President meets the 'heart' of the Press

President Mahinda Rajapaksa made a surprise visit to the Lake House editorial offices on Friday. In the picture President Rajapaksa is in conversation with Chief Editor Dinesh Weerawansa, Senior Associate Editor Lionel Yodhasinghe and Associate Editor Prasad Gunawardana. Pix :Kavindra Perera

Moving away from prior engagements listed in the day's diary, the Head of State, President Mahinda Rajapaksa created history in the annals of Lake House by bestowing the pride of place to the oldest newspaper office in the country when he made a surprise visit on Friday morning. It was the first ever inspection tour by a Head of State to Lake House to have a face to face meeting with the employees to listen to their grievances.

Clad in an immaculate white national dress, the President walked to all main editorial offices and other departments meeting the employees. His approach was practical and his remedial measures to grievances were pragmatic in nature. His directives to the management was spontaneous. The President's response brought solace to those who made representations seeking early remedy. The visit not only benefitted employees but also the members of the management. Those in the management placed their problems and obstacles to the Head of State. The President explored on possibilities on how to overcome problems with regard to the management.

Claiming that providing incentives to journalists were an investment,President Rajapaksa stated that to produce a quality newspaper with readable content, the contribution by journalists were of paramount importance. "Newspapers cannot be published without journalists", the President quipped.

The President in conversation with Senior Editors, Editors and editorial staff observed that newspaper business could not thrive without the healthy input from journalists. He, therefore stressed the need to provide adequate facilities, incentives and the need to create a conducive working environment to enable journalists to work freely.

Having given a patient hearing to career problems of journalists, the President proposed to the management to give priority to the needs of journalists as any newspaper survived mainly on the commitment of the editorial staff.

President Rajapakse walked to the editorials of Daily News, Silumina and Thinakaran to listen to their grievances.

Accompanying the President were, Secretary to the President, Lalith Weeratunga, Defence Secretary, Gotabhaya Rajapaksa, Coordinating Secretary, Sajin Vass Gunawardena, ANCL Directors - Sarath Kongahage (Editorial), Sanjeewa Siribaddana (Marketing), Chaminda Priyadharshana (Finance) and Rasanga Harischandra (Legal).