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The Election Commission (EC) and the Broadcaster’s Guild of Sri Lanka (BGSL) have locked horns after the EC decided to raise the fees it would levy from media institutions to release official results of the 2025 local government elections.

The new fee structure requires a single media institution to pay Rs. 8 million if it wishes to release election results immediately after they are officially released, while a package fee is on offer at Rs 15 million for channels owned by a single media institution.

The charges apply to all electronic and digital media, including websites of newspapers that will be releasing the results as soon as they are issued by the EC.

However, the Broadcasters Guild is not pleased with the EC charge hike and says the new rates are 1300 percent higher than what was charged for previous elections and could result in many media institutions opting out from obtaining telecast rights of the results.

“These are the sort of fees you charge for exclusive coverage granted to one channel for commercial content, but the election telecast is something everyone will be doing,” BGSL President Asanga Jayasooriya says. Telecasting election results was also an affirmation of the public’s right to information, and that right would suffer a serious blow if media institutions opted out of telecasting results, he added.

Election Commissioner General Saman Sri Rathnayake, however, defended the move and said the revised rates had been decided by a committee after discussions with the Treasury and other government agency stakeholders.

“We informed media institutions about these rates, but they have still not been finalised. That is why we asked the media institutions to submit their own recommendations. We will submit the recommendations to the Treasury. We can’t change these rates on our own. We need approval from the Treasury.”

Mr Rathnayake defended the fee increase, stating that the EC was spending up to Rs. 1 billion to release results immediately to the media, though all the Commission was obliged to do was fax the results to the Government Information Department, which would then disseminate them to media institutions.

He claimed media institutions, especially television channels, were making enormous profits during election periods from advertising revenue. “You can see for yourself when comparing their advertising rate cards during election periods with the rates at other times. Even with these new rates, we can only recoup about 10-15 percent of the funds we are spending to release the results,” he added.

Mr Jayasooriya, however, had a different view. He said the majority of profits for television channels were not coming from telecasting election results. He also pointed out that media institutions contribute largely to the success of the electoral process by raising awareness among the voters about elections and related issues, including how to vote without having their ballots rejected, besides highlighting election law violations.

Ministerial bouquets and X-user brickbats for police statement in Tamil

Minister Bimal Ratnayake recently posted a message on his X handle praising the Police for issuing statements in Tamil, something they have so far failed to do, although the country’s official language policy makes it mandatory for the government services to be available in both Sinhala and Tamil.

He said he called the Acting IGP and thanked him for walking the talk on the language policy while posting on X a scanned picture of the Tamil statement issued by the police.

However, it wasn’t long before an X user pointed out that the message was AI-generated or translated and was difficult to comprehend even for a native Tamil speaker. “There’s nothing wrong in using LLM (a type of artificial intelligence programme that can recognise and generate text). But make sure it’s correct,” he said.

Maybe a training course for the Police in the correct use of AI may be a good idea.

Mini camera and drill sort out security standoff at Modi welcome

Security was tight at Independence Square, where Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi was accorded a ceremonial welcome yesterday.

A local state media television cameraman who had mounted his camera on a wooden structure was among those subject to extra scrutiny.

The box structure being bored for a security check by Indian security officers

Indian security officers were eager to check inside the wooden structure, but after the cameraman held his ground and said he could not move the camera as it had been set up for the live telecast, a drill was used to bore a hole in the wooden box, and a mini camera attached to a wire was sent through it to inspect the inside of the box-like structure before the all clear was given.

Modi visit sees naval diplomacy and billboard blunders

While the Indian Prime Minister was busy in Colombo engaging in diplomacy and high-level talks, calling over at the Port of Colombo on a formal visit was the Indian Naval Ship (INS) Sahyadri, a 143m long frigate commanded by Captain Rajat Kumar and manned by a crew of 320.

Tamil, a national language in Sri Lanka and a schedule language in India, is missing in billboards welcoming India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi

The Indian sailors are attending several events organised by the Sri Lanka Navy with the aim of strengthening bilateral ties. They will also visit several tourist hotspots. INS Sahyadri is scheduled to set sail from Colombo tomorrow soon after PM Modi leaves Sri Lanka.

Meanwhile, billboards welcoming Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi appeared in Colombo by mid-week, but some missed one of the national languages—Tamil. “Friendship of centuries, commitment to prosperous future” read the billboards in Sinhala and English with Modi and Dissanayake’s faces plastered on either side.

INS Sahyadri at the Colombo Port

Apart from the omission of Tamil, careless copy-editing errors on those billboards also came under scrutiny on social media platforms, with some suggesting edits. Soon after realising the mishap, mini posters tied on lamps emerged on Saturday morning that read all the customary welcome phrases: “Welcome, Ayubowan, Vanakkam, Namaste.”

Pointing out the lack of bilingual translations on the official handle of President Anura Kumara Dissanayake on the X platform, one reader noted that the Indian Prime Minister’s handle was super active in disseminating content in Sinhala, Tamil and English as carefully curated engagements unfolded.

NPC nullifies police chief’s transfer order

The National Police Commission (NPC) this week nullified Acting Police Chief Priyantha Weerasooriya’s directive ordering the transfer of the Bingiriya Police Station’s officer in charge.

The NPC said that transfers, promotions, and appointments during an election period could take place only with the prior approval from the Elections Commission.

The NPC and the Acting IGP have locked horns over police transfers during the past few months, with the NPC maintaining that the IGP was overstepping his authority in making some appointments.

Govt.’s ‘sensational’ disclosures and missing supporting documents

In February, Prime Minister Harini Amarasuriya disclosed the expenditure incurred by the state on foreign trips undertaken by several former Sri Lanka presidents, some figures running into millions of US dollars, while the costs borne by President Anura Kumara Dissanayake were only Rs 1.8 million for the past six months.

While the sensational disclosure made headline news, an RTI activist who sought to dig up more information hit a blind wall. In response to an RTI request made to Parliament for the relevant documents which support that such costs were spent on overseas travel by the ex-presidents, he was informed that they were not in possession of the requested information, and the Prime Minister has not tabled any such documents in the House either.

They referred the RTI activist to the PM’s speech in Hansard. This brings into question many of the sensational disclosures that the new government keeps making and raises questions about their veracity.

Canned fish: From imports to exports

Although an island nation, Sri Lanka imports canned fish that many consumers say are quite expensive.

Now, moves are underway to reverse that trend and make Sri Lanka a canned fish exporter. For the first time, a consignment of Jack Mackerel canned fish products, manufactured by a private company, was exported to the United Arab Emirates (UAE) last week.

According to the Fisheries Ministry, the country’s daily consumption of canned fish is three hundred thousand kilograms. Sri Lanka imported Rs 14 billion worth of canned fish in 2023. Speaking at the event to mark the maiden batch of canned fish exports, Fisheries, Aquatic and Ocean Resources Deputy Minister Ratna Gamage said that importing canned fish would be reversed while increasing local production.

Dambulla cold storage: Harsha says he’s been cold-shouldered

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and President Anura Kumara Dissanayake jointly inaugurated (virtually) the temperature-controlled agricultural warehouse in Dambulla, a project in which SJB MP Harsha de Silva took a personal interest when he was in office.

Yesterday, he took to his X handle to express his displeasure that the government was taking all the credit for the project, with no mention of those who were behind it, and instead fixing a plaque with only the President’s name on it.

“I am surprised they decided to not even tell me as a courtesy this was happening. Because the ‘system change’ they promised would have been that. I hear they are planning to change the entire business model as they know better how to run what I planned. I am worried…,” he wrote.

Batalanda debate: An embarrassment in waiting for Govt. and Opposition

The two-day parliamentary debate on the ‘Report of the Commission of Inquiry into the Establishment and Maintenance of Places of Unlawful Detention and Torture Chambers at the Batalanda Housing Scheme’ will begin on Thursday (April 10).

The report was tabled in the House on March 14 by House Leader and Minister Bimal Ratnayake. The debate is likely to reveal many uncomfortable truths, causing embarrassment to both the government and the opposition, especially when Parliament is increasingly becoming a political platform for the local council election campaigns.