Today is World Press Freedom Day: Strengthening journalism to advance democracies: Information as a public good

Members of the panel from left to right, row 1 - Yashvardhan Kumar Sinha, Chief Information Commissioner, Central Information Commission, New Delhi, India, Kishali Pinto Jayawardena Commissioner, Right to Information Commission of Sri Lanka, Ashwini Natesan, Independent researcher and advocate. Shyamlal Yadav, Senior Editor, The Indian Express,  
Row 2 - Jayantha Fernando, Director, Sri Lanka CERT and General Counsel, ICTA, M.Sridhar, former Commissioner, Central Information Commission of India, Panel moderator, Waruna Karunatilake, journalist.   

Members of the panel from left to right, row 1 - Yashvardhan Kumar Sinha, Chief Information Commissioner, Central Information Commission, New Delhi, India, Kishali Pinto Jayawardena Commissioner, Right to Information Commission of Sri Lanka, Ashwini Natesan, Independent researcher and advocate. Shyamlal Yadav, Senior Editor, The Indian Express,  
Row 2 - Jayantha Fernando, Director, Sri Lanka CERT and General Counsel, ICTA, M.Sridhar, former Commissioner, Central Information Commission of India, Panel moderator, Waruna Karunatilake, journalist.   

The Sri Lanka Press Institute (SLPI) marks the World Press Freedom Day today (May 3, 2021) in concurrence with UNESCO’s commemoration of 30 years of the Windhoek Declaration under the theme “Information as a Public Good”.  

The completion of 30 years of the landmark Windhoek Declaration for the development of free independent and pluralistic press also sheds light on our own roadmap declaration for media freedom in Sri Lanka, the Colombo Declaration of Media Freedom and Social Responsibility of 1998.   

This year’s theme revolves around affirming the importance of information enhancing media information and literacy to defend and demand journalism as a vital part of information as a public good. 
In seeking to advance professionalism in journalism and promote media freedom under the theme; “Strengthening Journalism to Advance Democracies; Information as a Public Good” the SLPI recognizes reliable information as key to forge collective aspirations of better democracies.  

In echoing this message, the SLPI and the Pathfinder Foundation are jointly hosting a webinar on Right to Information (RTI) to coincide with the World Press Freedom Day, reiterating the importance of access to information as a public good. The six-member panel will make presentations on the following areas; ‘Gains of the present, priorities for the future, ‘Implementing RTI: Development priorities and exposing corruption’ and ‘RTI; Privacy and data protection. The panel will be moderated by Waruna Karunatilake.  

The webinar will be held on the Zoom platform today (May 3, 2021) at 3.30 p.m. for more details you can find it from the events segment of the SLPI website at www.slip.lk or on Facebook or Twitter.