Media needs Press Council regulations - Minister

Uditha Kumarasinghe and Irangika Range

Leader of the House Health Minister Nimal Siripala de Silva told Parliament yesterday media should not be given unlimited freedom and an institution like the Press Council should function.

This will enable the people and Parliament to complain on the misuse of media freedom, he said.

The Minister said institutions like the Press Council are operating in many countries. Journalists before misusing media freedom should seriously consider on the impact and damage done to a person or persons through their media reports, he said.

“The media is not only publishing distorted news items on Government Ministers but also about various individuals and the public.

There should be a specific place for these affected parties to go and express their grievances. In order to make such complaints or express their grievances, there are press council laws in many other countries in the world,” he said.

The Minister said there is media freedom in the country. “But I don’t think that any suppression or censorship should be imposed on the media. Whatever laws are brought, will also cover the State media as well,” he said.

The implementation of a press council law will also prevent various criticism made on the Opposition in a very unjustifiable manner, he said.

The Minister made these observations in response to the statements made by UNP MP Ravi Karunanayake and SLMC MP Rauff Hakeem on a certain news item published in an English newspaper regarding the Press Council Law.

Minister de Silva also responding to a complaint made by SLMC MP Rauff Hakeem on the abduction of a journalist said the Government has no involvement in this incident.

‘It is very wrong to point fingers at the Government on such incidents,” he said.

SLMC MP Hakeem said there is no need of bringing in any draconian laws to suppress media as journalists practice, self regulation.

He said all political parties are opposed to bringing in defamatory laws and regulations.

Now the Government plans to bring in Press Council laws.

The UNP has also a responsibility regarding this because they have also suppressed journalists, he said.