Minister of Mass Media Dallas Alahapperuma stresses that the government could no longer bear the commercial failure of the state media and points out that state media which is currently incurring losses, needed creative programs to uplift those institutions to a profitable state.
Elaborating the facts he further said that that approximately Rs. 35 million a month is spent to maintain one state media institution and some add up to Rs. 45 million. Minister Alahapperuma made these remarks at the Ministerial Consultative Committee on Mass Media held recently (21) at the Parliament premises.
Minister further said that the creativity in the state media was in a decline and calls for immediate action.
Furthermore, given that films with violent and inappropriate scenes for children are aired on television, the importance of initiating a program to recommend suitable air time for the telecast of such content was also emphasized.
It was revealed that about 85% of the people in the North are accustomed to watching Indian television channels and as a result children in those areas have less general knowledge of events in the country. The Chairman of the Sri Lanka Rupavahini Corporation (SLRC), Reginald Cooray said that educational programs for Tamil children from Grade 1 to Grade 13 are also being aired on Nethra Channel from 4.00 am to 12.00 noon.
Commenting on this, the Minister said that there is a problem that the information provided to the public through the state media is not transmitted to the Tamil people in the country. He also pointed out the need to appoint Tamil members to the boards of directors of state media institutions.
The government will not allocate funds for any new construction related to the ministry next year, due to the current economic situation in the country, the minister further said.
Members of Parliament Chandima Weerakkody, Shantha Bandara, Dr. Suren Raghavan, Uddika Premaratne, Weerasumana Weerasinghe, Madura Vithanage, Charles Nirmalanathan, Sampath Athukorala, Major Sudharshana Denipitiya, S. Kajakdran, Gunathilake Ranawaka, Dr. Upul Galappaththi, Diana Gamage participated in the meeting. Officials from a number of institutions including the Ministry of Mass Media, Sri Lanka Rupavahini Corporation (SLRC), Sri Lanka Broadcasting Corporation (SLBC), Independent Television Network (ITN), Sri Lanka Press Council, Department of Government Information, Sri Lanka Foundation, Right to Information Commission and Associated Newspapers of Ceylon Limited (Lake House) were also present.
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