As Sri Lanka prepares to host the biennial Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in November 2013, some journalists have wondered whether they will be able to access the summit given the island nation's abysmal press freedom record.
The following is a CPJ Blog post by Sumit Galhotra, CPJ Asia Program Research Associate.
As Sri Lanka prepares to host the biennial Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) in Colombo in November 2013, some journalists have wondered whether they will be able to access the summit given the island nation’s abysmal press freedom record.
On Saturday 13 July 2013, a subcommittee of the government taskforce organizing the summit issued a press release stating that “Sri Lanka is committed to providing full media access” and that it “welcomes all journalists to cover this very important summit.”
In a recent letter to the Commonwealth Secretariat, CPJ expressed concern about the accreditation procedures amid press reports that the Sri Lankan government will conduct stringent background checks on foreign journalists covering the meeting, with the apparent intention of denying permission to enter the country.
Read the full story on CPJ’s website.
