Commission issues report on Broadcast Content and Complaints during Presidential Election 2013 and Threat Analysis Report

April 30, 2014

Maldives Broadcasting Commission issues report on Broadcast Content and Complaints during first round of Presidential Election 2013 & the Threat Analysis Report.

These two reports prepared by the Commission were released by President of the Commission Mohamed Shahyb at a press event held today.

Report on Broadcast Content and Complaints during the first round of the Presidential Election 2013 was formulated by the Commission based on the data collected from monitoring the prime time (20:00 to 23:00hrs) of 10 TV stations from the dates of 7 August to 6 September 2013.

Content of Public Service Broadcaster’s channel TVM and that of Commercial Stations inclusive of Raaje TV, DhiTV, VTV, DhiFMplus, SunTVplus, Channel13, Channel1, Jazeera TV and Yell TV’s prime time were monitored and the report is based on data collected and statistics generated for these channels.

Monitoring of the prime time content was carried out by the assigned staff of the Broadcasting Commission. The subjects monitored were Government/President, Elections Commission and the Presidential Candidates of 2013. This prime time content monitoring was further segmented into News, Programs and Fillers. The content monitors observed and noted if the coverage given to the subjects were brought in a positive, negative or neutral tone and also the time assigned for the coverage of each subject.

In addition to the statistics generated from monitoring prime time content of TV channels, the report also includes election related broadcast complaints received by the Broadcasting Commission during the first round of presidential elections 2013 and the decisions made by the Commission.

The second report issued by the Commission today was the Threat Analysis Report. The aim of formulating a Threat Analysis Report is to identify the threats and challenges to free media in Maldives and understand the causes which pose such threats and to make recommendations on ways to eliminate these threats and build a conducive environment for broadcasters thus sustaining the freedom of media enshrined in the Constitution.

Presentations to Media on Election Coverage Report and Threat Analysis Report were made by Director Aishath Shaheen and Public Relations Coordinator Eyman Anwar respectively.

The ceremony concluded with the Commission answering questions raised by the media and President Mohamed Shahyb conveying greeting to media and journalists on World Press Freedom Day 2014.