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PCC
stresses need for self-regulation Mr. Wijesinha, the former Ombudsman and Secretary General of Parliament who heads the 11-member Council that hears complaints from the reading public said that it was "unfortunate" some newspapers do not abide by the spirit of self-regulation and publishing the decisions of the Council in their relevant publications. Mr. Wijesinha was speaking at the news conference organised last Tuesday at the Sri Lanka Press Institute in connection with the release of the first annual report of the PCC Council. Speaking further, Mr. Wijesinha said that the press plays a pivotal role in the protection of democracy in any country and was the vehicle by which voters could be reached best. He said that the Sri Lanka press also played that important role. He said that in its first year, the Council faced several running problems, but the decisions of the Council were based on conciliation, compromise and consensus rather than in an adversarial approach. " Looking back over the last 14 months since the Press Complaints Commission began hearing public complaints, we feel we have satisfied these requirements - if not fully - at least to a considerable degree," Mr. Wijesinha said. He added that the complainant did not have to bear any costs in seeking redress before the Commission either by having to retain lawyers, or paying any fees tothe Commission. In the 175 page tri-lingual annual report presented, the PCC said it had received 267 communications or complaints since 15 October 2003 indicating the fact that Sri Lanka's reading public was familiar with the work of the Commission. The report also contained a message from the Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Commission Ranjit Wijewardene outlining the backdrop to the formation of the PCC. He said that the Commission is a voluntary self-regulatory mechanism of the newspaper industry mooted by three press associations, viz., the Newspaper Society, the Editors Guild and the Free Media Movement as a " fair-exchange " for the repeal of the criminal defamtion laws. " This mechanism was also meant to provide readers and the general public an opportunity to seek and obtain redress for any acts of wrongdoing on the part of the localpress, from an independent arbitral council, that was free, fair and fast. Such a mechanism was to be distinct from the statutory Government appointed Press Council that adjudicated on complaints against the press for three decades", he said. The annual report contains a list of complaints made over the 14 months since the inception of the PCC Council, and some of the abribration findings of the independent panels. The PCC Council include 5 press representatives ( Mr. Siri Ranasinghe, Mr. Dion Schoorman, Mr. P. Balasingham, Ms. Mallika Wanigasundera and Mr.G.S. Perera ) and 5 non-press representatives ( Mr. Javid Yusuf, Dr. Devanesan Nesiah, Prof. Swarna Jayaweera, Mr. Lucille Wijewardene and Mr. Dharmasiri Bandaranayake ). Chief Executive Officer of the PCC, Ms. Manique Mendis made a power-point presentation of the work of the Commission since it was started. This included the workshops held, especially with provincial correpondents, overseas study tours,poster campaigns and the work plan for the future. She announced that the Code of Professional Practices of the Editors Guild of Srilanka was the guiding force being the work of the PCC Council, and said that the Guild had now appointed a high-powered committee from civil society to study the provisions of the Code with a view to suggesting amendments. This committee, she said, was headed by the former vice-president of the International Court of Justice (World Court ) Judge Christopher Weeramantry, and included Dr. Ven. Bellanwila Wimalaratana, Tara de Mel, Radhika Coomaraswamy, Hiranthi Wijemanne, Deepika Udagama, Prof. A. Shanmugadasa, Prof. S. Sandrasegaram, Hilmy Ahmed and Edmund Ranasinghe. Ms. Mendis said the bulk of complaints came for violation of the Code's provisons on Accurate Reporting. Ms. Mendis said that the complaints have been received from all strata of society ranging from President Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga and Media Minister Mangala Samaraweera to the poverty-stricken mother of a drug addict on the street and the PCCSL affirms that irrespective of their rank or position, they are all given equitable treatment and the highest quality, personalised service by the Commission. She pointed out that the Commission functioned under the provisions of the Arbitration Law No. 11 of 1995. Two Council members, Dr. Devanesan Nesiah, former Government Agent, Jaffna and Siri Ranasinghe, editor Lankadeepa and president of the Editors Guild also address the press conference in Tamil and Sinhala respectively. |
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