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Message: <blockquote data-quote="lkdood" data-source="post: 10445942" data-attributes="member: 92282">Sri Lanka's ruling party used its parliamentary majority Tuesday to  defeat an opposition-initiated bill to grant greater media freedom, a  parliamentary official said.President Mahinda Rajapakse's United  People's Freedom Alliance, which enjoys a two-thirds majority in the  225-member assembly, shot down the Freedom of Information Bill presented  by an opposition lawmaker, an official said."The combined  opposition voted for the bill, but the government overwhelmingly voted  against it," the official said citing Tuesday's proceedings in the  legislature.There was no immediate comment from the government  which maintains a state of emergency which gives sweeping powers to  police and security forces to detain suspects for long periods.The  opposition had presented the bill after accusing the government of  trying to stifle media freedom in a country where 17 journalists and  media employees have been killed in the past decade.There is no  formal censorship in Sri Lanka, but rights groups say many privately-run  media institutions are self-censoring for fear of intimidation from the  authorities.Opposition parties accuse the government of  maintaining emergency laws, even two years after security forces crushed  Tamil Tiger separatists in May 2009, to suppress political opponents.AFP</blockquote>

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