Today it remains Government-owned and it now embarrassingly extols the virtues of whatever colour of government is in power. The remainder of the press houses are free although many are related in various ways to particular political parties' views. A Minister for Telecommunications and the Media sits in the Cabinet and is reputed to be close to The President. Educated in the UK he has a full understanding of, and a genuine commitment to, a free Press as and when the security situation allows. He is much vilified in the opposition press and so, within the law, has taken action through the Courts but nothing more - proof positive of his commitment.
Most journalists belong to unions which are related in various ways to political parties.
The most independent is the Editors' Guild. Another specialist body is the Sri Lankan Environmentalist Journalists Forum. It has recently called for a Code of Ethics for journalists which, currently does not exist. Whether the general reading public would accept that journalism in the Island is responsible is a moot point. I suspect that most educated readers would agree that there is still a long way to go before Lankan journalism can be called responsible.