Sri Lanka blocks 5 News websites over
COLOMBO, Sri Lanka (AP) Sri Lanka has blocked news sites because they committed character assassination and insulted people including key political leaders, officials said Monday.
Media groups criticized the moves as undemocratic, and the U.S. Embassy recently raised concerns about press freedom in Sri Lanka.
Sri Lankan laws do not restrict the press from criticizing leaders, but media can be charged for defamation.
The sites blocked since Saturday were publishing reports that amount to "character assassination and violating individual privacy," Information and Media Ministry Secretary W.B. Ganegala said Monday.
Plenty of complaints were made against the sites, and the ministry collected their published reports for some time and decided to block them, they said.
The government did not report what content it opposed, but the sites have published material critical of the government and have raised allegations of corruption and malfeasance against politicians. No information was given on how the sites can challenge the action or if or when they are going to be unblocked.
A government release separately asked sites to register with the media ministry and appealed to them to adhere to media ethics and to Sri Lankan law. The requirement is new for sites, while older media formats such as newspapers, radio and television already must register before they start publishing.
The Telecommunication Regulatory Commission blocked www.lankaenews.com, srilankamirror.com, srilankaguardian.com, paparacigossip9.com and www.lankawaynews.com, commission Director General Anusha Palpita said.
Kelum Shivantha, the editor of srilankanmirror.com, said blocking the site was unfair as it always gave fair coverage.
It also said some sites had published reports damaging the character of President Mahinda Rajapaksa, ministers and senior government officials.
"We published our reports independently and exactly. They always introduced the both sides of the story," Shivantha said. "No has complained against us. They have not yet been informed about the reason for blocking our net site."
The government was deviating from its responsibility to strengthen democracy, said Gnanasiri Kottigoda, acting president of the Sri Lanka Working Journalist Association.
The government or any person affected by the websites' content could take legal action "if they have done anything wrong. But blocking is not a suitable solution."
"The government is trying to block the peoples' right to access information," Kottigoda said. "This is not democracy, and also it is a useless hard work as the new information know-how has the capability to beat those censorships."
Of the sites, lankaenews is highly critical of the government and has been blocked historicallyin the past. a few threats and assaults have been made against it in recent years.
A columnist for the net site has been missing for over a year. The website's office was set on fire earlier this year and lankaenews blamed the government for the assault.
The U.S. Embassy in Colombo said last week it was deeply concerned. The statement called on Sri Lankan authorities and telecommunications firms "to cease activities aimed at blocking free access in Sri Lanka to all legitimate media sites, including Lanka-e-News."
