To New Media Minister & Secretary: Priority Check List For Media

*PM Ranil is talking to journalist – Promising RIT? 

By Ranga Kalansooriya -January 22, 2015

Dr Ranga Kalansooriya

Dear Gayantha and Parane,

You accepted the media as a ministerial portfolio 

from Keheliya Rambukwella – Charitha Herath duo after a challenging period for us in the field of journalism. All four of you are not strangers to the media but the expectations from you two are high as ever. These hopes go well beyond laptops, bank loans, foreign trips and duty free cars.

These high expectations are quite natural whenever there is a change of regime but in all previous instances they were subdued by piece-meal tinkering such as laptops, bank loans etc. The to-do list within the media sector is heavy with many priorities but I do not think you can address them all within the 100-day program.

To be fair by them, mainly of Charitha, he managed to build some rapport with the media when he was the coordinating secretary to the then media minister Anura Yapa. After the 2005 polls, Charitha was the bridge between the media activists and the government and he was our first contact whenever there was an incident of concerns. When the then government attempted to reactivate the Press Council in 2006-2007, Charitha and Anura Yapa, to my mind, managed to shelve that move amidst pressure from within the government hierarchy. Also there were constant dialogue between media stakeholders and the ministry even though serious attacks were carried out against media and its practitioners where this duo became helpless. Some of those who are now talking of media freedom were behind these incidents.Read More