Conference on 20th Anniversary of colombo declaration

The conference will formally be inaugurated by Premier Ranil Wickremesinghe on Sept. 28 and the keynote address will be delivered by Speaker Karu Jayasuriya.

Representatives from nine countries would be attending an international conference to mark the 20th anniversary of the Colombo Declaration on Media Freedom and Social Responsibility from September 27 to 30, 2018, a media release said.  

The conference is organised by the Sri Lanka Press Institute (SLPI) in partnership with its constituent partners, UNESCO and the Royal Norwegian Embassy.  

The release said:  

The conference will also coincide with the UN-designated International Day for the Universal Access to Information (IDUAI).

The conference will be formally inaugurated by Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe on September 27 and on the following day, the keynote address on IDUAI will be delivered by Speaker Karu Jayasuriya followed by an address by Mahinda Gammanpila, Chairman, RTI Commission.  

The working sessions will be held at the Cinnamon Grand and the Mt. Lavinia Hotel and will be attended by local editors, publishers, journalists, academics and information technologists. Representatives from Australia, Bangladesh, Canada, China, Germany, India, Norway, Pakistan and the UK will be participating.  

The 12 sessions that will cover the 3 ½ – days will include topics: Revisiting the Colombo Declaration of 1998; Regulating the Media; Public Service vs. Private Broadcasting, an event to mark the International Day for the Universal Access to Information, the RTI and the way ahead; Truth and Trust: Fake news and Media Credibility; Contempt of Court; Training and Preparing for the Future and Power of Journalism.  

The last day will look at the achievements of the Colombo Declaration, take stock of what has been achieved and map out the way ahead.  

The international conference is supported by the media industry comprising The Editors’ Guild of Sri Lanka (TEGOSL), Free Media Movement (FMM), Sri Lanka Working Journalists Association (SLWJA), Newspaper Society of Sri Lanka (NSSL), Press Complaints Commission of Sri Lanka (PCCSL), Sri Lanka College of Journalists (SLCJ), WAN/IFRA, Commonwealth Media Trust, Committee for the Protection of Journalists (CPJ) and the International Press Institute (IPI).