Minister condemns Ranil’s tirade against journalist

UNP and Opposition Leader Ranil Wickremesinghe who says he defends freedom of the press had severely blamed senior journalist of the Lankadeepa newspaper Dayaseeli Liyanage and her editor at an election rally using strong language for writing an independent report exposing the agreement between the TNA and Sarath Fonseka, Mass Media Minister Lakshman Yapa Abeywardana said yesterday.

Wickremesinghe’s tirade against Liyanage had made her resign from the position she held at this newspaper.

While pontificating on the right to obtain information and freedom of the press, his attack on this journalist should be severely condemned as an act of interference with such freedoms, the minister said.