Parliamentary Reforms and Mass Media Ministry secretary Nimal Bopage, who is in the centre of controversy over his statement to the media, said today he, in consultation with the Attorney General and the Inspector General of Police (IGP), would discuss the possibility of introducing some mechanism to deal with the use of words with no legal validity in the media.
He said it was his initiative to issue a statement to the media asking them to exercise caution, when using the term ‘the Joint Opposition’, and that there was no involvement of any political authority in it.
In a hurriedly summoned press conference, he said he did it with good intentions to have a close rapport with media personnel, but it had been given a wrong interpretation by some media organisations.
Mr. Bopage said the term’ Joint Opposition’ had no legal validity.
“We have the Government and the Opposition. But, people get confused with what the Joint Opposition is. As a result, it will give a bad precedent to use that term. However, if the media can convince the general public with facts, they can use it,” he said.
He also asked the media to question the use of the words Good Governance Government or Yahapalana Government. (Lahiru Pothmulla)