Media groups embrace revised editors’ code

The Sri Lanka Press Institute ( SLPI) has announced that nine media associations in Sri Lanka have pledged their support for the revised Editors’ Code of Professional Practice, which has also been adopted by the Press Complaints Commission of Sri Lanka.In a statement, the SLPI said:

“The Editors’ Code was revised in February this year by the Editors’ Guild of Sri Lanka, for the first time after it was unanimously approved by editors of national newspapers in 2001.

“New provisions in the revised code include reporting suicides and making online publications of newspapers also bound by the provisions of the Editors’ Code.

“The nine key media associations that have endorsed the Editors’ Guild Code of Professional Practice are the Newspaper Society of Sri Lanka, the Free Media Movement, the Sri Lanka Working Journalists Association, the Sri Lanka College of Journalism, the Sri Lanka Tamil Media Alliance, the Sri Lanka Muslim Media Forum, the Federation of Media Employees Trade Union, the South Asia Free Media Associations (Sri Lanka Chapter), and the Sri Lanka Press Institute. The Press Complaints Commission of Sri Lanka has adopted the Editors’ Code.

“The Secretariat of the Press Complaints Commission entertains complaints from the public pertaining to any violations of the code by newspapers.

A Dispute Resolution Council of the Commission will adjudicate on complaints in the event the Secretariat being unable to redress grievances by way of conciliation or mediation. The council functions under the Arbitration Act No 11 of 1995 and is modelled along the lines of the self-regulatory Press Commissions of the United Kingdom, Sweden and South Africa.”