Sri Lanka’s government sabotaged a training program for online journalists for the fourth time in three months, a media rights group said yesterday, accusing the authorities of continued intimidation and suppression of the media.
Umbrella organization Action Committee for Media Freedom said a training workshop was to have been held at a resort in the seaside town of Negombo, about 38 kilometers from the capital Colombo, during the weekend but plainclothes police officers warned the resort owner of dire consequences if it was allowed.
The owner did not allow the workshop, and returned the advanced payment to the Professional Web Journalists Association, which had organized the workshop on digital security and code of ethics for online journalists, the group said in a statement. The group condemned the incident, saying the government’s move is to stifle the media freedom.
