Professional Documents
Culture Documents
August
2013,
Colombo,
Sri
Lanka:
The
Centre
for
Policy
Alternatives
(CPA)
and
its
Executive
Director
filed
a
complaint
(Complaint
No:
HRC/3083/13)
before
the
Human
Rights
Commissions
of
Sri
Lanka
(HRCSL)
this
afternoon
against
the
Independent
Television
Network
of
Sri
Lanka
(ITN)
and
its
Chairmen.
The
complaint
was
on
the
basis
that
a
news
item
appearing
on
the
7:00pm
Sinhala
language
news
broadcast
of
ITN
on
Sunday
14th
July
2013
violates
several
fundamental
rights
of
both
CPA
and
its
Executive
Director
which
are
guaranteed
under
the
Constitution
to
all
citizens
of
Sri
Lanka.
CPA
had
previously
written
to
the
Chairman
of
ITN
on
the
16th
July
2013
requesting
that
the
erroneous
news
report
be
corrected
and
a
formal
apology
be
tendered
to
both
CPA
and
its
Executive
Director
within
one
week.
However
neither
of
these
two
requests
was
acceded
to.
Against
the
backdrop
of
the
Ministry
of
Mass
Media
and
Information
attempting
to
introduce
a
code
of
media
ethics
for
Private
sector
media
institutions
CPA
finds
it
abhorrent
that
a
state
owned
and
publicly
funded
media
institution
would
be
allowed
to
engage
in
irresponsible,
unprofessional
and
deceitful
reporting
of
this
nature.
Even
more
troubling
is
the
unwillingness
of
the
said
media
institution
to
accept
that
a
mistake
has
been
made
and
take
remedial
action
once
the
error
has
been
brought
to
its
attention.
The
only
possible
explanation
to
this
callous
disregard
of
the
most
basic
media
ethics
is
that
it
is
part
of
a
larger
scheme
to
systematically
undermine
civil
society
organizations
perceived
to
be
critical
of
the
government.
It
is
clear
that
the
state
media
apparatus
is
being
used
as
one
of
several
instruments
to
intimidate
civil
society
organizations.
The
erroneous
and
fabricated
news
report
of
14th
July
2013
is
only
one
of
several
instances
in
which
CPA
and
other
civil
society
actors
have
been
intimidated
using
the
state
media
apparatus.
CPA
hopes
that
the
relief
sought
in
its
complaint
if
granted-
would
result
in
the
formulation
of
processes
within
state
owned
and
publicly
funded
media
institutions
that
would
result
in
more
accurate,
fair
and
balance
reporting
and
also
act
as
a
deterrent
against
malicious
and
fabricated
reporting.
CPA
is
hopeful
that
the
HRCSL
will
conduct
a
full
and
independent
investigation
into
its
complaint
and
grant
reliefs
prayed
for
therein.
Centre for Policy Alternatives (Guarantee) Limited | 24/2, 28th Lane, off Flower Road, Colombo 7, Sri Lanka Tel: +94 11 2565304-6, 5552746, 5552748 | Fax: +94 11 4714460 | Email: cpa@cpalanka.org | Web: www.cpalanka.org