Journalists yesterday urged government officials to institute a bill guaranteeing freedom of information and other protections for members of the media.
Lakshman Gunasekara, a senior journalist and president of the country’s South Asia Free Media Association, urged greater public support for media freedom in the country.
“The general public should join with opposition parties and media organizations to pressure the government to enact the Rights to Information Act,” he told a meeting organized by the Citizen’s Rights and Collective of Media Organizations in Colombo.
Parliament struck down a freedom of information bill presented by opposition lawmakers on June 21.
“All countries in South Asia have this [kind of] law,” Gunasekara said.