Draft of the ‘National Media Policy’ handed over to the Media Minister

2026-03-14 - 16:47

The draft of the “National Media Policy of Sri Lanka,” prepared following a long-term and extensive consultative process, was officially handed over today (14) to the Minister of Health and Mass Media, Nalinda Jayatissa, and the Deputy Minister of Mass Media, Kaushalya Ariyarathne. The handover took place at the auditorium of the Ministry of Mass Media. The policy framework was prepared by an independent multi-stakeholder committee appointed by the Ministry of Mass Media and was developed over a period of more than two years, from May 2023 to December 2025, with the contribution of hundreds of diverse stakeholders. Addressing the event, Minister Dr Jayatissa stated that the public protest movement had highlighted the need for policy frameworks across many sectors in Sri Lanka, and that such policy formulation is currently being carried out at the ministerial level. He emphasised that the National Media Policy is not merely a policy of the Ministry itself, noting that the Ministry’s role was primarily to facilitate the process. The Minister further pointed out that the preparation of such a consensus-based policy by an independent multi-stakeholder committee constitutes a historic undertaking. He added that particular attention had been paid to media freedom, the professionalism of journalists, and citizen engagement. The Zero Draft of the policy was prepared and presented in July 2024 by an initial drafting committee comprising 23 members appointed by the Ministry of Mass Media in 2023. Subsequently, a 28-member multi-stakeholder committee reappointed by the present Government in early 2025 further expanded the process of preparing the advanced draft. As part of efforts to obtain public views, the Zero Draft was published on the Ministry’s website in all three languages from June 2025. In addition, with the cooperation of organisations such as South Asian Women in Media (SAWM) and the Free Media Movement (FMM), public consultations were conducted in Colombo, Kandy, Puttalam, Trincomalee and Jaffna. These consultations gathered views from civil society representatives, journalists and women activists, thereby strengthening public participation in the process. Among those present at the event were the Director General of Government Information, Harsha Bandara, the Director (Development – Mass Media) of the Ministry of Mass Media, Nelum Dilshari, other government officials, and several members of the expert committee that drafted the National Media Policy.