Sri Lanka: four media workers reported by a minister over new report
Event- Country
- Sri Lanka
- Initial Date
- Oct 3, 2023
- Event Description
Opposition Leader MP Sajith Premadasa today questioned the summoning of Neth FM journalists before the Parliament Privileges Committee over allegations raised by Minister of Transport, Highways, and Mass Media Bandula Gunawardena.
A complaint has been filed by the Minister, accusing that his Parliamentary privileges have been violated due to an alleged false news report that had been published by Neth Fm and several other local media.
Accordingly, Neth FM journalists have been summoned before the Parliament Privileges Committee today for an inquiry into the matter.
Condemning the move, MP Premadasa told Parliament that it was a breach of media freedom.
He further called on the Prime Minister to intervene and prevent such action being taken against journalists.
Commenting on Minister Bandula Gunawardena’s complaint, Neth FM has responded stating that the views shared during the broadcast was that of a trade union leader and are not that of the media institution or its journalists.
- Impact of Event
- 4
- Gender of HRD
- Other (e.g. undefined, organisation, community)
- Violation
- Administrative Harassment
- Rights Concerned
- Freedom of expression
- Online
- Right to healthy and safe environment
- Freedom of expression
- HRD
- Media Worker
- Perpetrator-State
- Government
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Event Location
Latitude: 6.888984438364205
Longitude: 79.91917367573232
- Event Location
- Summary for Publications
On 3 October 2023, four media workers from Neth FM, were summoned by the Parliamentary Privileges Committee following a complaint filed by the Minister of Transportation, Mass Media, and Highways over their reporting of the minister in Sri Jayawardenepura Kotte, Sri Lanka.