Small Screen Gets a Large Dose of Censorship in Sri Lanka

BY one world| IN Media Freedom | 10/11/2003

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                Champika Liyanaarachchi inColombo (OneWorld)

President Chandrika Kumaratunga’s takeover of Sri Lanka’s Media ministry last week, has thrown the country’s state-owned electronic media in disarray, with the President’s loyalists appointed in a major reshuffle, tailoring the news according to her whims. With almost surgical precision, the President removed all the heads of state-controlled electronic media institutions. All of them were  supporters of Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe, appointed after the United National Front government came to power in December 2001.

Having done so, she filled the vacancies with her own men, triggering a total transformation of programs overnight, especially news bulletins. One of the first to be shunted out was the chairman of the state television - Rupavahini and the public Sri Lanka Broadcasting Corporation (SLBC), Dhammika Dissanayake, who was the former media adviser to the PM. President Kumaratunga’s powerful media spokesman Harim Peiris, took over as the new chairman.

A senior officer in Rupavahini’s news division alleges that Peiris came toRupavahini around 8.30 pm, on November 4 and asked the staff to change the stories lined up for the 9 pm newscast. According to the staff, who had chosen a message sent by Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe from the US, asking the people to stay calm, as their lead story, were allegedly asked to remove it. Likewise, changes were also made to the news bulletins of Eye TV, Rupavahini’s second channel. Alleges the ousted Dissanayake, "Major changes have been made,especially to news bulletins. The impartiality that we were maintaining is no longer there."

But perhaps the most controversial changes were those made to theIndependent Television Network (ITN), the other state-controlled television station in Sri Lanka. Considered a state-owned institution, ITN is actually registered as a private company, with the Finance ministry holding a 100 per cent stake. It is the Finance ministry that appoints the board of directors to ITN. Those relieved of their posts include ITN chairman Guyrika Perusinghe, the PM’s former media coordinator, who was also replaced by a new chairman.

Newton Gunaratne, the new ITN chief, is the media adviser to the Leader of the Opposition in Parliament and People’s Alliance strongman, Mahinda Rajapakse. But Perusinghe is not taking his dismissal tamely. He maintains that since the Finance ministry has not endorsed the appointment, he still remains ITN chairman. "I have already lodged a complaint with the police, claiming that an outsider is forcibly occupying my chair," says Perusinghe.

The President made several other changes in ITN. Those who were stripped of their posts and demoted included the news manager (Programs), Suranga Senanayake, deputy general manager of Lakhanda (ITN’s broadcasting station) Chandana Tillekaratne and assistant  engineer of Lakhanda, P. Bamunusinghe.

"While I was asked to vacate my post and demoted as a staff member, an assistant editor working under me who is known to be a strong supporter of the President, has been appointed as the new news manager," protests Senanayake. Since they were demoted Tuesday, the three of them have not gone back to work. "The environment there is so volatile and uncertain that we don’t want to take risks," says Senanayake.

But the damage has been done. On November 4, there was a near total blackout of government news on the three state channels. Says the convenor of the Free Media Movement (FMM), Sunanda Deshapriya, "While the private channels did not change their political coverage, the political line of the three state TV channels and the SLBC changed overnight from pro-government to pro-opposition."

Adds Deshapriya, "This is exactly why we campaign for an independent media commission to oversee state media institutions. Otherwise, we will not be able to break the tradition of one of the two main parties crippling media freedom."

Interestingly, the three private TV channels, which also boast strong political connections, so can hardly be called "unbiased," managed to steer clear of the media turbulence. For them it was business as usual.

One of them, Teleshan Network Ltd (TNL), is run by Prime MinisterWickremesinghe’s brother, Shan Wickremesinghe, while another called Maharaja Television Network (MTV), is managed by the Maharaja group, one of the main financiers of the PM’s party, the United National Party. Predictably, both of them are continuing with their strong pro-government stand. Says MTV news director Tyronne Devota, "The decision by the President to take over the ministry has not had any influence on us. We have managed to keep our independence as usual and have made no changes to our news programs."

Defending the wholesale slaughter in the top echelons of the mediabureaucracy, new Rupavahini chairman Peiris says the appointments to these posts have traditionally been made by the Media minister. He adds, "The President as the Media Minister has appointed those in whom she has confidence. As everybody knows, for the last two years she has been highly critical of the way the government manipulated the state media. Those who held these posts earlier were those in the PM’s media unit."

Not many island watchers would be convinced by that line of argument,although most have come to terms with media censorship of one kind or another.