UN mission begins television broadcasts in East Timor
16 May --The United Nations Transitional Administration in East Timor (UNTAET) broadcast its first television programme today in the territory's capital, Dili.
The new UN television station, "Televisao UNTAET", aired a one-hour magazine show with features, interviews, news, entertainment and public service announcements. According to UNTAET, new broadcasts will be produced every week in Dili. Duplicates of the shows will be sent to the country's 13 districts.
Opening with a statement from the head of the UN mission, Sergio Vieira de Mello, the first broadcast included a feature on children returning to school, interviews with a university teacher and a kiosk vendor in Suai, a health segment on dengue fever and a public service announcement on how to approach the international civilian police for help.
In other media news, the National Consultative Council of East Timor (NCC), the country's main decision-making body, today reviewed the draft of a Broadcast Media Regulation. The new legislation proposed the establishment of an Independent Broadcasting Authority - an autonomous entity that would be independent of the Government and which would, in accordance with international broadcasting standards, formulate and implement broadcasting policy. The Regulation, which only covers radio and television, is not a regulation of the press, UNTAET said.
"It is not UNTAET's intention to regulate the media in general," Manoel de Almeida e Silva, the out-going Director of the Office of Communication and Public Information, told the NCC members. "The idea is that print media will operate freely, and be subject only to the general laws of the country."
As a public legal entity, the Authority would have the capacity to enter into contracts, and to institute legal proceedings. It would also enjoy operational and administrative autonomy from the Government and other agencies.
