The Hon. (Dr.) Nalinda Jayatissa - Minister of Health and Mass Media

¶ 01 Hon. Member, decline in various social sectors affects media as well. Therefore, in formulating the media policy, we have paid attention to this. The media policy is being formulated not by the Government but with Government facilitation and inputs from persons, institutions and experts in the media field. As you highlighted, we aim to safeguard quality. We expect to unveil the media policy within three months. Further, as I stated, we are preparing an ethics compendium. The Government’s policy is not to control media, but to work with media through dialogue and consensus. Hence, rather than passing laws first, we intend to proceed through stakeholder engagement. Where conduct breaches the general law, existing laws will apply. We hope media institutions and practitioners will act with social responsibility in a competitive world, and we aim to operationalize the programme accordingly.