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Colombo revokes censorship

COLOMBO: The Sri Lankan Government on Wednesday announced imposition of censorship on war reporting and revoked it within hours at a Cabinet meeting presided over by President Mahinda Rajapaksa.

Director General of the Media Centre for National Security (MCNS) Lakshman Hulugalle told The Hindu that the gazette notification imposing the censorship was issued on Monday but the government had not acted on it.

“The October 29 notification was essentially a fallout of the false reporting by the Asia Broadcasting Ltd. [The] President, who is a firm believer of freedom of the press, was of the view that rest of the media in the country has behaved responsibly and censorship was not warranted on account of the conduct of one media organisation,” said Mr. Hulugalle.

The widespread perception in political, diplomatic and media circles here is that the government wanted to send out a signal to the journalist community that it would not allow criticism of the defence forces beyond a point.

The government and the military have come under harsh criticism in media after the LTTE suicide squad attack on the Anuradhapura air base on October 22 . For some months now, there has been speculation over the debate within the Rajapaksa Government on the pros and cons of media censorship.

According to informed sources, the government had sought to impose censorship under the existing emergency laws. Sri Lanka has been in a state of emergency ever since the assassination of Lakshman Kadirgamar in August 2005.

Last week, the government cancelled the broadcasting licence of the Asia Broadcasting Ltd. on charges of transmitting a “false news item” related to a terrorist attack in a southern village. The broadcasting firm has since filed a fundamental rights petition before the apex court challenging the action of the Government.

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