PCCSL receives 142 complaints in 2015

Press Complaints Commission of Sri Lanka members watch the PCCSL promotional video

Press Complaints Commission of Sri Lanka Chief Executive Officer Sukumar Rockwood reads out highlights of the Annual Review 2015. PCCSL Board of Directors Deputy Chairman Sinha Ratnatunga (seated) and Corporate Services Ltd. Legal Executive Amali Peiris are also present

The Press Complaints Commission of Sri Lanka (PCCSL) received 142 complaints last year, of which 85 were valid complaints falling under the purview of the PCCSL mechanism, with editors publishing a ‘Right of Readers’ for 38 of them, the PCCSL Chief Executive Officer said in his annual report for 2015.

The report was read out at the Annual General Meeting of the commission held on 13 July at the Sri Lanka Press Institute auditorium in Colombo.

CEO Sukumar Rockwood further stated that the Sinhala press, which comprises 43% of the country’s newspapers, attracted a majority of the complaints. He said that the commission received the fullest cooperation of editors to resolve these complaints amicably and swiftly.

He said that as many as 278 complaints were resolved directly by editors providing a ‘Right of Readers’ to the aggrieved parties.

The report stated that four English and two Sinhala newspapers however did not cooperate with the PCCSL, which is a voluntary self-regulatory body of the newspaper industry which has the support of the Newspaper Society, the Editors’ Guild, the Free Media Movement, the Working Journalists Association and four other media organisations including a trade union. These groups are the Federation of Media Employees Trade Union, the Sri Lanka Muslim Media Forum, the Sri Lanka Tamil Media Alliance and the South Asian Free Media Association – Sri Lanka Chapter.

The CEO’s report stated that the PCCSL’s autonomous Dispute Resolution Council, headed by former Secretary General of Parliament Nihal Senviatne, met bimonthly to assess complaints that required their attention.

The report also stated that workshops were conducted for most newspapers in their newsrooms while training for provincial journalists on ethical reporting and for government officials and the public on the Editors’ Code were conducted in Colombo, Jaffna and Galle.

The PCCSL conducted two panel discussions, one on ‘Ethical Reporting on Child Abuse Stories in the Media’ with the participation of Dr. Natasha Balendra, Chairperson, National Child Protection Authority, Dion Schoorman, DRC Member as Moderator, Malinda Seneviratne, representing print media, Upendra Herath representing TV and Mahinda Rubasinghe representing radio. 

The second panel discussion was titled ‘Responsibility of the Media in Reporting Cases of Crime and the Rights of the Victim’. For this event Attorney Priyantha Gamage and ASP Ruwan Gunasekera, Police Media Spokesman, attended with Javid Yusuf, DRC Member as Moderator. The Penal Code (Amendment) Act No. 22 of 1995 formed the basis of the discussion.

The CEO’s report also states that the PCCSL celebrated its 12th anniversary on 15 October 2015.

Siri Ranasinghe, Editor of the Lankadeepa, N. M. Ameen, Editor of the Nawamani newspaper and Mohanlal Piyadasa, Chief Subeditor of the Deshaya were reelected by the general membership of the PCCSL at the AGM to the body’s Board of Directors.

The other members of the Board of Directors representing separate media organisations were Kumar Nadesan (Chairman, nominated by SLPI), Sinha Ratnatunga ((Deputy Chairman, nominated by TEGOSL), Manik de Silva (nominated by the SLPI), Nimal Welgama (nominated by the NSSL), B.M. Murshideen (nominated by FMM) and Duminda Sampath (nominated by SLWJA).

Ernest and Young, the Auditors of the PCCSL, were reelected Auditors and Corporate Services Ltd., Secretaries of the PCCSL, were re-elected as Secretary of the company.

The PCCSL Secretariat includes Kamal Liyanarachchi, Complaints Officer, Sinhala Print and Promotions Officer.