Minister of Mass Media and Information Dullas Alahapperuma has stated that the government can no longer bear the commercial failure of the state media.
Therefore, he says, more creative programs need to be put in place to bring the currently loss-making state media into a profit-making state. He acknowledged that there was a decline in creativity in the state media and called for immediate action.
The Minister said this at the Ministry Consultative Committee on Media. Affairs held in Parliament recently.
It was revealed that one institution has to spend around Rs.35 million per month to maintain the state media, which is around Rs.45 million for some institutions.
In addition, the importance of initiating a program to recommend suitable airtime for the promotion of films with violent and child’s content on television channels was also emphasized.
In addition, the importance of initiating a program to recommend suitable airtime for the promotion of films with violent and inappropriate contents for children on television channels was also emphasized.
He said that in reporting parliamentary sittings, very important points are missed in the media and therefore, the need to telecast a special program in Parliament, including important bills, passages and important debates, was discussed. The Minister instructed the state media to pay attention to this.
It was revealed that about 85% of the people in the North are accustomed to watching Indian television channels and as a result children in those areas have less general knowledge about the day-to-day incidents in the country.
Speaking on the occasion, the Chairman of the Sri Lanka Rupavahini Corporation, Reginald Cooray said that education will be provided to Tamil children from Grade 1 to Grade 13 from 4.00 am to 12.00 pm on Nethra Channel.
Commenting on this, the Minister said that there is a problem that the information provided to the public through the state media is not transmitted to the Tamil people in this country. He also pointed out the need to appoint Tamil members to the boards of directors of state media institutions.
Due to the current economic situation in the country, the government will not allocate funds for any new construction related to the ministry next year, he said.