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The Federation of Media Employees' Trade Unions has condemned the ban on Government advertisements in the state media as a blatant act of intimidation against media freedom in this country.

The Federation in a press release issued yesterday said it considered this as an action related to the take over of three ministries by the President.

The release signed by Federation General Secretary Dharmasiri Lankapeli further said this action taken amidst ongoing discussions between representatives of the President and the Prime Minister to resolve the political crises arisen between the Executive and the Legislature will retard people's faith in the whole process of negotiation.

However the President has now made a proposal to transform state media institutions into independent institutions. The 1994 PA government appointed four committees to recommend ways for transforming state media into independent institutions and making media freedom more meaningful but the reports of those committees were never published.

The Federation while acclaiming the latest proposal would request that this be included in the discussions of the Tittawella-Samarawickreme committee.

The release said the ban on government advertisements had dealt a death blow to state media institutions already forced with a financial crisis.

While appealing to both parties to take the initiative in transforming state media into independent institutions, the federation requested the Prime Minister and his Cabinet to immediately lift the ban imposed on Government advertisements to the State Media.

STONE 'N' STRING

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