Norway extends support for SLPI activities

The Royal Norwegian Government signed an agreement with the Sri Lanka Press Institute (SLPI) recently to grant a further NOK 600,000 (Rs 10.5 million) for the Institute’s activities over the next two years.

The agreement was signed by the Norwegian Ambassador in Sri Lanka Thorbjorn Gaustadsaether and SLPI Chairman Kumar Nadesan recently in Colombo, in recognition of the SLPI’s work in the field of media freedom and social development, a news release from the SLPI states.

The Norwegian government, along with the Swedish and Danish governments, the US and UK governments and UNESCO has been one of the long time financial supporters of the activities of the SLPI, the industry-based organisation managed by the Newspaper Society of Sri Lanka, The Editors’ Guild of Sri Lanka, the Free Media Movement and the Sri Lanka Working Journalists Association, affiliated with the Federation of Media Workers Trade Unions, the Sri Lanka Chapter of the South Asian Free Media Association, Tamil Media Forum and Muslim Media Forum.

According to the news release, the latest grant is broadly for SLPI to provide for the creation of a conducive environment for Freedom of Expression, especially through the Right to Information Act; to promote the Code of Professional Practice (The Editors’ Code) of The Editors’ Guild of Sri Lanka in the newsrooms and among provincial correspondents; and for the promotion of professionalism among journalists in Sri Lanka.

The SLPI is the umbrella organization of the Press Complaints Commission of Sri Lanka, the self-regulatory industry based mechanism responsible for promoting The Editors’ Code, and the Sri Lanka College of Journalism which conducts Diploma and mid-career courses in Journalism.