NSLJA Saddened at Newspaper Burning

We note with extreme sadness the burning of newspapers in Jaffna peninsula at a time the government says it makes maximum efforts to restore democracy in the counrty and the peninsula in particular, while taking steps to hold a free and fair local government election in the region.

This is an incident that brings back  fear into the minds of the peninsula residents who hope for peace.

We urge the government to take steps to prevent such incidents from taking place at a time  when its is believed that an opportunity has arisen to elect  suitable leaders to rebuild the devastated Jaffna peninsula. We also urge speedy legal action against the culprits.

We the Northern journalists are in a helpless state unable to do anything other than mourn the threats against the media when the need is for free expression of ideas for a healthy and democratic election.

http://jaffnanews.wordpress.com/

Tamil woman journalist abducted, later released

Krishni - abducted and released

[TamilNet, Thursday, 25 June 2009, 12:11 GMT]
Tamil journalist, Ms Krishni Kandasamy, was abducted by unidentified persons in a white van Wednesday morning from Wattala in Colombo division, and was released later in the evening the same day in Kandy in the central province after being interrogated. She had been working for a leading Tamil daily published from Colombo, Virakesari, for 10 years, according to complaints lodged with the Wattala Police.

Ms Krishni said she was also threatened earlier by unidentified persons.

Wattala Police have launched an investigation into the complaint.

Krishni Ifham was working for several years at Express Newspapers Veerakesari as a crime reporter later she joined in 2006 the NGO called PANOS, which also provides a News Service.

She was abducted on her way to work at at Hunupitiya Wattala on Wednesday morning. She was taken blindfolded and questioned for several hours and later she was released in Kandy on the same night.

Ms. Kandasamy’s husband Ifam Nizam is also a journalist working for the Island Newspaper, an English daily. Her father was an ex policeman.
http://www.tamilnet.com/art.html?catid=13&artid=29655

Sri Lankan Media Groups Ask Government Not to Re-establish Powerful Media Council

By Anjana Pasricha
New Delhi

Sri Lankan journalists hold placards carrying a photograph of fellow journalist Poddala Jayantha during protest against attacks on journalists and media suppression in Colombo, 10 Jun 2009
In Sri Lanka, media groups have asked the government to scrap moves to re-establish a media panel which could jail journalists. The reactivation of the Press Council is being seen as a means to control the media in a country where concerns have been voiced about intimidation and pressure on reporters critical of the government.

The government’s move to revive the powerful Press Council was announced by the Sri Lankan media minister, Lakshman Yapa Abeywardena.

The Press Council was staffed with government appointees. It had the authority to hear complaints about inaccurate reporting or defamation and fine and jail journalists if found guilty.  It ceased operations in 2002, after it was criticized as an anti-democratic tool to suppress criticism of the government.

The government says it reactivated the body after a parliament committee found that council salaries were still being paid and office space was still being rented. Minister Abeywardena says the media has nothing to fear, and it has no intention of gagging the press or imposing restrictions on it.

But the move to restore the Press Council has provoked concern among journalists in Sri Lanka.

Seven media bodies, headed by the Editors Guild, have in a joint statement to President Mahinda Rajapakse, saying that a media culture cannot be based on placing charges against journalists, fining them or sending them to jail.

Vincent Borsell of the Paris-based Reporters Without Borders calls the decision to restore the Press Council another step to suppress the independent media.

“It’s very dangerous and also is unfortunately a new step in all this campaign against free media in Sri Lanka,” he said. “I think the government should consider it again.”

The Press Council is being considered in the wake of a number of threats and attacks on journalists who have been critical of the government and its handling of a war against Tamil Tiger rebels.

The war ended last month, raising hopes the situation would improve. But some people fear that may not be the case.

Just two weeks after the war ended, a strong advocate of freedom of expression, Poddala Jayantha, was abducted and assaulted in Colombo.

Vincent Borsell says there has been a spate of attacks on journalists, in recent years, dealing a blow to investigative and independent reporting.

“Since the war has restarted in 2007, there is a lot of incidents,” he said. “It starts from killings, beatings, kidnappings and death threats. But it also goes on to pressure on the media, so it means now there is no let us say direct censorship in countries like Burma, but there is a huge self-censorship, especially on all the issues related to the army, and all sensitive issues. They are victims of self censorship on issues that were very well covered by the media.”

The government denies any interference with the media and says that police are investigating the attacks on journalists. It also says it is prepared to discuss any changes to the Press Council suggested by rights groups.

Amnesty International says at least 14 members of news organizations have been killed by suspected government paramilitaries and the defeated Tamil Tiger rebels since 2006. Twenty journalists critical of the government are said to have fled the country.

http://www.voanews.com/english/2009-06-25-voa14.cfm

Wholesale attack on Jaffna newspapers

[TamilNet, Thursday, 25 June 2009, 01:36 GMT]
All the local newspapers of Jaffna that defied publishing an anonymous and defiling notice against the LTTE came under attack by an armed group in the early hours of Thursday. The notice was brought out in the name of ‘Tamil Front Protecting the Country’ allegedly linked to a paramilitary group operating with Colombo. Thousands of copies of the local newspapers, Valampuri, Uthayan and Thinakkural (Jaffna edition), were burnt down wholesale in huge flames by the armed group allegedly operated by the Sri Lankan military intelligence at Aanaippanthi and Kannathiddi junctions at 5:00 a.m. Thursday, while the newspapers were being taken for distribution.

The distribution workers were also brutally attacked.

A distribution worker of Thinakkural, 26-year-old Anojan, who was physically attacked was also robbed of his belongings by the armed men.

Newspaper editors of Jaffna were intimidated to publish the notice and warned of dire consequences the previous day through anonymous telephone calls. However, the editors sceptical of the contents of the notice decided not to publish it.

After the burning of the Eezhanaadu newspaper along with the public library in 1981 by the Sri Lankan forces, and again the burning of Eezhanaadu by the Indian military (IPKF), this is the third major burning of the newspapers of Jaffna by occupying forces.

In 1981, the burning of the public library and the newspaper office took place while two of Colombo’s ministers were present in Jaffna and it is alleged they had a direct hand in orchestrating that. The present attack on newspapers took place when Sri Lanka’s Education Minister and General Secretary of Mahinda Rajapaksa’s ruling UPFA alliance, Susil Premajayantha, is camping in Jaffna.

- http://www.tamilnet.com/art.html?catid=13&artid=29647

Media continues to be under attack – Post-script to the establishment of SL Press Council

With local government elections in the North providing yet another good reason for media bashing, local newspapers published in Jaffna has come under another devastating arson attack, according to reports leaking out of the peninsula. All news papers that refrained from carrying an anonymous notice castigating the LTTE and the TNA leadership, were burnt down in bulk before distribution. The notice had been in the name of one ‘Tamil Front Protecting the Country’ and is accepted as linked to a paramilitary group operating with government security forces.

“Thousands of copies of the local newspapers, Valampuri, Uthayan and Thinakkural (Jaffna edition), were burnt down wholesale in huge flames by the armed group allegedly operated by the Sri Lankan military intelligence at Aanaippanthi and Kannathiddi junctions at 5:00 a.m. Thursday, while the newspapers were being taken for distribution” reports the “TamilNet”, a website which reports exclusively on Tamil affairs in Sri Lanka.

Reports from Colombo say Uthayan news paper owner Saravanapavan (Mbl phn +94714115000) living in Colombo had also been threatened. Uthayan news paper has come under severe attacks on many occasions during the past 03 years since President Rajapaksa took office. Its editor N. Vithyatharan (Mbl phn +94714114994) who is also the editor of “Sudar Oli” news paper, was abducted in a white van while attending a funeral of a relative in Mt. Lavinia, a suburb of Colombo, on 26 February, this year. He was later reported arrested by the TID, after he was said to have been dropped off somewhere towards Peliyagoda. He was publicly called a “Tiger Terrorist” by the Defence Secretary himself, while investigations were on by the TID. He was subsequently released by Courts totally cleared of any charges.

Uthayan news paper was awarded the prestigious international award for
With numerous armed attacks on its staff, the editorial office and the press, along with drastic cuts on news print to the Jaffna peninsula and difficulty in distribution, the Uthayan news paper has been compelled to cut its print order by about 70%. An innovative news paper agent who sold 450 Uthayan newspapers earlier and is sent only 60 copies now, keeps a copy of the newspaper pasted at his shop entrance, “so that the readers are not disappointed”.

With numerous armed attacks on its staff, the editorial office and the press, along with drastic cuts on news print to the Jaffna peninsula and difficulty in distribution, the Uthayan news paper has been compelled to cut its print order by about 70%. An innovative news paper agent who sold 450 Uthayan newspapers earlier and is sent only 60 copies now, keeps a copy of the newspaper pasted at his shop entrance, “so that the readers are not disappointed”.

resilience in journalism, by the international organisation “Reporters Without Borders” (RSF) in 2006 December along with a Burmese journal, for working under severe suppression in a war situation. During this period, Uthayan lost 04 of its staff, 02 while at the press office itself, when it was attacked by unidentified gunmen.

It is also said the Free Media Movement (FMM) Convenor. Chulawansa Sri Lal had ruled out any direct government involvement, on the basis that a few days ago Saravanapavan with a few other media personnel had a very cordial meeting over lunch with President Rajapaksa, at the Temple Trees residence.
Meanwhile y’day a young lady from Colombo, Krishni Ifham working freelance to a Tamil publication supposed to be under one Kumar Nadesan, had been abducted in a white van, taken to Kandy and left with Rs. 200 to get back. She has said she had Rs.1,000 with her at the time of the abduction. Her husband is working with the Island news paper. Reason(s) for her abduction is not clearly known, except for the fact that it has something to with a write up she had filed for this Tamil periodical about a fortnight ago. She now refrains from giving details of her abduction to the media or to media organisations.

In another bizarre happening yesterday, a columnist Chandrasiri Bandara who writes on astrology to the Sinhala weekly of the Sunday Leader publications, was arrested late evening from his rsidence close to the parliamentary complex, Sri Jayawardnepura, in Battaramulla and detained by the CID. He is claimed to be a very popular astrologer, working for the Opposition parties.

http://southasiaspeaks.wordpress.com/category/sri-lanka/sl-media/