Editors resolve 243 complaints directly under ‘Right of Reply’ option

Friday, 25 January 2019 00:00 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

National newspaper Editors resolved 243 complaints made directly to them by aggrieved readers last year, while the Press Complaints Commission of Sri Lanka (PCCSL) received seventy-nine (79) complaints from the public, of which 19 were outside its scope.

The complaints resolved by the Editors come under the ‘Right of Reply’ procedure laid down by The Editors’ Guild of Sri Lanka in their Code of Professional Practice (Editors’ Code).

The Code, which is implemented by the PCCSL now provides for conditional third-party complaints.

The annual report of the PCCSL for 2018 which was released last week states that the PCCSL conducted 14 meetings with 118 publishers, editors and journalists in 2018. Fourteen awareness meetings were held with 50 members of civil society. They also had six awareness meetings with 253 youths who represented various youth groups in the island. These meetings were held in Colombo, Akmeemana, Negombo, Ulapane, N’Eliya, Badulla, Kandy, Anuradhapura and Galle.

The PCCSL, which is an independent, voluntary, self-regulatory body celebrated its 15th anniversary on October 15, 2018. The PCCSL is supported by the Newspaper Society of Sri Lanka (NSSL), The Editors’ Guild of Sri Lanka (TEGOSL), the Free Media Movement (FMM) and the Sri Lanka Working Journalists Association (SLWJA) and is affiliated with the Federation of Media Employees Trade Union, the Sri Lanka Muslim Media Forum, the Sri Lanka Tamil Media Alliance and the South Asian Free Media Association – Sri Lanka Chapter. The PCCSL works on the principles of Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration through its Secretariat and the Dispute Resolution Council (DRC). The DRC is made up of six non-journalist, including the chairman and five journalists. It is headed by former Secretary General of Parliament Nihal Seneviratne. Dr. Devanesan Nesiah, Javid Yusuf, Dion Schoorman, Lucille Wijewardene and Gnana Moonesinghe consist of the non-journalist members while the journalist members are: Siri Ranasinghe, P. Balasingham, Daya Lankapura, Pramod de Silva and Malini Govinnage.

The nine-members of the Board of Directors are: Kumar Nadesan (Chairman), Sinha Ratnatunga (Deputy Chairman), Manik de Silva, Nimal Welgama, Siri Ranasinghe, N. M. Ameen, Mohanlal Piyadasa, Ananda Jayasekera and Duminda Sampath.

The PCCSL Secretariat is headed by CEO Sukumar Rockwood and includes Kamal Liyanaarachchi, Complaint’s Officer.