8 July 2016 11:23 am
“It is reported that some private television channels allocate 80% of their air time to criticize the government. They only give less than 20% of the time for acknowledging people about the development activities of the country and the policies of the government”, the President said.
He said this during an inspection visit to the Telecommunications Regulatory Commission of Sri Lanka (TRC) yesterday to look into the activities of the TRC as it comes under the purview of the President.
“There is no problem of criticizing the government. But the media institutions have a responsibility to fulfill for the country by conveying fair and balanced information to the people”, he pointed out.
“It is not a task to alleviate the media, but to give the right to the people for a meaningful media usage”, the President added.
When the officials pointed out the issues arisen due to the VAT imposed on the telephone charges, the President stated he would make the arrangements to solve them.