(ARTICLE 19/IFEX) – The following is an ARTICLE 19 protest letter to Sri Lankan Minister of Media Mangala Samaraweera further to the ministry’s issuing of threats against privately owned electronic media in Sri Lanka: By fax: 00 94 1 440488 Hon. Mangala Samaraweera Minister of Media Colombo, Sri Lanka ARTICLE 19 has been very disturbed […]
(ARTICLE 19/IFEX) – The following is an ARTICLE 19 protest letter to Sri
Lankan Minister of Media Mangala Samaraweera further to the ministry’s
issuing of threats against privately owned electronic media in Sri Lanka:
By fax: 00 94 1 440488
Hon. Mangala Samaraweera
Minister of Media
Colombo, Sri Lanka
ARTICLE 19 has been very disturbed to receive information that the privately
owned electronic media in Sri Lanka have been instructed informally by the
Media Ministry that they must not provide news coverage of the current
Presidential election campaign without jeopardising their licenses.
We are contacting you in order to seek an immediate assurance that there is
no substance to this report, and that the private electronic media is free
to report on the election campaign.
In view of the seriousness of this matter, we would also urge you to
publicly repudiate the report and to confirm beyond doubt that the privately
owned electronic media is free to report the election issues and is under no
threat or sanction on that account.
Should the report prove to be true, we would consider it a most serious act
of censorship which threatens the very core of the democratic process in Sri
Lanka. If the media, including the privately owned electronic media, is not
free to report on the issues and personalities of the election campaign,
then the individuals who constitute the electorate will be denied their
fundamental right to make an informed choice regarding their future
government. Indeed, it is all the more important that the non-state media
should be able to cover the election campaign openly and freely when, as in
Sri Lanka, the publicly funded electronic media, which has by far the
greatest audience reach, remains under the close political control of the
government of the day.
We would welcome your prompt response.
Malcolm Smart
Deputy Director
Recommended Action
Similar appeals can be sent to:
Appeals To
Hon. Mangala Samaraweera
Minister of Media
Colombo, Sri Lanka
Fax: +94 1 440 488
Please copy appeals to the source if possible.
