door meeting between the head of the EU Observation Mission and the SLBC Director-General at the Broadcasting House yesterday, the Director-General noted that it became apparent that the EU team had not digested the SLBC Act 2009 that gave mandate to the SLBC to always cover activities of parliament, the judiciary and the executive irrespective of whatever other activity is occurring.
“Were the EU Observation Team could argue that they had read the SLBC Act 2009,” the Director-General added, “the corporation then views the inclusion of SLBC’s coverage of government activities into their elections preliminary statement as misleading and contradictory, capable to undermine the valuable strides the corporation has made to represent the opinion of all categories of Sierra Leoneans. Was the EU Observation Mission expecting the SLBC to place a ban on the coverage of the activities of the executive, parliament and the judiciary?” The Director-General questioned.
The SLBC is also concerned that the Head of the EU Observation Mission only relied on the mission’s viewing of SLBC television to draw their conclusions. SLBC also noted that the EU Preliminary Statement did not show any enthusiasm in SLBC’s radio coverage of political parties, only once mentioning that “On SLBC Radio the unbalance was slightly lower, with APC receiving 40.5% of the total airtime on news and programmes and SLPP being afforded 23% of the coverage. None of the remaining parties received 8.5% of coverage either on radio or on SLBC TV.” The SLBC strongly challenges this assertion.
The SLBC is calling on the leadership of the EU Observation Mission to share its data and analyses with the corporation, as much as the corporation is willing to share its own data and analyses with the EU Observation Mission. As the Head of the EU Observation Mission stated in an SLBC interview after the Mission’s press conference, that the statement should be able to provide learning experience for the SLBC, the Director-General said SLBC will appreciate any documentation leading to the methodological bases that informed the EU Observation Mission’s findings.
Please find an SLBC block analyses of political parties’ appearances on the Sierra Leone Broadcasting cooperation Radio and Television medium, in/and programmes from 6th June to 15th November 2012. (A detailed Report to follow)

Sierra Leone Broadcasting Corporation Formed by an Act of Parliament 2009
Broadcasting House, Jomo Kenyatta Road
Freetown, Sierra Leone, West Africa
Tel: 232-76-410-623
elvishallowell@hotmail.com
www.slbc.sl