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| Friday, 25 February 2005 |
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The space for expression of the different viewpoints and perspectives of the country's different interest groups on the one side, and for the communication of a variety and diversity of political, social and cultural messages to the public on the other, are partly a function of the social responsibility of the private as well as public media. But largely an outcome of the competition within the broadcasting sector in the country, said Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapakse at the opening of the South / south East Asia Sub regional Broadcasting Workers Workshop held on February 24 at the Taj Samudra Hotel, Colombo. Speaking further he said, at present we have in Sri Lanka, three media institutions for public service. They are the Sri Lanka Broadcasting Corporation (SLBC), Independent Television Net Work (ITN) and its affiliated Lak-handa - radio These are our public broadcasting institutions. Side by side with these, there are other private broadcasting institutions. They are Telshan Network (Pvt) Ltd, (TNL) as Maharaja Television and its sub-channels such as MTV, Sirasa and Shakthi, and EAP Network (Pvt) Ltd, commonly known as Swarnawahini. All these television channels too have their own affiliated broadcasting Services. There are also some other radio Services such as Hiru FM operating in this field. All these are privately owned. This is the institutional profile of public and private broadcasting in our country. Since public broadcasting institutions, unlike their privately owned counterparts, do not have profit making as their objective, the government can communicate with the public through them, these constitutions are free from the constraints of financial profitability. The PM said: take Sri Lanka as an example. As an ex-colonial country struggling towards a sustainable nationhood and identity, the government has many responsibilities towards the people. It has to weld its different ethnic groups, religious communities and language groups into a single nation. For this, the government has to be continuously communicating with the public. It has to revive the different cultures, religions and world views of its people, weakened by centuries of colonial suppression, and help them grow into a unity, rich in its diversity. Private broadcasting calls for skilled managers who can manage the inter play of these five elements in such a way that the private broadcasting company remains profitable and viable over time. The greater the commercial competition between the different privately owned companies, the greater the space for the positions and viewpoints interest groups in the country to find expression through the media. Thus we may conclude that in a developing, ex-colonial country there is a strong need for the existence of public broadcasting institutions. This cannot be denied. Competition within the broadcasting sector, both private as well as public, also results in the viewpoints and styles of different types of artistes and journalists finding space for expression in the media, he said. The Prime Minster concluding his speech said that the broadcasting sector will become more and more competitive in the future. Let us also hope that the development of low cost broadcasting technologies in the future will help us move rapidly towards this objective. Vasantha Jayasingha, President of the Federation of Media Employees Trade Union, Dharmasiri Lankapeli - General Secretary and Representatives of the Union Network International, Delegates from South and South east Asia were present. |
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