• I don’t think the country’s media needs advise from the President or any politician about what media freedom should look like
• We would like to tell the President to stop advising and suppressing the media,” 
• Media ethics should be observed and protected, and it should be done based on regulations drawn up by the media itself

Leader of the Samagi Jana  Balawegaya Sajith Premadasa slammed President Anura Kumara Dissanayake for his recent comments about the media, asking Dissanayake to back off trying to control media narratives.  

“We would like to tell the President to stop advising and suppressing the media,” Premadasa said at a meeting on Thursday.  

“The President is not speaking about the media the same way he did when he was a Presidential candidate. He used to speak about the freedom, rights and safety of the media, but now President Anura Kumara Dissanayake is trying to advise the media,” Premadasa said.  

“I don’t think the country’s media needs advise from the President or the any politician about what media freedom should look like,” he also said, adding, “We need to protect media freedom, which is a pillar of a democratic country.”  

“Media ethics should be observed and protected, and it should be done based on regulations drawn up by the media itself. The President or the government advising or bringing in laws to control the media is a danger to media freedom and democracy,” Premadasa also opined.  

Earlier this week, President Dissanayake urged media institutions to abandon any unethical practices, and adopt a democratic approach in its journalism.  

“There are some media institutions that haven’t let go off their old habits. We urge them to embrace reporting in a democratic manner,” he told a meeting in Matara.