The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) notes with concern that the campaign for Sri Lanka’s presidential election due to take place tomorrow has been marked by a high degree of harassment of media personnel and occasional acts of violence.

In the most recent instance of harassment, a busload of media personnel going to the venue of a meeting between opposition candidate Sarath Fonseka and former president Chandrika Kumaratunge was detained by police and questioned about the purpose of their trip. Permitted to proceed after questioning, the journalists were stopped again at another point and again put through a round of interrogation.

“The IFJ sees an effort here to prevent coverage of a key meeting, which resulted in the former president endorsing Fonseka’s candidacy,” IFJ General Secretary Aidan White said.

“This latest incident conforms to a broad pattern by which the authorities have sought to tilt the balance of electoral advantage through the use of state media and intimidation of independent media.”

The IFJ expressed concern recently over the skewed coverage of the campaign at the hands of state media, with incumbent President Mahinda Rajapakse favoured with an inordinately high proportion of media time and space.

Early in the campaign, a news crew from state-controlled broadcaster Sri Lanka Rupavahini Corporation (SLRC) was attacked at an opposition rally.

In later weeks, independent news reporters suffered injury and loss when violence broke out in the aftermath of election campaign events.

“We condemn all such acts of violence and regret that the authority of the independent election watchdog, which is empowered to oversee the fair allocation of time over state-owned broadcast channels, was flagrantly flouted,” White said.

For further information contact IFJ Asia-Pacific on +612 9333 0919

The IFJ represents over 600,000 journalists in 125 countries