Media Release
No. 01/19
New Airtime on Radio for Candidates of European Parliament Elections
In order for all candidates to have more opportunities to communicate their message to the electorate, the Broadcasting Authority, in accordance with Paragraph 1 of the Third Schedule to the Broadcasting Act, has taken the initiative, for the first time preceding an election, to authorise nationwide radio stations to provide airtime to European Parliament Election candidates by receiving their requests for paid advertisements of information meetings they would be organising.
This scheme starts on trial on 1st February 2019 and ends on 28th February 2019. After the first month, the Authority will consider the renewal of the scheme according to the situation. This scheme will function as per certain conditions of accountability and transparency which were communicated as a Directive to all nationwide radio stations.
In a comment, the Authority declared that “If the scheme works well, with everyone’s cooperation, there is a greater possibility that it would be renewed for the following months. Abuse and strategic manoeuvring, amongst other things, that undermine the scope and spirit of this initiative, certainly do not help”.
Interested candidates should communicate directly with the station or stations where they wish to promote their information meetings. Details of the scheme are also publicly available on the Broadcasting Authority’s website.
28th January 2019