Today the President is the one who advises media organizations on what to publish and what not to publish, UNP Western Provincial Councillor Mujibur Rahman stated.
He stated that the President invites media heads and editors to Temple Trees each month and talks about the political environment of the country as well as giving advice to the organizations on which stories should be published and which should not.
Through this practice, the Councillor said that the president was obstructing media freedom as through his executive presidency.
Rahman took issue with the President’s directive to media organization heads not to give publicity to the work of extremist and fundamental groups in the country, stating that the country’s public has a right to information.
He charged that the President did not want the international community to learn of the actions of these fundamentalist groups and was attempting to manipulate the media in order to ensure less coverage of these groups.
On one side he is inviting the media to discussions and greeting them with tea and cake while on the other hand he works to suppress the media, Rahman alleged.
