No change of heart in Sri Lanka

BY hoot desk| IN Media Freedom | 31/01/2010

President Mahinda Rajapaksa does not seem inclined to be particularly magnanimous towards the media following his re-election by a handsome majority. If the watching world was looking for any positive signals in this regard what it got was the opposite. On January 30 an anti-government newspaper was shuttered and its editor arrested on allegations of publishing details of an ongoing investigation against a former Tamil rebel now in custody.

The Lanka newspaper, published by the Marxist Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (The Peoples Liberation Front), was raided on Friday and its editor Chandana Sirimalwatte was arrested Saturday for questioning by the Criminal Investigations Department (CID). The Sunday Leader reported on Janury 31 that the CID sealed the Lanka newspaper office in Delkanda, Nugegoda after receiving a court order.

The newspaper office according to an editorial member of Lanka was sealed around 2.30 p.m. He told The Sunday Leader that the CID after visiting the newspaper office about three times earlier in the morning had arrived around 2.15 p.m. and requested all its employees to step outside, as they had received a court order to seal the newspaper office.

A police spokesman said Sirimalwatte was detained after the newspaper published details disclosed by Kumaran Pathmandan, the chief arms procurement agent for the Tamil rebels, who were largely defeated by the Sri Lankan military last year.

Investigative journalism and scoops are apparently not welcome yet in the re-elected president?s second term. Lanka had also published other anti-government articles in the lead-up to Sri Lanka's presidential elections last Tuesday, which incumbent President Mahinda Rajapaksa won. This party newspaper  had also backed former army chief turned opposition presidential candidate, General Sarath Fonseka.

Meanwhile, a reporter and cartoonist of a news website remain missing after six days. The journalist, Prageeth Eknaligoda of Lanka e-news, has been missing since last Sunday, according to his family members.

Eight other journalists who served in state media institutions have been indicted on allegations that they worked for Fonseka, according to Sify news.

The persecution of the Sri Lankan media has been a long running international story, particularly after the killing  in January last year of Lasantha Wickrematunge, the founding editor of the Sunday Leader. Several journalists fled to seek asylum in the West, and an expatriate group called Journalists for Democracy has helped to keep Western media attention focused on the vulnerability of journalists in Sri Lanka. Organisations such as Reporters Without Borders have been putting out releases in the run up to election day, alleging on the day of the polls that news websites were being blocked. Even though one managed to access an allegedly blocked website, the story was that the servers were blocked so that  further material could not be uploaded. 

The elections saw state-owned  media both print and television, run news favouring the incumbent, and devote most of the coverage to him.  When the state media  runs propagandist programmes in that country it seems to be a real issue, because they are more watched that our state media are. And in the subcontinent, Sri Lanka is possibly the only country to also have state-owned newspapers.

 Al Jazeera?s Listening Post reported in its last programme before the Sri Lankan elections that President Rajapakse had greeting the country?s entire population on New Year?s Day through an sms. The state?s communication commission had apparently ordered telecom companies to send out that message free. The programme also reported what it suggested was extended misuse of the state  media during the poll campaign. It did not quote anybody in government on what they thought of the media?s reporting in Sri Lanka, whereas Indian observers both here and in Columbo say that there is also a real problem of partisan media in Sri Lanka.   J S Tissainayagam who was sentenced to  a 20-year jail term   on charges of ?supporting terrorism and inciting racial hatred in his articles? became an international cause celebre, but was let out on  bail a few days ago. Like him, several other Tamil journalists have been accused by the government of being pro LTTE, over the years. But it is not only Tamil journalists that the government of Rajapaksa has targeted. As many as 34 scribes and media workers, both Tamil and Sinhala, have been killed during his period in office.

The New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists said it is alarmed by reports that journalists in Sri Lanka have been subjected to government intimidation, arrests, censorship, and harassment in the aftermath of the presidential election.

"We are receiving reports of government retribution against journalists who sided with the opposition in the election. "Given the ugly history of attacks on journalists in Sri Lanka, we call on President Mahinda Rajapaksa to ensure the safety of all journalists in Sri Lanka, and to use his new mandate to reverse the repressive trends of the past several years," said Bob Dietz, CPJ's Asia program coordinator.

(This article also draws upon the Media Matters column in the Hindu, January 31,2009)