Press briefing of Cabinet Decision taken on 2017-12-19

Guidelines to be adhered to by the Electronic or Printed Media during the period pertaining to a Referendum or an Election

- The Election Commission issues Media Guidelines to be adhered to by the electronic and printed media owners, social website owners and administrators during a period of election, with a view to maintaining the conducive environment required for conducting a free and fair election. It is the responsibility of all political parties / independent groups and political activists, observer organizations and civil organizations as well as all citizens to act in such manner to enable the media institutions to function in accordance with these guidelines.

The Gazette Extraordinary Notification No.2048/1 dated 2017-12-04 has been published specifying these media guidelines which includes publishing media reports impartially pertaining to elections, allocating air time without causing any injustice or providing any special benefit to any independent group or a candidate, providing sufficient opportunities to the party aggrieved or to any party presenting contrary views, to counter any matter broadcast, to present clarifications against such opinion and acting in terms of the media guidelines. As such, the proposal made by H.E. the President Maithripala Sirisena, to present the Gazette Extraordinary Notification in Parliament, for approval, was approved by the Cabinet.