Announcements

Colombo Declaration Book Launch

Colombo Declaration Book Launch May 5th 2009 at SLPI

The Sri Lanka Press Institute (SLPI) and UNESCO released a joint publication yesterday containing the speeches and inter-active sessions held during the four day international symposium on the Colombo Declaration on Media Freedom and Social Responsibility last October at the event to commemorate World Press Freedom Day.

The Colombo Declaration was first promulgated in April 1998 when the Newspaper Society of Sri Lanka, Editors Guild of Sri Lanka and the Free Media Movement began signatories to the document after an international symposium that had the backing of several international media associations such as the World Association of Newspapers (WAN), the International Press Institute (IPI) and the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ).

The Sri Lanka Press Institute and its affiliated associations, the Press Complaints Commission of Sri Lanka and the Sri Lanka College of Journalism were the direct outcome of the Colombo declaration of 1998. The Sri Lanka Working Journalists Association later signed the document.

To mark the 10th anniversary of the Colombo Declaration, the Sri Lanka Press Institute hosted another international symposium in a bid to re-visit the 1998 Declaration and revise the document.

The 185 page publication includes the speeches made at the opening ceremony at the BMICH on October 20, 2008 and October 10 working sessions held thereafter at the Sri Lanka Press Institute auditorium.

The working sessions were, a background to the Colombo Declaration of 1998, press freedom in Sri Lanka, self-regulation, contempt of court, reporting conflicts, advertising ethics in newspapers, a freedom of information law, new media and training.

The foreign experts who spoke at the session included Ms. Lindsay Ross, Executive Director of the Commonwealth Press Union, Mr. Tim Toumlin, Director of the UK Press Complaints Commission, Ms. Nandini Sahai, Executive Director of the Media Information and Communication Centre of India, Ms. Annelie Evers of Fojo Journalism Training Institute Kalmar, Justice Michael Saldanha, retired Chief Justice of Karnataka etc., while Justice Shiranee Tilakawardena, Judge of the Supreme Court, former Attorney General C.R. De Silva, PC, Plan Implementation Ministry Secretary Dhara Wijeyetillake, media academics like Prof. Tissa Kariyawasam and senior journalists Iqbal Athas and Amal Jayasinghe among others were the local participants. Following the symposium a team of experts headed by UNESCO’s Lawrence Liang provided a revised Colombo Declaration of 2008 which was later endorsed by the Newspaper Society, Editors’ Guild, Free Media Movement and the Sri Lanka Working Journalists Association.

A limited number of copies are available to those interested on a first come basis from the Sri Lanka Press Institute. They can contact Mr. Azzam Ameen, Project Co-ordinator on tel. no. 0115353635 to collect their copies.