Press Complaints Commission opens office in Jaffna

The Press Complaints Commission of Sri Lanka (PCCSL), the self-regulatory body of the newspaper industry opened an office in Jaffna on Friday, 3 May 2013, at 2:30 pm at 117, Station Road, Jaffna to coincide with the United Nation’s World Press Freedom Day.

The Jaffna Office was opened to serve the needs of the Northern Province newspaper readers who may have a complaint against an inaccurate publication and facilitate their complaint reaching the PCCSL’s main office in Colombo.

All the complainant needs to do is to fill in a Complaint Form with all the details of the complainant and the inaccurate publication, attach a copy of the publication and hand it over at the Jaffna office.

The Jaffna office after checking the documentation will forward it to the PCCSL in Colombo which will set in motion the usual inquiry procedures of the PCCSL Secretariat and the Commission’s Dispute Resolution Council chaired by former Secretary General of Parliament and the country’s first Ombudsman, Sam Wijesinha.

This year is the 20th Anniversary of World Press Freedom Day since it was announced by UNICEF and also the 10th anniversary of the Press Complaints Commission of Sri Lanka.

The PCCSL is supported by the Newspaper Society of Sri Lanka, The Editors’ Guild of Sri Lanka, Free Media Movement, Sri Lanka Working Journalists Association, Sri Lanka Press Institute (SLPI), Sri Lanka College of Journalism (SLCJ), Sri Lanka Tamil Media Alliance (STMA), Sri Lanka Muslim Media Forum (SLMMF), Federation of Media Employees Trade Union (FMETU) and South Asia Free Media Association (SAFMA- Sri Lanka Chapter).

It functions under the Arbitration Act No. 15 of 1995 through Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration.

The High Court of Colombo is empowered to enforce an arbitration award made under the Act in the event a newspaper fails to publish the decision of the Dispute Resolution Council (DRC) of the PCCSL should a complainant wish to pursue a case where the editor is not abiding by the arbitral decision.

The Jaffna Office will be open from Monday to Friday from 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. For more information call 011-5353635.