A source within High Elections Committee (HEC) tasked with following-up of media performance during elections, told Al-Bawaba News Sunday that the committee decided to monitor a number of satellite TV channels owned by businessmen. The source who spoke to Al-Bawaba on condition of anonymity, said that these TV channels include ON TV, Sada El Balad, Al Hayat, CBC and Ten. The committee will start evaluating the media performance of all TV channels and newspapers, as soon as candidates running for the upcoming parliamentary elections are allowed to submit their required papers to the committee, in a date that will be announced by the committee, the source explained. Also, the source added that there will be no lenience in dealing with the violations of those TV channels and if they persist on committing violations, after receiving warnings from the committee, the committee will recommend their closure, until the end of the electoral process. Head of monitoring and following-up of media performance committee, Hassan Imad Makkawi, said in a statement to Al-Bawaba that the committee has identified a general charter and sent it to the TV channels and radio stations, which includes points considered to be violations, in an attempt to stop potential violations. Makkawi stressed that the use of religious discourse in electoral propaganda, libel, defamation or increasing expenditure on the election campaign other than the sum set by the election laws, are considered to be violations of the identified general charter issued by the committee. He pointed out that the tasks of monitoring and following-up on television and radio programs will be distributed on all 22 committee members.
