By Aminata Phidelia Allie
Chairman of the
opposition SLPP party, John Oponjo Benjamin, has said that his party
is going to suspend its participation from all programmes produced
and aired on the Sierra Leone Broadcasting Corporation (SLBC) until
“further notice”. He made the announcement yesterday at a press
conference in Freetown.
According to a
press release issued by the party, the SLBC is using partisans from
the ruling All People's Congress party to consistently host
programmes that are supportive of the party, much to the disadvantage
of the SLPP and other political parties.
It is also alleged
that even news analysts have been carefully chosen by the broadcaster
to reflect the editorial view of the SLBC which, they believe is
pro-APC.
Further
allegations are that the SLBC lacks the professional credibility to
provide fair and balanced coverage of the elections due to the
“unbridled partisan tendencies” of management staff and the
continued interference of State House in issues as mundane as who
reads the news or who hosts a programme.
It also alleges
that the party has received reports that news readers and programmers
have been encouraged by management to wear “red” on air in
support of the ruling party.
Director General
of SLBC, Elvis Gbanabom Hallowell has expressed surprise at the
allegations. He said that as far as could recall nobody from the SLPP
had either complained or written any formal letter to him. He told
Politico
that the reason for their existence was to meet the needs of the
people like those in the SLPP. He added that he did not not
understand what the SLPP meant by newscasters being encouraged to
wear red.
“We entertain
opinions from everybody. That is why we have analysts from all works
of life. We fulfil the people's desire, we don’t report APC” he
said. He however promised that the corporation's board would go back
to the SLBC election guidelines to see where they might have fallen
short and try as best as possible to iron out issues with the SLPP.
© Politico
11 October 2012
