Press briefing of Cabinet Decision taken on 2022-09-22

Introduction of a Broadcasting Authority Act for Electronic Media

- There is no fundamental law in Sri Lanka at present to regulate the content of the television, radio and new media and due to this reason, various parties have encountered numerous issues in broadcasting audio -visual content by such media institutions and issuing licenses for such media institutions as well. The unethical actions of certain media institutions by inciting hatred among the people led to various problems in the country recently. Accordingly, the Cabinet decided to appoint a Cabinet Sub-Committee under the Chairmanship of the Minister of Justice, Prison Affairs and Constitutional Reforms to take into consideration the proposal submitted by the Minister of Mass Media to introduce a new broadcasting law enabling to create a culture accountable to the general public and introduce a code of media ethics to the electronic media taking also into consideration the changes occurring in technical and legal fields while securing the maximum independence of speech and expression, and submit appropriate recommendations in that regard, was approved by the Cabinet.