PARLIAMENTARY REPORT
SRI LANKA
REGULATIONS UNDER THE SRI LANKA PRESS COUNCIL LAW
context, most journalists today would be in Welikada Prison if that had not been done,” he quipped. Mr Rajapakse said that in January 2009, the government had provided Parliament with a report on crimes against media in response to an opposition request.
He said that according to Hon. Wijedasa Rajapakse, MP
Under the Sri Lanka Press Council Law, Mass Media and Information Minister, Hon. Keheliya Rambukwella, MP, approved the regulations making it mandatory for every proprietor or editor of a newspaper to pay a fee when applying for registration or a renewal. The charges were effective from 31 March, with fees of Rs. 5,000 for a daily newspaper and Rs. 3,000 for a weekly newspaper.
Opening the debate Hon. Wijedasa Rajapakse, MP, (UNP) said the Council had been controversial ever since it was enacted in 1973 to target the print media in the absence of privatized electronic media. He said that Article 15 of the Act provided for the pursuance of matters in criminal court while Article 479 in the Penal Code covered criminal defamation made against the head of state by media personnel acting irresponsibly. “These laws led to a lot of issues during the latter part of the 1990s and were repealed by the UNF Government. In the current
154 | The Parliamentarian | 2013: Issue Two
this report, during the three year period January 2006 to January 2009, nine media persons had been killed, five were kidnapped, and 27 had been assaulted. “This list doesn’t provide the numbers of those who fled the country failing to practice journalism,” he added. In response, Hon. Sajin
freedom is curtailed by the respective owners who limit journalists from writing. It is not the government.” Mr Gunawardena argued
that the Press Council Act was not strong enough. “I believe that criminal defamation has to be included again. We have no intention to control or limit the activities of the media personnel,” he said, accusing several media companies of “taking bribes and using methods of extortion” which he said he had witnessed in the recent past.
Hon. Sajin Vas Gunawardena, MP
Vas Gunawardena, MP, (UPFA) refuted charges that the government was controlling the media on the basis that 85 per cent of the media companies were held by the private sector, included by members of the government and opposition. “How can you claim media freedom is not there? Media
Joining in the debate Tamil National Alliance Hon. M.A. Sumanthiran, MP, said the government attacked the media “through inducement, threats, physical attacks, and by killing”. He said the question was how many of these crimes against journalists and media institutions had actually been solved by law enforcement officials. “This is the litmus test to see who is behind these crimes. If the government is not able to solve a single issue, it proves that the government is behind them,” he charged. “A few years ago Sri Lanka was the second most dangerous place for journalists in the world. During the past few years the only provincial newspaper in northern Sri Lanka, Uthayan newspaper, reported 30 incidents including the killing of its two journalists within the office premises. This year a distributor was
attacked and a distribution center in Kilinochchi was also attacked. You can’t have armed
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