Reply To:
Name - Reply Comment
Last Updated : 2024-04-26 02:12:00
The National Child Protection Authority (NCPA) has decided to introduce strict guidelines on the use of children for television reality shows, commercials, and voicing of TV commercials.
Chairman of NCPA Professor Muditha Vidanapathirana said that a Gazette notification will be issued in future prohibiting the use of children under the age of 13 for television reality shows.
Vidanapathirana said that all television channels in Sri Lanka will be required to adhere to the guidelines, while legal action will be taken against the channels that fail to comply.
The National Child Protection Authority has received a number of complaints on the abuse of children used for television reality shows.
Professor Muditha Vidanapathirana said continuous discussions have been held with the Ministry of Mass Media in this regard and the drafting of the guidelines have reached the last phase.
A proposal has also been put forward to amend the laws allowing the use of children below the age of three for commercials and to increase the age limit to 13 and above as per international standards.
Attention has also been drawn on children being used to voice international commercials and cartoons broadcast on television.
Professor Vidanapathirana further said that a special unit has been established to monitor and regulate commercials broadcast on television.
The amended guidelines will be submitted for the approval of the Cabinet of Ministers and will thereafter be implemented from December 2020, Vidanapathirana added.
The move comes after a 54-year-old set designer for a reality show on a private television station was arrested on charges of abusing a number of underage boys at his residence in Pannipitiya.
The man, who had posed as an English teacher as well, had lured underage male students from his tuition class to his residence and had sexually abused them.
The Police had found various pictures and footage of the abused children which are suspected to have been sold to foreign countries by the suspect.
Preliminary investigations revealed that the man had abused a number of underage male children since 2018.(Indika Sri Aravinda)
karu Friday, 31 July 2020 12:09 PM
First and foremost parents should stop showcasing their children for publicity in such programmes. There was no TV during our school days and still we grew up with knowledge. Schools are more than enough if they are run properly
kamal Friday, 31 July 2020 03:44 PM
there is nothing wrong with television and educational programs. But these shows are just trash - there is nothing to gain by watching them!
Dukhinda Jayawardena Friday, 31 July 2020 09:41 PM
Very good move, children have to be protected from the early stages of their growing up.
Add comment
Comments will be edited (grammar, spelling and slang) and authorized at the discretion of Daily Mirror online. The website also has the right not to publish selected comments.
Reply To:
Name - Reply Comment
US authorities are currently reviewing the manifest of every cargo aboard MV
On March 26, a couple arriving from Thailand was arrested with 88 live animal
According to villagers from Naula-Moragolla out of 105 families 80 can afford
Is the situation in Sri Lanka so grim that locals harbour hope that they coul