Editors resolve 243 complaints directly under the ‘Right of Reply’ option

National newspaper editors resolved 243 complaints made directly to them by aggrieved readers last year, while the Press Complaints Commission of Sri Lanka (PCCSL) received seventy-nine (79) public complaints, of which 19 were outside its scope, according to the 2018 annual report of the PCCSL.

The complaints resolved by the editors came under the ‘Right of Reply’ procedure laid down by The Editors’ Guild of Sri Lanka in its Code of Professional Practice (Editors’ Code).

The Code, which is implemented by the PCCSL, now allows conditional third party complaints.

The 2018 report ,which was released last week, states that the PCCSL conducted 14 meetings with 118 publishers, editors and journalists last year. Fourteen awareness meetings were held with 50 civil society members. They also had six awareness meetings with 253 youths who represented various youth groups. These meetings were held in Colombo, Akmeemana, Negombo, Ulapane, Nuwara Eliya, Badulla, Kandy, Anuradhapura and Galle.

The PCCSL, an independent, voluntary, self-regulatory body, celebrated its 15th anniversary on October 15, 2018. The PCCSL is supported by the Newspaper Society of Sri Lanka (NSSL), The Editors' Guild of Sri Lanka (TEGOSL), the Free Media Movement (FMM) and the Sri Lanka Working Journalists Association (SLWJA) and is affiliated with the Federation of Media Employees Trade Union, the Sri Lanka Muslim Media Forum, the Sri Lanka Tamil Media Alliance and the South Asian Free Media Association – Sri Lanka Chapter.

The PCCSL works on the principles of Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration through its Secretariat and the Dispute Resolution Council (DRC). The DRC is made up of six non-journalists, including the chairman, and five journalists. Headed by Parliament's former Secretary General Nihal Seneviratne, the council's non-journalist members are Dr. Devanesan Nesiah, Javid Yusuf, Dion Schoorman, Lucille Wijewardene and Gnana Moonesinghe. The journalist members are: Siri Ranasinghe, P. Balasingham, Daya Lankapura, Pramod de Silva and Malini Govinnage.

The PCCSL board's nine directors are: Kumar Nadesan (Chairman), Sinha Ratnatunga (Deputy Chairman), Manik de Silva, Nimal Welgama, Siri Ranasinghe, N. M. Ameen, Mohanlal Piyadasa, Ananda Jayasekera and Duminda Sampath.

The PCCSL Secretariat is headed by the CEO Sukumar Rockwood. Its Complaint’s Officer is Kamal Liyanaarachchi.