Saturday Jan 18, 2025
Saturday Jan 18, 2025
Friday, 17 January 2025 00:04 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}
The Criminal Investigation Department (CID) is to commence investigations against some journalists who are paid by certain pharmaceutical companies to disseminate false stories on social media platforms.
This was revealed by Deputy Health and Mass Media Minister Dr. Hansaka Wijemuni speaking at a function in Kandy.
“These journalists are remunerated by those pharmaceutical companies and not by the media institutions that they officially work for. The task given for them is to spread fake information via social media platforms and they are being paid for that,” he said.
According to Dr. Wijemuni, those journalists gain access to sensitive information of the Health Ministry and also get easy access to top officials of the Ministry and other relevant authorities as they pose as journalists.
“Their activities allegedly include making baseless accusations aimed at tarnishing the Ministry of Health’s image and the Ministry officials,” he said stressing that the Government has no intention of influencing or controlling the media.
However, Dr. Wijemuni called for professionalism and ethical conduct among journalists and urged media institutions and organisations to prioritise ethical journalism.
“The country needs journalists who uphold professional standards and ethics, not individuals who compromise these values for monetary gain,” he said.
