Sensitive Reporting; the need of the hour
06/05/2019 All DayThe panelist at the panel discussion organized by the Sri Lanka Press Institute and the Free Media Movement of Sri Lanka to commemorate the World Press Freedom Day 2019. Seated from left to right at the Panel : Mr. Ajith Parakum Jayasinghe, Blogger and Social Activist, Mr. M.J.R David, Consultant at University of Vocational Training- Ratmalana, Mr. Shan Wijethunge, Head of Sri Lanka College of Journalism, Ms. Hana Ibrahim, Editor Daily and Weekend Express and Mr. Kamal Liyanarachchi, Complaints Officer of the Press Complaints Commission of Sri Lanka.
The Sri Lanka Press Institute (SLPI) and the Free Media Movement (FMM) jointly organized a panel discussion on the topic “Reporting Sensitive Incidents” to mark the World Press Freedom Day, which was on Friday, the 3rd of May 2019. The panels of speakers at this discussion were Ms. Hana Ibrahim, Editor Daily and Weekend Express, Mr. M.J.R David, Consultant at University of Vocational Training- Ratmalana, Mr. Ajith Parakum Jayasinghe, Blogger and Social Activist, Mr. Kamal Liyanarachchi, Complaints Officer of the Press Complaints Commission of Sri Lanka and the session was moderated by Mr. Shan Wijethunge, Head of Sri Lanka College of Journalism.
The speakers shared their views on the need for responsible journalism during this current prevailing situation of the country. Emphasis was made on the importance of balance and ethical reporting, and the need to avoid a competing attitude to release news but to rather report accurately to the public. It was also noted that this is also a time to be sensitive as there are communities which are impacted, victimized and vulnerable by the recent events. Therefore utmost care should be taken to ensure that whatever news is being shared irrespective of any media platform, it should not disturb the peace that prevails and should not instigate problems among a multi-cultural society as Sri Lanka.
The panel discussion was attended by both media and civil society and an engaging discussion and interaction were experienced.
A section of the participants attending the panel discussion organized by the Sri La nka Press Institute (SLPI) and the Free Media Movement (FMM) to commemorate the World Press Freedom Day 2019

Press Freedom in a State of Emergency : World Press Freedom Day 2019
03/05/2019 All DaySri Lanka Press Institute (SLPI) marks World Press Freedom Day with UNESCO on the 3rd May 2019 under the theme “Media for Democracy: Journalism and Elections in Times of Disinformation”. It is at a quite critical juncture that Sri Lanka as a country comes upon Press Freedom Day this year given the tragic incidents that took place on Easter Sunday, which once again has brought Sri Lanka’s Press Freedom to a crucial focal point.
Media freedom that is vital for democracy often gets trampled under the foot of current issues that calls for “security measures” and gets compromised in various means. On the one hand journalist rights and access to free media platforms should be secured while on the other hand fair and unbiased reporting that does not incite violence or hatred must be promoted. Manipulation of information, contrived photographs, ideologically prejudiced reports and false news that spread disinformation is now the biggest threat to national peace, transparency of information and reliability of the press.
The SLPI with the decree to create an informed public committed to democratic ideals stands with UNESCO’s mandate to foster freedom of expression and its outcomes; press freedom and freedom of information.
The World Press Freedom Index compiled by Reporters Without Borders (RSF) taking 180 countries and regions into account identifies the state of journalism in Sri Lanka as “difficult” for the fourth consecutive year since 2016. This situation, however, is an improvement of conditions for journalists and media in Sri Lanka given the extremely unhealthy status at which it was for years before. Sri Lanka was identified as a country in a “very serious situation” placed at 162nd position in 2009 and to have reached the 126th position in 2019 surpassing India, Pakistan and Bangladesh is truly an achievement. However, Sri Lanka still remains behind Bhutan, Maldives, Nepal, and Afghanistan of the South Asian region who are ranked higher than us. The RSF index of Sri Lanka for the past decade is illustrated below.

Corporate Communications & Public Relations
02/03/2019 9:00 am - 5:15 pmClick here for online registration

Journalists Discuss Reporting in a Pluralistic Environment
28/02/2019 All DaySLPI conducted workshops for more than 40 journalists from diverse ethnic-religious and linguistic backgrounds on reporting in pluralistic environment(s). The workshops gave working journalists an opportunity and understanding of pluralism and how media ethics and professionalism factors into pluralism.
Workshops were conducted in four locations in the country; Kalutara, Batticaloa, Kandy, and Colombo with the aim of Building a Culture of Respect for Religious and Ethnic Diversity. Senior and young journalists representing both print and electronic media participated in the event.
SLPI district coordinators facilitated journalists of their respective districts to participate in these workshops. The concept of pluralism that needs much dialogue and further engagement thus reached a significant number of ground-level journalists whose feedback was that it was incredibly constructive and informative.

Press freedom trends around the world
22/02/2019 10:00 am - 11:00 amThe Sri Lanka Press Institute (SLPI) has organized a knowledge sharing session on “Press freedom trends around the world” by Ms. Aliya Iftikhar, Research Associate, Asia Program, of the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), who is on a short visit to Sri Lanka.
Ms. Iftikhar joined CPJ in 2017 as its Asia research associate. Prior to that, she served as a research assistant at the Middle East Institute and interned at the U.S. Department of State. She has also worked with Amnesty International and has written for Vice News. She has a bachelor’s degree from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, where she was the editor of The Badger Herald.
The detail of the event is as follows.
Date : Friday, 22nd February 2019
Venue : Sri Lanka Press Institute (96, Kirula Road, Colombo 08)
Time : 10 am to 11 am
Medium : English
For further details, please contact Ms. Thisarani Siriwardana on 0115353635 or 0703300700 or training@slpi.lk.

Empowering Youth towards a Culture of Accountability
15/12/2018 All DayAs a measure of taking Right to Information (RTI) to the bottom sphere of the country and to create a RTI trend as a practice, Sri Lanka Press Institute (SLPI) organized workshops for youth in eight districts in the country. These workshops were linguistically facilitated according to the preferences of each district.
The Youth empowerment workshops are part of the “Empowering Youth towards a Culture of Accountability” project, implemented by SLPI funded by the USAID Strengthening Democratic Governance and Accountability Program (SDGAP) in Sri Lanka.
SLPI successfully trained more than 300 youth on RTI in Colombo, Kandy, Anuradhapura, Jaffna, Batticaloa, Galle, Nuwara Eliya, and Badulla. The workshops bring in the needed awareness of RTI, how to file an RTI, how to appeal when information is not received. The youth are also provided with a simplified RTI manual “A citizen’s manual on RTI Law of Sri Lanka” published by SLPI in order to have a detailed understanding of the law.
The trained youth are then linked with the SLPI RTI Help-line to support them in the application of their RTIs and guide them in obtaining relevant information, which will bring about the needed change.


Media Forum on Climate Change 2018
19/10/2018 All DayClimate Change Secretariat of the Ministry of Mahaweli Development and Environment, the UNDP and Consortium partners of Third National Communication (Sri Lanka Press Institute, SLYCAN Trust, Janashakshan and Integrated Development Association) are organizing the Media Forum on Climate Change, and integrated part of the “Sri Lanka NEXT – A Blue Green Era”program 2018
INTERNATIONAL SYMPOSIUM - COLOMBO DECLARATION ON MEDIA FREEDOM & SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY 2018
27/09/2018 - 29/09/2018 9:30 am - 4:30 pmFor further details click here
“Bringing the best out of Social media”
09/04/2018 All DayDate : Monday, April 09, 2018
Time : 9.30 am to 12.30 pm
Language : English
* Please be kind enough to confirm your participation
E mail : info@slpi.lk
Tel : 070 33 00 700 (Thisarani) 011 5353635

An Inspiring Workshop on PERSONAL BRANDING
22/08/2017 5:30 pm - 7:30 pmIn this workshop you will
– Ascertain who you really are
– Connect who you are to what you do
– Define your aspirations
– Create your own brand positioning
– Re- launch yourself in to the world

ආචාරධර්ම භාවිතය පිළිබඳ පුහුණු වැඩමුළුවක් පැවැත්වීමට ජනමාධ්යවේදීන්/මාධ්යවේදීනියන් තෝරාගැනීම 2017
18/04/2017 - 30/04/2017 All Dayආචාරධර්ම භාවිතය පිළිබඳ පුහුණු වැඩමුළුවක්

RTI Workshop for Provincial Journalists - Kaluthara
18/02/2017 All DayRTI training programme for Kaluthara provincial journalists and civil society . It will be held on 18th February at Kaluthara

Training on RTI Law and English Programme for Journalist
17/02/2017 All DayRTI training programme and English Progrmme for Rathnapura provincial journalists. It will be held on 17th February at Rathnapura.

RTI Workshop for Provincial Journalists - Kurunegala
16/02/2017 All DayRTI training programme for Kurunegala provincial journalists and civil society. It will be held on 16th February at Kurunegala.

