Hon. Ratnasiri Wickremanayake
Prime Minister
Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka

19 March 2007

Dear Prime Minister,

We are writing on behalf of the World Association of Newspapers and the World Editors Forum, which represent 18,000 publications in 102 countries, to express our serious concern at remarks made by defence spokesperson Keheliya Rambukwella that seriously undermine freedom of expression in Sri Lanka.

According to reports, during the 6 March news broadcast of the government-owned Independent Television Network, Mr Rambukwella said that some broadcast media outlets and some newspapers were only interested in supporting the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eeelam and in lowering the morale of the armed forces and police.

Mr Rambukwella went on to suggest that these media may be carrying out the agenda of groups interested in “corrupting the minds” of the public. He then cited Israel as a positive model, stating that none of its 13 television channels criticised the state when it engaged in attacks, despite world opinion being firmly against it.

We are seriously concerned that an official spokesperson for a government that professes to support press freedom would seek to undermine the media in this way. We are concerned that in such circumstances, Mr Rambukwella’s remarks take on the nature of a threat to the press.

We respectfully call on you to renounce Mr Rambukwella’s remarks and to make it clear that your government fully supports the media in its role of objectively informing the public. We urge you to take all necessary steps to ensure that in future your country fully respects international standards of freedom of expression.

We look forward to hearing from you at your earliest convenience.

Yours sincerely,

Gavin O’Reilly
President
World Association of Newspapers

George Brock
President
World Editors Forum

WAN is the global organization for the newspaper industry, with formal representative status at the United Nations, UNESCO and the Council of Europe. The organization groups 18,000 newspapers in 102 countries, 11 news agencies and nine regional and world-wide press groups. WAN is non-governmental and non-profit.