Shujan urges EC to revoke election coverage guidelines for journalists

Citizen's rights platform Shushashoner Jonno Nagorik (Shujan) has urged the Election Commission (EC) for revoking the election coverage guidelines for journalists.

"We believe that the guidelines issued by the Elections Commission will create obstacles for journalists in gathering information regarding the election," said Shujan in a statement on Sunday (30 April).

"The guidelines were issued without any consultation with journalists, undermining their democratic rights to participate in the decision-making process," the statement added.

Earlier on 12 April, the Election Commission issued various guidelines for the media personnel responsible for covering the elections.

In view of the protest of various journalists and civic organisations, the Election Commission assured that initiatives will be taken to amend the guidelines.

But no initiative has been taken in the last two weeks to amend or cancel the policies.

"The commission claimed that it issued the guidelines to assist journalists, but these will only hold them back.

"We are shocked by the provision of the commission banning the use of motorcycles by journalists while gathering news," the notice said.

"As a result of this ban, many journalists will not be able to go to polling stations in remote areas to collect and spread news."

The guidelines also include a provision that journalists cannot stay in the polling booth for more than 10 minutes, and cannot broadcast directly from there either.

"We believe these will bar journalists from fulfilling their professional responsibility of presenting accurate election information to the public," it said.

A week before the 11th National Assembly elections held on 30 December 2018, one such directive was issued to journalists. By comparison, Shujan believes that the 2023 guidelines have tightened the restrictions compared to the 2018 directives.

"Although the Election Commission has repeatedly assured us of fair elections, we do not quite understand how this can be possible by holding journalists back from gathering information freely."

Urging the commission to immediately cancel the guidelines, Shujan called for taking the initiative to formulate an up-to-date policy by discussing with journalists and stakeholders.