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Include RTI and other freedoms in manifestos: Media groups tell main Presidential hopefuls
View(s):Eight key media organisations this week submitted their demands for a free and socially responsible media in Sri Lanka to the two main Presidential candidates, namely President Mahinda Rajapaksa and Maithripala Sirisena M.P. In a petition delivered to both of them, the media organisations representing print media publishers, editors of national newspapers, media and freedom of expression activists, working journalists and media workers trade unions have asked that their demands be included in the candidate’s respective manifestos and implemented if elected.
Among the demands are the enactment of a Right to Information (RTI) Act which will enable the citizens of Sri Lanka accessibility to official information. Agitation for the enactment of such a law has been ongoing in Sri Lanka since 1995 with RTI drafts being proposed variously by the Law Commission of Sri Lanka, The Editors’ Guild of Sri Lanka and the Free Media Movement and more recently by the Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission. A draft law was approved by the then Cabinet in 2004, a news release issued by the Sri Lanka Press Institute (SLPI) states.
The demands include the repeal of the Press Council Act of 1973 and the abolition of the Press Council which has a chilling effect on the media by having powers to send publishers and editors to prison, the release adds. The letter submitted to the two main Presidential candidates referred to a previous joint appeal made to the President and Gen. (Retd.) Sarath Fonseka, the two main Presidential candidates at the 2010 Presidential elections. It also referred to several media law reforms contained in the Colombo Declaration on Media Freedom and Social Responsibility 1998 (revised in 2008) which is the road map for a free and socially responsible media culture in Sri Lanka.
These demands from the Presidential candidates were endorsed by the Sri Lanka Working Journalists’ Association, the Free Media Movement, The Editors’ Guild of Sri Lanka, the Newspaper Society of Sri Lanka, the South Asia Free Media Association ( Sri Lanka Chapter ), Sri Lanka Tamil Media Alliance, the Sri Lanka Muslim Media Forum and the Federation of Media Employees Trade Unions.