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Public seminar on Wednesday
Press Complaints Commission to be launched next month
The newly formed Press Complaints Commission of Sri Lanka will hold a public seminar next Wednesday (September 17) on the new revolutionary concept of self-regulation that is to be introduced within the newspaper industry here shortly.
The seminar will be held at Sausiripaya starting at 4.30 p.m. and will have Mr. Ian Beales, a senior consultant to the UK Press Complaints Commission give the keynote address.

Others billed to speak are Mr. Ranjit Wijewardene, Chairman of the Press Complaints Commission, Mr. Sam Wijesinha, the Chairman of the Council of the PCC which will hear and decide on complaints made by the public against the press and Mr. U.L. Kadurugamuwa, senior partner of F.J.& G. De Saram, attorneys-at-law who will speak on the legal aspects of the arbitration procedures of the Commission.

A one-hour period has been set aside for questions and discussion. The PCC has been set up by the Newspaper (Publishers) Society, the Editors Guild and the Free Media Movement following a five year campaign calling for self-regulatory mechanism to police the press in place of archaic libel laws that suppressed press freedom.

The initial call for these measures came in what was known as the Colombo Declaration on Press Freedom and Social Responsibility in April 1998, to which these three media associations were signatories. The government repealed the laws of criminal defamation in June last year as a first step towards permitting the press to experiment with self-regulation through a non-government Press Complaints Commission.

The 11-member Council that will hear disputes from the public comprise Mr. Sam Wijesinha, former Secretary General of Parliament and former Ombudsman as Chairman.

The five non-press members are, Mr. Devanesan Nesiah, former Chairman of the Public Service Commission and former GA, Jaffna, Mr. Javid Yusuf, former Ambassador to Saudi Arabia and former Principal, Zahira College, Mr. Dharmasiri Bandaranayake, film director, Ms. Swarna Jayaweera, former lecturer University of Colombo and Mr. Lucille Wijewardene, chartered accountant; while the five press representatives are Mr. Siri Ranasinghe, president of the Editors Guild and editor, Lankadeepa, Mr. Dion Schoorman former senior representative of Reuters (Sri Lanka), Ms. Mallika Wanigasundera, free lance journalist, Mr. P. Balasingham deputy editor, Daily News and Mr. G.S. Perera a former member of the Press Council. The PCC is expected to begin entertaining public complaints from October 15.

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