Refusing permission to report on District Coordinating Committee meeting proceedings is a violation of media freedom.
Journalists in the Kandy District say that not providing journalists the opportunity to cover the monthly Kandy District Coordinating Committee meetings is a violation of media freedom, the professional right of journalists as well as the right to information.
District Coordinating Committee Meetings are held every month at the Kandy District Secretariat with Parliamentarian Wasantha Yapa Bandara and Governor Lalith U. Gamage chairing the meeting. Secretaries of the Divisional Secretariats of the Kandy District, Chairmen of the Pradeshiya Sabhas, Government Officials, and Members of Parliament and Ministers attend these meetings.
Several important matters including the progress of the work being carried out with the funds allocated for development activities in the district are discussed at these meetings. The discussion on the allocation of public money for development work, their progress, fraud and corruption at these meetings was a key source of information and news for a journalist. This also served an additional role for the journalist in monitoring the progress of the use of the public funds. However, the coverage of these meetings has now been blocked for journalists.
When the Chairman of the Development Committee and the Kandy District Secretary were informed about this, they said that journalists could not be summoned to the Kandy District Coordinating Committee meeting since the government in a circular has stated that journalists should not be given access to cover the relevant meetings.
In this context, at the end of the committee meeting, politicians would make some statements that are beneficial and serve their agenda and may not be relevant to the meeting, or important to the people.
Even though the authorities are opposed to the journalists attending these meetings, the media entourage of MPs, Ministers, employees of the Governor’s Media Unit, and journalists of the Kandy District Media Unit, photographers, and camera operators have the opportunity to attend the meeting. These are not journalists that take information to the people but those who are subservient to these politicians and serve them. This is a clear indication that the flow of information to the public has been deliberately blocked.
The people appoint their representatives. Government officials are maintained at public expense. The people have a right to know the status of the development programs carried out jointly by these two groups. The public needs to be aware of the corruption, especially in the awarding of contracts. All that has been done is violate the right of the people to information.
Nihal Jayawardena Kandy
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