Every year, Freedom House, an independent watchdog organisation “that supports the expansion of freedom around the world” releases a report, ranking countries based on the level of media freedom in the country. The following is a map of the world, based on media freedom:

Image Courtesy of Freedom House

How well has Sri Lanka fared?

That’s right. We’re “Not Free.”

Based on information for 2010, Sri Lanka ranked 158th, falling under the rather ominous status of “Not Free.” According to the report, “Sri Lanka’s score declined two  points, to 72, due to increased harassment of media freedom advocates and the flawed  trial of journalist J.S. Tissainayagam, which resulted in a 20-year prison sentence.”

Excerpts from the Report, which can be found here:

Although  the  constitution provides for freedom of expression, it and other laws and regulations  place  significant legal limits on the exercise of this right (P 218).

The 1979 Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA) contains extremely broad restrictions on  freedom of expression, such as a prohibition on bringing the government into contempt.  The  decades-old Official Secrets Act bans reporting on classified information, and those convicted of  gathering secret information can be sentenced to up to 14 years in prison. Although no journalist  has ever been charged under the law, it is frequently used to threaten them.

Senior journalist J. S. Tissainayagam, editor of the now-defunct North Eastern Monthly magazine, was sentenced to a 20-year prison term in late August 2009, a year after becoming the  first journalist indicted under the PTA. He had originally been detained in March 2008. A  number of reports noted serious judicial flaws in connection with his trial (p 219).

A number of journalists received death threats in 2009, while others faced attempted  or actual kidnapping and assaults. The victims included Poddala Jayantha, general secretary of the Sri Lanka Working Journalists’  Association; Dileesha Abeysundera, a journalist at the  weekly  Irudina; Frederica Jansz and Munza Mushtaq, of the Leader Publications media group;  and Upali Tennakoon, editor of the weekly Rivira. In the most serious incident, prominent editor  Lasantha Wickrematunga of the  Sunday Leader was shot dead by unknown assailants as he drove to work in Colombo (p 220).

On the positive side, the destruction of the LTTE ended severe restrictions that the rebels  had placed on media in their territory. These had included the seizure or banning of certain  Tamil-language newspapers, as well as threats and attacks against journalists and media staff.  However, threats from other Tamil factions continued.

On several occasions during the year, the  authorities confiscated editions of the Economist with critical articles as they arrived in the country, preventing their distribution (p 221).

—

Disclaimer: All these excerpts have been derived from the Freedom House Report, available at the link above, and are not my content.