Minister of Mass Media Dulles Alahapperuma said that if a person with a media accreditation identity card is taken into custody due to some offence, by the Police, the Director General of Department of Government Information should be informed compulsorily with immediate effect.
The Minister said further that the IGP has already been informed about this.
He said he will ensure that no journalists will be summoned by the CID and inconvenienced in the future although it did happen recently. Alahapperuma on said that every possible step will be taken to build a new media culture to empower media personnel and strengthen the field of media.
The Minister made this comment on Thursday evening during a discussion held at the Media Ministry with the Editors’ Guild of Sri Lanka. Realizing the importance of establishing a higher education institute for journalism on behalf of developing professional skills of media personnel, initial work on it has already commenced.
Such an institute exists for almost every sector including doctors and lawyers and the Editors’ Guild pointed out that there is no such institute for journalists.
“When transforming a journalist into a chartered journalist, his/her qualifications as well as period of service, training and experience is taken into consideration and once the determined standard is reached a chartered certificate will be awarded and this is currently under discussion”, he said.
It was mentioned on this occasion that there is an opportunity available to propose one person representing the Editors’ Guild for the committee which is working on creating a higher education mass media institute.The Minister pointed out the importance of updating the Sri Lanka Press Council Law No. 5 of 1973, taking into consideration the recent developments and trends in the field of mass media and bringing in amendments.
The Editors’ Guild said that it is suitable to set up a different mechanism for social media networks and electronic media. The procedure of amending the Press Council Law has commenced already and the Minister said he hopes to obtain the views of the Guild about it.
Minister Alahapperuma said further that insurance for journalists will be formalized and within three months, about 3000 journalists will be provided with insurance cover. The Minister requested newspaper editors to be sensitive when writing about the disabled community’s problems and the Editors’ Guild expressed their agreement.
The Editors’ Guild has earlier issued a statement condemning the move by the CID to question several journalists over their reporting on the garlic scam.
