Government looking at suppressing media to cover public dissention

Monday, 03 June 2013

The growing public dissention against the government has caused a problem to President Mahinda Rajapaksa and Defence Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa. The President has ordered his advisors to look at ways of overcoming the current crises.

The advisors have proposed that the best way to prevent the public from knowing the intensifying anti-government agitation campaign is to further stifle the already gagged media in the country.

The Media Ministry was immediately ordered to draft regulations to suppress the media and accordingly, the media code of ethics was mooted.

A Draft Bill containing a Media Code of Ethics aimed at creating ‘a salutary media culture in the country’ will be tabled in Parliament for adoption in September, Mass Media and Information Minister Keheliya Rambukwella has said.

The government information department quoted the Minister as saying that drafting of this Bill was completed and the proposals incorporated in this Bill have been submitted to the Parliamentary Select Committee on Media and political parties for their observations, including suggestions for suitable amendments.

Minister Rambukwella has said that the actions of certain media institutions in the recent past had led to many problems and therefore it had become an urgent need to introduce a code of ethics for a good media culture.