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Journalists’ group slams govt. for suppressing media freedom
View(s):The Sri Lanka Working Journalists’ Association has expressed concern over media freedom and expression saying that the government is attempting to suppress journalists’ through Police action.
The association said actions such as unlawfully summoning journalist Tharindu Jayawardena to Gampola Police related to his journalist work, and the request made by Police to the Telecommunications Regulatory Commission of Sri Lanka to cancel the broadcasting licence of the Hiru Media Network were concerns.
Police had instructed Mr Jayawardena to appear at the Gampola station at 11 a.m. on December 26, to provide a statement related to a complaint arising from his investigative reporting that exposed multiple instances of orruption connected to the Ambuluwawa Biodiversity Complex and its affiliated institutions.
In a separate incident, the Hiru Media network broadcast a news report on a cannabis raid, which revealed an alleged assault on a Police officer involved in the operation, as well as reported links between the ownership of the cannabis plantation and parties connected to the National People’s Power (NPP) government. Claiming that the report constituted misinformation, the Police have requested the TRCSL to revoke the broadcasting licence of the Hiru Media Network, the statement said.
SLWJA pointed out that in both instances it was evident that the Police have intervened in the independent and lawful journalistic activities of both the journalist and the media institution with the intention of carrying out unlawful repression.
The association said “If inaccurate reporting has occurred, there exist recognised professional standards, regulatory procedures, and legal mechanisms to address such matters. Instead, the government appears to be using the police to target journalists and media organizations that refuse to submit to political pressure”.
They pointed out the prevailing actions form part of a broader pattern of repression during the past 15 months of the NPP government, marked by increasing restrictions on media freedom and the constitutional right to freedom of speech and expression.
The association expressed deep concern that the government, which came to power appearing to safeguard press freedom, is in fact a wolf in sheep’s clothing, demonstrating clear authoritarian tendenciews.
They urged the government to refrain from attempts to enforce media repression through the expansion of a Police-state approach, and instead to create an environment that genuinely protects press freedom, editorial independence, and journalistic ethics in Sri Lanka.
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