The Web Sri Lanka In Focus

Saturday 26 January 2008

Media censorship & defamation law should be introduced at once - Gotabhaya

Under the current war situation, media censorship and defamation law should be established immediately, said Gotabhaya Rajapaksa.

In its publication on Jan.27th, the ‘Sunday Lankadeepa’ reports a lengthy interview with the defence secretary on the current war situation.

Citing the defence secretary, the weekend newspaper reports, “In my opinion, it isn’t necessary for anyone to report on military information. The amounts of weapons in stock, the varieties that are purchased are not important for the public. All the public needs to know is the current war situation. Needless pressures are unnecessary. That is not media freedom.”

“I am not afraid to say that if I have the power, I will not allow any of this to be reported. From the beginning, I was very much against this. I told the President that a media censorship and laws enabling strict punishments should be introduced immediately”, it adds.

“Why publish lies? Consider how much defamation is taking place. The defamation law should be introduced to curb this situation. It is like death penalty. If no one commits murder, they will have no cause to fear the death penalty, even if it exists. It is the same with the defamation laws,” quotes the ‘Sunday Lankadeepa’.

“Is this what is meant by media freedom? There are two or three masterminds behind this, who will do much damage. Today, media freedom has become the freedom of only two or three people. This is the true story isn’t it? The freedom of Ranjith Wijayawardena is in one place while the freedom of Maharaja is elsewhere…..”

“…Media freedom is the freedom of the one who reports it. For example, Maharaja should give the freedom of reporting the truth in his opinion to the program producer. However, this is not what is happening. They give the producers guidelines and tell them what to air. Briefly, it has become the freedom of the media institution owners. Everything in this country is used for prostitution. Media, peace…everything. And vocabulary is to be invented to do justice to such happenings”, reports the paper, quoting the defence secretary.

Source: lankadissent