As the various political parties and their candidates crisscross the country in the run-up to Election 2000, the vexing issue of access to the state-owned media has come into sharp focus once again, with the competing political parties making claims and counterclaims of partisan bias on the part of the state media. On more than one occasion this year, incumbent party politicians have accused their rivals of trying to intimidate  the state-owned media into slanting their coverage and reporting in a manner favorable to the opposition parties. On their part, the opposition parties see the state-owned media as still very much in the grips of a governing party that seems determined to use every conceivable public resource at its disposal for exclusive partisan gain.