Quality programmes as Rupavahini marks 31st anniversary

Ishara Mudugamuwa

The Sri Lanka Rupavahini Corporation (SLRC) will celebrate its 31st anniversary today.

SLRC chairman Mohan Samaranayake in an interview with the Daily News said SLRC was gifted by Japan to provide educational, informative and entertainment programmes for Sri Lankan viewers.

"SLRC, since its establishment in 1982 has built a strong relationship with its viewers islandwide providing programmes keeping the national identity. As the national television network of Sri Lanka, SLRC is dedicated to provide the best possible programmes to its viewers," Samaranayake who is also the Presidential Media Spokesman said.

He said all programmes telecast over SLRC can be watched by all family members together. "I am shocked to see some programmes on some television channels. They try to attract viewers by screening half naked pictures and programmes that provoke sexual feelings. These harm the society, especially the younger generation," Samaranayake said. He said most television channels aim only at commercial benefits and do not consider the quality of programmes.

"Media usage and the thinking of Rupavahini is completely different from other channels. Our vision is to become a communication tool to build a great community. Some criticise that Rupavahini only screens government - friendly programmes. As the chairman, I don't agree. The telecasting time of Rupavahini is 22 hours and we allocate only two hours for political programmes. As a government institution, established by a Parliament Act, it is our duty to highlight the government's development activities. We also provide an opportunity for the opposition to express its views," Samaranayake said. He said there is no fully independent media in the world. "A fully independent media can only be found in Kethumathi state. As mentioned in Buddhist literature, Kethumathi state is filled with all resources," the chairman said.

He said Rupavahini, unlike other channels, allocates a lot of time for educational programmes.

"We spend Rs 60 million for educational programmes. The Rupavahini business community has a good understanding about the quality of our programmes. We never sell our audience to the advertisers. But Rupavahini has its business network. We earn profits. Though Rupavahini is a government owned institution, we never depend on government funds," Samaranayake said.

He said several changes had been made in Rupavahini programmes.

"With the introduction of programmes like Sujatha Diyaniya, Rupavahini is attracting more viewers, especially the young crowd. People made baseless allegations against these programmes. As a national television network, we should provide literary work to our viewers. We produce our own programmes to our viewers. It is not easy to produce our own teledramas but we do it for our viewers. We hope to provide a number of programmes for our viewers with the anniversary celebrations," the chairman said. He said there are complaints from viewers about the coverage and plans have been made to modernise the transmission system and expand studio and transmission facilities.