"Grjótkast úr steinhúsi"

Fyrst að Gunnar Bragi er að vekja máls á þessu væri ekki úr vegi að benda á samantekin ráð fjórflokksins að útiloka ný framboð frá umfjöllun í aðdraganda alþingiskosninganna 2009. Það er gerð grein fyrir þessu í skýrslu Öryggis- og samvinnustofnunar Evrópu (ÖSE) á bls. 15, en þar segir:

At its own initiative RUV offered all seven competing political organizations a 10 minute slot of free airtime on public television on condition that the majority of them agreed. Free airtime had been given in previous elections, without such a condition. For the 2009 elections, four of the seven competing political organizations (all four of which were established parliamentary parties) declined the offer on the grounds that high production costs outweighed the possible benefit, and RUV withdrew the offer. The decision by RUV to decide the issue by majority interest was strongly criticized by the two newly formed political organizations, the CM [Borgarahreyfingin] and DM [Lýðræðishreyfingin].

In practice, RUV’s majority approach to the issue of free airtime denied the smaller parties a potential means of expressing their views to voters, based on a decision by the larger parties. Although the allocation of free airtime is not compulsory, it is a practice in many OSCE participating States that public broadcasters offer free airtime to parties competing in elections. Free airtime especially allows smaller competitors, with limited resources, an opportunity to address the electorate.

The provision of free airtime could be addressed in legislation in order to ensure consistent practice in each election.

Eitthvað hlýtur að vera bogið við það þegar ríkisstyrktir stjórnmálaflokkar taka sig saman um að hafna ókeypis sjónvarpstíma til þess eins að útiloka fjárvana ný framboð frá því að nýta sér slíkt tilboð.

Gunnar Bragi: Ósáttur við RÚV