Mindset of state officials must change following RTI Act

There is a persistent problem with regard to obtaining information from government departments for journalists let alone the public, said the Director General of the Government Information Department Dr.Ranga Kalansooriya. He was speaking on the topic "Reporting on Development, Poverty and Social Justice: Strengthening Media's Role "at the Sri Lanka Press Institute at Kirula Road Colombo 5 recently.

He said there has to be paradigm shift, a change of mindset of public servants following the passage of the Right to Information Act that enables persons to seek information from government departments.

Referring to development work undertaken by the government, he said there wasn't adequate media coverage that trickles down to the grassroot level."The question that we have to ask ourselves is how can state media allocate space for publication of such development work when such news cannot be marketed to the public. State media institutions today are saddled with debt amounting to millions of rupees and they do not get any relief from the Treasury unlike in the past. They have to find their own money to run their institutions."

He said during the previous regime vast sums of money was allocated to the Department of Information and now several probes have been initiated to ascertain where all that money went to. "We also have received a complaint that a sum of Rs. 10,000 -15,000 was paid to media for a coverage (event) in the Eastern province. But we are not aware who gave the money and who accepted it so far. How can we talk of development or constructive journalism when such irregularities exist in our system," he said.

Chairman /CEO Young Asia Television and Board Member of the Centre for Poverty Analysis (CEPA), Hilmy Ahamed said that CEPA has been in the forefront of research on poverty and social development issues. CEPA has been conducting media and a fellowship programmes with UNESCO for selected journalists to understand poverty and social development issues in Sri Lanka.

He said entertainment and other programmes in the media have overtaken development and poverty issues. "We have to rejuvenate media on poverty and social development issues and CEPA will train 20 selected journalists on these issues ."