No jail for journalists

The IFJ is calling on the United States government to drop all charges against Julian Assange and allow him to return home.

On June 17, 2022, the United Kingdom approved Julian Assange’s extradition to the United States to face charges, primarily under the nation’s Espionage Act, for releasing US government records that revealed the US military committed war crimes against civilians in Afghanistan and Iraq, including the killing of two Reuter’s journalists. If found guilty, Assange faces a jail term of up to 175 years.

The IFJ is gravely concerned about the impact of Assange’s continued detention on media freedom and the rights of all journalists globally. The US pursuit of Assange against the public’s right to know poses a grave threat to the fundamental tenets of democracy, which are becoming increasingly fragile worldwide. Irrespective of personal views on Assange, his extradition will have a chilling effect, with all journalists and media workers at risk.

The case sets a dangerous precedent that members of the media, in any country, can now be targeted by governments, anywhere in the world, to answer for publishing information in the public interest.

Wikileaks was awarded the Walkley Award for Most Outstanding Contribution to Journalism in 2011, an annual prize to reward excellence in Australian journalism, in recognition of the impact of WikiLeaks’ actions on public interest journalism by assisting whistle-blowers to tell their stories. Whistle-blowers have since been utilised by other media outlets to expose global tax avoidance schemes, among other stories.

The sentence of Chelsea Manning, who collaborated with Assange to release the contentious material, was commuted by President Barack Obama. None of WikiLeaks’ media partners have been charged in any US government legal proceeding because of their collaboration with Assange. Aside from the dire implications for press freedom, there is also no legal criterion for Assange’s extradition and charges.

The IFJ is calling on the United States government to drop all charges against Julian Assange and allow him to return home to be with his wife and children. The IFJ is also calling on all media unions, press freedom organisations and journalists to urge governments to actively work to secure Assange’s release. #FreeAssangeNOW

Thanks To

Press release

May 18, 2022

Hijacking of journalists’ mobile phones is MPs’ thuggery!

 Sirasa journalist Kasun Samaraweera and the President of the Parliamentary Reporters’ Association, journalist Prageeth Perera were using mobile phones to cover their reporting. Indika Anuruddha and D. Weerasinghe two MPs by abducted on these mobile phones with brutal malicious. The Federation of Media Workers’ Trade Unions, in association with the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ), strongly condemns this malicious act by members of parliament.

Journalists have been given the Speaker’s permission to use mobile phones in their reporting. Following the day swearing-in of Ranil Wickremesinghe as the new Prime Minister, on the first-day meeting of the 17, ruling party group, journalists have been covering the incident as usual. At that time, the mobile phones of the two journalists were abducted by these two MPs named above. What is even more ridiculous is the statement made by Channa Jayasumana, who supported the move, that a group of strangers was videotaping him in Parliament in front of the Speaker.

It is even more ridiculous that MP Channa Jayasumana describes these two journalists, who are very close friends with 225 MPs, as unidentified men. After handing over the two hijacked phones to the parliament officers, the Speaker should draw attention to the fact that the officers deleted all the data stored in them and handed them over to journalists. The two journalists have already lodged a complaint with the Speaker and the Welikada Police regarding the incident. The Federation of Media Employees Trade Unions emphasizes that this whole incident is a serious threat to the freedom of the media in general and the professional dignity of journalists.

The accuracy of the massive protest being waged by the people of the country against 225 MPs in Parliament explains what this thuggery of the Members of Parliament is all about. The Federation of Media Employees Trade Unions strongly urges the Speaker to draw the attention of the entire Parliament to this shameful act of the Members of Parliament and to take appropriate action against the actions of the Members of Parliament.

Sincerely.                                       

Dharmasiri  Lankapeli                                             General Secretar 

#Gota Go Home Journalists have organized a march near the Fort Railway Station to join the struggle in support of the struggle.

The march is scheduled to leave the Fort Railway Station on April 20 at 3.00 pm and journalists from all over the country are expected to join the march. Following is the full text of the press release issued by the Federation of Media Workers’ Trade Unions regarding the march.

Press release

 April 18, 2022

 Journalists support #Gota Go Home 2022 people’s struggle!

Journalists march April 20 at 3.00 pm near Fort Railway Station.

 More than 10 days have passed since the people’s struggle that began spontaneously, unable to bear the oppression of the Gotabhaya Rajapaksa government. The struggle against the government, which began without any discrimination, is turning into a growing nationwide struggle demanding the empowerment of the people of the country.

All journalists in Sri Lanka, irrespective of their organization, profession, or language, have decided to give their full support to these people’s struggles. The Solidarity March organized by journalists from all over Sri Lanka will commence on April 20 at 3.00 pm near the Fort Railway Station.

The Federation of Media Employees Trade Unions (FMETU) urges all island-wide journalists to participate in this march in support of the Galle Face People’s Struggle, regardless of organizational, professional, or linguistic differences.

FMETU cordially invites the heads of media institutions are also to participate in the People’s Struggle Solidarity March organized by the people of the country against the oppressive government. The Federation of Media Employees Trade Unions (FMETU) has also kindly requested the heads of media institutions to allow all journalists working in their media institutions to participate in this march and to be free of duty that afternoon.       

Thanking You,

Dharmasiri Lankapeli

General Secretary

March 17, 2022

Mr. Dullas Alahapperuma, Minister of Mass Media,

Ministry of Mass Media

Dear Hon. Minister,

Prompt intervention for the job security and professional dignity of journalists

It is unfortunate that incidents that harm the job security and professional dignity of journalists are increasing day by day. We present this letter to you in anticipation of your prompt intervention to prevent such actions.

The service of Nilepthi Ranasinghe, a freelance journalist of the Sri Lanka Rupavahini Corporation, which is under the direct control of your Ministry, has been suspended with immediate effect on the instructions by the administration. She was informed by the SLRC administration that the reason for the termination of her service was a note she had published on her Facebook page regarding the President.

Duminda Silva, the chairman of the Housing Development Authority, had telephoned and threatened journalist Rahul Samantha about his news report. Duminda Silva is convicted of murdering Bharatha Lakshman and was serving a prison sentence, was later released on a presidential pardon. We learned that both these incidents have been reported to you. Our federation believes that you, as a well-experienced professional journalist, do not approve you both incidents.

The Federation of Media Employees Trade Unions, a full member of the International Federation of Journalists, which represents more than 600,000 member journalists in 160 countries, strongly condemns both actions. We also urge you to expedite the investigation into these two incidents and intervene to protect the job security and dignity of journalists while safeguarding their freedom of speech and expression.

Thanking You, Yours sincerely

Dharmasiri Lankapeli    

General Secretary

077 364 1111

fmetu123@gmail.com

cc To all media institutions

A major fuss has arisen over Sri Lanka’s Personal Data Protection Bill, to be taken up for the 2^nd reading in Parliament on Wednesday (9^th March 2022).

Media organisations and civil society have both protested over the fact that a ‘Government controlled entity will be given the power to decide what data should be protected with very wide coverage on ‘special categories of data. The Editors Guild of Sri Lanka has pointed out that this will be a problem to journalistic reporting of corruption stories as the Bill places obstacles by protecting ‘personal data relating to offenses, criminal proceedings, and convictions.

In an editorial that first pointed to the dangers, the widely read the Sunday Times asked on February 13^th, 2022 as to why, ‘In an era of information disclosure that Sri Lanka has pledged to be part of after passing a world-class Right to Information (RTI) Act in 2016, …a Bill on Data Protection presented to Parliament recently by the Prime Minister must revert to ancient terminology by including a clause on Official Secrecy?’

The editorial warned that ‘care must be taken to ensure that protection of data does not prevent the release of information which is in the public interest and observed that the Bill, as it stands, ‘contains too many ambiguities that must be corrected before it passes into law.’

The Young Journalists Association (YJA) meanwhile challenged the Bill in the Supreme Court but the petition was dismissed by the Court on a technicality, that it had been filed in the Supreme Court registry out of time. This was despite the petition being filed just minutes after the official time of filing which was 3 pm. The YJA had stated that ’journalistic purpose’ should be stated as an exception to the processing of data as is the case in all other countries, that the RTI Act should be balanced with the purpose of data protection, and that the Data Protection Authority should be independent rather than ‘Government controlled’ as the Bill provides.

It also pointed to the dangers of a ‘Government controlled’ Authority being given the power to impose hefty fines up to ten million rupees per every act seen as ‘violating’ the Act without these other concerns being addressed.

Colombo Telegraph learns that the Government has promised media organisations that their concerns would be addressed while the Opposition has assured that it would support the amendments proposed by the media to the Bill.

On Monday, the Sri Lanka Press Institute together with the Newspaper Society of Sri Lanka (NSSL), Free Media Movement (FMM), Sri Lanka Working Journalists Association (SLWJA), Tamil Media Alliance (TMA), Sri Lanka Muslim Media Forum (SLMMF), Federation of Media Employees Trade Unions (FMETU), South Asia Free Media Association (SAFMA) and the SLPI, issued a press release informing that they had handed over a letter to the Minister of Mass Media, Minister of Justice and the Secretary of the Ministry of Information Technology highlighting key concerns with the Bill.

They pointed to the fact that while the proposed Personal Data Protection Act is being recognised as an important one in the digital era, serious thought should be given to the implication and infringement to the rights of professional journalism and media freedom. It was emphasized that definitions regarding personal data and special categories of personal data remain arbitrary given that special categories also include data related to offenses, criminal proceedings and convictions which do not recognise the journalistic right to exercise free speech in delivering such information.

It was also noted that the proposed Act would prevail over every other law in any inconsistency, including the Right to Information (RTI) Law which would compromise the access to information that the public and journalists have via the prevailing RTI law.

Transparency International Sri Lanka meanwhile also raised similar concerns, asking the drafters of the Bill why they had decided to omit important protections in the initial draft on personal data protection released in 2019. The preamble of the 2019 framework refers to Sri Lanka’s constitutional Right to Information (RTI)as a crucial right, recognizing the need for the public interest to be balanced with the protection of personal data.

However, as TISL pointed out, this balance is not reflected in the Bill which had omitted that reference. Also, the 2019 framework had called for the appointment of independent three members to a nine-member Data Protection Authority through a public application process. The Bill has deleted that safeguard, saying only that the Authority is to be a ‘Government controlled entity.’ This is in violation of all international standards which call for the Data Protection Authority to be independent of the government.

The Bar Association of Sri Lanka(BASL) has however remained silent on concerns relating to the Bill, particularly the lack of independence of the proposed Data Protection Authority. Its office bearers, including its President Saliya Pieris and others, have applauded the Bill while not acknowledging its serious drawbacks, young journalists who challenged the Bill in the Supreme Court say, pointing out that it is the duty of the Bar to objectively respond to bills that infringe on rights.

Colombo Telegraph also spoke to several experts on data protection, including a senior law academic associated with the early drafts of the Bill who questioned as to why the 2019 data protection framework had been radically changed. A researcher who had worked with the Right to Information Commission (RTIC) clarified that though it is claimed by those pushing the Bill through Parliament, that the Bill had been examined by the RTIC, this was distorting facts as it was only the 2019 framework on data protection that had been sent for feedback to the RTIC.

If Parliament approves the Bill in its current form, it will force all Sri Lankan editorial newsrooms, non-governmental organisations, and research institutes to have Data Protection Officers who will answer to the dictates of a ‘Government-controlled’ Data Protection Authority, experts warn. This will further erode the freedom of expression in Sri Lanka, already under massive threat by a security state, they say.

Courtesy Colombo Telegraph