Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe said that media is the greatest threat to media freedom in the country.

At a meeting to mark World Press Freedom Day and to introduce a set of guidelines for an ethical media culture, the Prime Minister said that certain media were publishing blatant lies.

He spoke of the Uthayan newspaper and the attacks against it. Some media are silent about it since it is a newspaper in Jaffna. Meanwhile, they are branding Eknaligoda as a LTTE supporter, the Prime Minister added.

The media claim that the government is hunting 'war heroes'. However, 'war heroes' say that this incident is tarnishing their image and the government should find out the truth, Wickremesinghe said. He also claimed that the media is falsely claiming that the LTTE will regroup.