SRI LANKA-POLITICS: Media Laws Relaxed

By Feizal Samath Reprint | | Print |

Feizal Samath

COLOMBO, Sep 14 1997 (IPS) - Sri Lanka has scrapped a 19-year-old “obnoxious law” which gave the right to parliamentarians to punish journalists for character defamation.

Parliament, on Thursday, unanimously agreed to undo the Parliamentary Powers and Privileges (Amendment) Bill of 1978 under which journalists could be tried “in the well (chamber) of the House” by members of Parliament sitting as a court.

Though the law has been in existence since January 1978, hurriedly pushed through the legislature by the then United National Party (UNP) government, only two journalists have been tried and convicted. The editor and the news editor of the state- owned ‘Observer’ were hauled before Parliament on Jan. 30, 1978, and convicted after a “trial” conducted by MPs. The newspaper had published a picture with an incorrect caption.

The ‘Observer’ had mixed up the captions of two pictures, one of which showed the then Sri Lankan foreign minister Shahul Hameed at a public function and the other of Hollywood actor Peter Fonda and a companion cruising down a river. The newspaper apologised for the mistake but Parliament was not satisfied. Both journalists were fined.

Officials said the power to try journalists for breach of parliamentary privilege will revert to the Supreme Court which ruled over privilege matters before the 1978 law came into force.

The coalition People’s Alliance (PA) government’s move to scrap this piece of legislation, often described as obnoxious or draconian in nature, follows its promise in 1984 when it won parliamentary and presidential polls, to provide unfettered freedom to the media. The media, particularly local newspapers which were hounded by the previous UNP regime, played a key role in the PA’s victory.

Media Minister Mangala Samaraweera said the bill to repeal the Parliamentary Powers and Privileges (Amendment) Bill was in keeping with the government’s “commitment and determination to establish a free and responsible media in the country”.

Samaraweera said a special committee of parliamentarians, including those from the opposition has also been appointed to look at laws relating to media reforms — a long overdue measure.

Experts say the committee would focus on a widely-criticised law enabling journalists to be tried for criminal defamation, the Official Secrets Act that restricts the use of sensitive government information and other regulations which impinge on journalists’ rights.

Earlier this year, the editor of the mass-selling independent Sri Lankan weekly, the ‘Sunday Times’ was fined and a suspended jail term imposed, after a much-publicised trial, for an article defaming President Chandrika Kumaratunga.

Editors of two other newspapers are facing charges under the same law.

Journalists concede the media is freer today than under the UNP, but argue that the government has failed in its promise to grant more freedom to the state-controlled media, as well as an early repeal of criminal defamation laws.

Kumaratunga’s promise of allowing the state-controlled Associated Newspapers of Ceylon Ltd., the country’s biggest newspaper group, run its own affairs without interference, has failed to materialise.

Similarly the government’s hand in the running of state television and radio is well known. Though government ministers say they are moving towards breaking the shackles of state media institutions, analysts say this is unlikely to happen.

In defence, Kumaratunga says the government needs its own media to counter criticism from the independent press.

The government is particularly sensitive about press coverage of the civil war that has been raging in Sri Lanka’s north and east for the last 14 years. Journalists are not encouraged to travel to the war zone, and most reports coming out of Colombo are issued by the military.