National Press Commission to monitor print and electronic media

A ‘National Press Commission’ to monitor and regulate print and electronic media aimed at freeing it from what the government calls ‘misinformation, canard, fabrication and total falsehoods’ will be in place shortly, a Minister said yesterday.

Cabinet spokesman Mass Media and Parliamentary Affairs Minister Gayantha Karunatilaka told reporters at the weekly cabinet news briefing yesterday that the public perception that the media – both print and electronic – have been deteriorating to the lowest possible level, was an unchallengeable fact.

Minister Karunatilaka said the first move to introduce a ‘Right to Information’ (RTI) was made by late Information Minister Dharmasiri Senanayaka and during the Mahinda Rajapaksa regime it was a taboo to talk about it.

During the 2002 – 2004 UNP rule there was an attempt to present a RIT Bill in Parliament but before it was taken up the Parliament was dissolved. Under the previous government, current Speaker Karu Jayasuriya brought it in Parliament once against as a Private Members’ Bill and was thwarted by the government.

Deputy Mass Media Minister Karunaratne Paranawithana said now that RTI has been enacted it was extremely necessary to regulate and monitor print and electronic media to save it from the present sorry situation.

“A prominent electronic media journalist and former Director of the Communication Development Sector of the UNESCO has been tasked with preparing a concept paper on a ‘Code of Ethics’ for media which will be enacted under the proposed ‘National Press Commission Act’ and deliberate printing, broadcast or telecast or character assassination, insults, falsehoods, misinformation and canard will be a punishable offence,” he stressed.

However, the proposed legislative measures will be taken after consultation with all stakeholders to the issue like journalists and journalist organizations, Editors’ Guild, Publishers, the professionals and the public before the drafting of the Act. The government will not arrive at any arbitrary decision on media and all decisions will be taken on mutual agreement, Deputy Minister Paranawithana said.

Responding to a journalist, he said no one must hold the view that journalists and journalism were above the law and they should not be monitored, regulated or have a strict code of ethics while all other professions, professionals, state and private sector institutions were being guided by them.

“It is sad to note that the President of the country had to rectify a number of totally incorrect publications within a couple of weeks printed by a national newspaper. It has become a habit that print and electronic media institutions carry news without responsibility and never take the pain to double check or get the opinion of the other party if and when they have a doubt reporting any incident. They are also in many instances do not carry clarification or corrections,” Deputy Minister Paranawithana lamented and added the two bodies monitoring print media, the Press Complaints Commission and the Press Council were weak and not capable of effectively to monitor the local media.