Finance and Mass Media Minister Mangala Samaraweera said that Sri Lankan journalists were ‘duty bound’ to report news without fabrication.

Addressing an awards ceremony at the Sri Lanka Press Institute he said media censoring was no longer valid in the 21st century and that journalists themselves were duty bound to report news without fabrication.

“It’s important that journalist do not lower themselves to a media culture in which they attack each other and fabricate false news as apparent during the former regime,” he said.

"Journalist must work to uncover the truth and work with ethics in this new age of media technology."