News - Political repression of the press

The Government decision to re-activate the Sri Lanka Press Council (SLPC) has come in for criticism from several journalists associations, calling the move “an attempt to exert greater state control over the media.”

In a statement the Free Media Movement (FMM) said restoring the Press Council is a “step backward on safe-guarding the freedom of expression in Sri Lanka.”

The Movement strongly urged the Government to rethink its decision to restore the undemocratic Press Council Act and instead to complement the existing self-regulatory mechanism, the Press Complaints Commission of Sri Lanka, in an effort to strengthen media freedom in Sri Lanka.

The New York based Committee to Protect Journalists also expressed concern about the “Sri Lankan government’s reinstatement of a politically appointed Press Council with the authority to penalize news outlets and journalists for their reporting”.

“This apparent attempt to exert greater government control over the press is ill-timed and troubling,” CPJ Executive Director Ann Cooper said.

“At a moment when violence between security forces and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam is intensifying, it is crucial that the Sri Lankan press be free to cover all sides of the conflict without official restraint,” she said.

Meanwhile the Mass Media and Information Ministry Secretary W.B.Ganegala said an assistant secretary of the Information Ministry is overseeing the work at the Council at the present time till new members are appointed and some ground work will need to be done before the Council is re-activated.

He said there are around 20 employees at present in the SLPC and they are paid by the Treasury.

The Commissioner and most of his members are retired or have retired by now.

Information Minister Anura Priyadarshana Yapa announced on Wednesday that Cabinet had approved the re-introduction of the SLPC and necessary appointments would be made in the coming days.

The Press Council Law of 1973 prohibits, amongst other things, the publication of Cabinet decisions, Cabinet documents, certain defence and security matters, and certain fiscal measures. Because it makes it an offence for newspapers to publish these issues, it is in effect the imposition of permanent censorship on the media.

In 2002, when the self-regulatory Press Complaints Commission was set up by the Editors Guild, the Newspaper Society and the Free Media Movement of Sri Lanka, appointments to the Press Council were halted. Until then all appointments to the council were politically motivated.