The
Government is committed to defend the people’s
right to information, said President Mahinda Rajapaksa
addressing the Progress Review Meeting of the Ministry
of Information and Media held yesterday (02) at Temple
Trees, Colombo.
Matters discussed included
among others the de-politicisation of the media, expediting
the Journalists’ Pension Scheme, expanding electronic
media services to cover the entire country, increasing
the number of journalist training programmes and workshops,
providing journalists with concessionary bank loans
to purchase necessary equipment etc.
The President called
upon the media to develop a more ethical and positive
media culture. In this connection he stressed the necessity
of the state media organizations to coordinate their
activities better. He also requested them to report
on development work undertaken by the government so
that people could be aware of them. Development and
communication should go hand in hand, he stressed while
commenting that attention devoted to development of
media and communication strategies is inadequate.
The President also
referred to the campaign of disinformation against the
country in the international media and called for counter
measures with the assistance of foreign journalists.
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