SRI LANKA: Media group urges laws to permit access to information

By Feizal Samath
AsiaMedia Contributing Writer

The Free Media Movement released a statement urging lawmakers to give the media more access to state information so that they can oversee relief and reconstruction efforts

Monday, January 10, 2005

Colombo – Sri Lanka’s biggest journalists’ group, the Free Media Movement (FMM), on Monday urged all political parties to immediately pass the Freedom of Information Act (FIA), which deals with accountability, toi aid the process of reconstruction of the disaster-hit country.

While praising the media for its role in quickly informing people about the tsunamis and also helping in the relief process, the FMM said all political parties and Committees and Task Forces currently operating under the President’s Office in particular should consider the immediate enactment of this draft bill.

The February 2004 bill has been endorsed by both the current ruling party and the opposition United National Party (UNP).

"This bill (turned into legislation) would be part of the structures that are to be enacted to deal with this crisis. A freedom of information regime will be invaluable in facilitating the role of the media as the primary instrument of accountability in a democratic society," said FMM spokesman Sunanda Deshapriya in a statement.

The proposed law would allow the media more access to state information, which is restricted right now or doled out according to the will of the ruling party.

The FMM praised the media’s role in explaining the tsunami phenomenon, creating mass awareness and collecting and distributing immediate humanitarian relief for tsunami victims in the days following the tragedy.

"The capacity demonstrated by the television channels to mobilise people to donate food, clothes and medicine within the first 48 hours was an example of the salutary influence of audio visual media in our society," the FMM statement said, adding the imperatives of rehabilitation and reconstruction are now becoming the priority, above immediate relief.

The FMM said that in this context, the role of the media as a watchdog over reconstruction and relief efforts assumes more significance than facilitating relief. It urged all Sri Lankan media institutions and journalists to bear in mind the media’s foremost responsibility as an instrument of democratic accountability, noting that FMM was in the process of networking with journalists’ organisations at national as well as provincial level in this regard.

Date Posted: 1/10/2005