Government to facilitate journalists’ visit to north
Monday, 11 November 2013 00:00
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The Government said that media personnel who are in Sri Lanka to cover the Commonwealth Summit in Colombo this week can visit any part of the country with prior notification.
The Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) Media Centre at the BMICH has made arrangements to provide facilities to accredited journalists to visit the former conflict areas in the north and east.
However, the journalists who wish to visit Jaffna are required to obtain special media accreditation from the Government Information Department with prior notice, the Director General of the Department, Professor Ariyaratne Athugala said. “The journalists can go on their own to Jaffna or any other places in the Northern and Eastern Provinces with the media accreditation issued for the purpose. But they should inform us in advance of their intended visit,” he has said. “This is an ideal opportunity for the international journalists to assess the situation of northern Sri Lanka where the Government has fast tracked projects to develop the entire district,” the department official said. The Government Information Department said that over 400 foreign journalists have registered to cover the CHOGM summit in Colombo from 15-17 November.
The Government also alerted that it has learnt of several sinister moves that are underway at international level to embarrass Sri Lanka ahead of the summit. “The Government of Sri Lanka has noticed that LTTE rumps based in certain countries are engaged in tarnishing the image of Sri Lanka through various hired organisations by unleashing canards,” the Media Department said.
