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The Free Media Movement has condemned the statement by the People's Alliance that the SLFP meeting in Polonnaruwa which was addressed by the President was closed to the media.

The FMM says it is alarmed because "it expressly implies that the People's Alliance (PA) believes that meetings held to openly discuss the dynamics of the socio-political context in Sri Lanka are beyond the mandate of the media to report and should be banned. Examining the content of the President's speech in Polonnaruwa one also recognises that it was not of a secretive or sensitive nature. To ban the reportage of these meetings is no less than a censorship of the media."

"In a global context where structures of governance are moving towards more transparency and accountability, the actions by the opposition party in Sri Lanka bring out a tendency towards a more secretive culture, predicated on an ideology that suppresses the free flow of information and curtails media freedom," the FMM added. 

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