The Island
Eight media organizations have called on all candidates contesting this month’s Presidential Election to declare their strong and unequivocal commitment to the protection of freedom of expression and information.
The resolution, signed by the Free Media Movement, Working Journalists’ Association, Editors’ Guild, Tamil Media Forum, Muslim Media Forum, Federation of Media Employees Trade Union, South Asia Free Media Association-Sri Lanka Chapter and Newspaper Owners Association, has been submitted to all the Presidential candidates.
The pledges sought were released to the media at a news conference, presided over by Editors’ Guild President, Manik de Silva, in Colombo, last week.
They are the enactment of a Right to Information Law and Contempt of Court Law that are in consonance with modern standards; the abolition of the draconian Press Council Law, which can jail journalists up to 20 years and the abolition of the Official Secrets Act that will become redundant with the enactment of a Freedom of Information Act; the abolition of those provisions of the Emergency Regulations and Prevention of Terrorism Act, which impose harsh punishment on journalists, arbitrarily and capriciously; conversion of the state media institutions that are under the head of government into public service institutions; the implementation of the recommendations of four committees that were appointed in 1994 to reform laws affecting media freedom and freedom of expression; probing all incidents of attacks against the media and bringing the culprits to book; provision of compensation and creation of conditions for those journalists who fled the country for security reasons to return; the appointment of an independent regulatory commission; Supervision and overseeing the working of the electronic media and studying all aspects in the Colombo Declaration of 2008, with a view to ensuring a free, independent and responsible media in Sri Lanka.