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MEDIAFREEDOM IN SRILANKA Freedom of Expression news from Sri Lanka Monthly report No 06; period covered June 2009 1. 01 st June 2009 - Media worker abducted & released 2. 01 st June 2009 - Senior journalists abducted and assaulted 3. 01 st June 2009 - Two editors arrested 4. 03 rd June 2009 - Religious statue smashed 5. 00 June 2009 - Journalist threatened by an editor 6. 04 th June 2009 - Poddala Jayantha writes to IGP 7. 03 rd June 2009 - University cultural events limited to one day 8. 04 th June 2009 - President's coordination secretary threaten a journalist 9. 05 th June 2009 - President requests media self censor 10. 07 th June 2009 - Journalists paid by the LTTE will be exposed - Minister 11. 10 th June 2009 - UNP wants PSC to probe attacks on journalists 12. 10 th June 2009 - No need for PSC; media minister 13. 10 th June 2009 - Former Ontario premier denied visa for being outspoken 14. 12 th June 2009 - "Economist " June issue banned 15. 12 th June 2009 - Five journalists under death threat 16. 14 th June 2009 - Defense secretary criticise some media 17. 15 th June 2009 - Case against Journalist withdrawn 18. 15 th June 2009 - Editor questioned for sources 19. 16 th June 2009 - Editor Questioned over a news story 20. 18 th June 2009 - Journalist barred form covering ministerial visit 21. 18 th June 2009 - Two Tamil journalists threatened 22. 19 th June 2009 - Journalist Wamanan case sent to AG for ruling 23. 23 rd June 2009 - Lawyers withdraw form case filed by defence secretary 24. 23 rd June 2009 - Contempt of court against the Sunday Leader 25. 23 rd June 2009 - Dissenting expats to be charged 26. 24 th June 2009 - Astrologer arrested for prediction 27. 24 th June 2009 - Tamil female journalist abducted 28. 25 th June 2009 - Jaffna newspapers burned 29. 25 th June 2009 - Press council re-established 30. 25 th June 2009 - Speaker regrets repealing draconian law 31. 25 th June 2009 - Police again fails to submit report on Lasantha killing 32. 28 th June 2009 - Minister Mervyn attack SirasaTV 33. 26 th June 2009 - Jaffna media gets last warning 34. 29 th June 2009 - Press council committee member dropped on political reasons mediafreedom in srilanka Monthly report No 06, period covered June 2009 1 Compiled by a group of journalists working voluntarily. [email protected] 01. 01st June 2009 - Media worker abducted & released On 29 th June the family of Tissa Senadeera, a youth who works at a magazine complained to the Polgasovita police their son had disappeared while coming back home from work. Later it came to know that he had been abducted by a white van and kept in a locked room for few hours. He had been released after a man looked liked the leader of the group visited and shouted that "this is the one". Tissa Senadeera looked like the journalists Poddala Jayantha it is believed that he was abducted in mistaken identity. Abductors had threatened him not to complain but his parents had already lodged the complaint. http://www.lankanewsweb.com/Sinhala/news/2009_06_08_002.html - 02. 01st June 2009 - Senior journalists abducted and assaulted On 1 st of June 2009 around 5.15pm Poddala Jayantha, senior journalist and General Secretary of Sri Lanka Working Journalists Association was abducted by an unknown group in a white van. He was on his way back home form work. Later he was found left on the road side, severely assaulted. He was admitted to ICU of the Colombo general hospital an under went two operations. He was discharged on 26 th June and now lives with his family n their home close to Horana, two hours away from Colombo. http://sunandadeshapriya.wordpress.com/2009/06/01/ 03. 01rd June 2009 - Two editors arrested On 1 st June 2009 late evening police arrested Bennet Rupasinghe news editor of www.lankaenews.com . on 2 nd June 2009 morning its editor and publisher Sandaruwan Senadeera was also arrested. The Special Investigation Unit of the Mirihana Police produced the suspects, Benette Rupasinghe and Sandaruwan Senadeera before the Nugegoda Magistrate on 2 nd . Police submitted that they suspected the involvement of the two journalists to the incident since it had been the suspects who had initially given the news of the assault on Poddala Jayantha to his wife. Two journalists were released on personal bail of Rs. 500,000/ each by Nugegoda Chief Magistrate Vasantha Jinadasa on 2 nd June 2009. http://www.dailymirror.lk/DM_BLOG/Sections/frmNewsDetailView.aspx?ARTID=50809 04. 03 rd June 2009 - Religious statue smashed On 3 rd June a statue of Jesus Christ that had been installed ten years ago in the premises of the Catholic convent “Prasadani” at Minneriya was vandalised. The Catholic National Association of the Laity of Sri Lanka in a statement said " these despicable acts had taken place on the night of June 3. We are sad to note that similar attacks on Christian places and objects of worship which occurred few years ago and eventually subsided seem to have once again raised its ugly head." http://www.dailymirror.lk/DM_BLOG/Sections/frmNewsDetailView.aspx?ARTID=51348 05. 00 June 2009 - Journalist threatened by an editor On early June journalists Tilak Kodagoda of Ravaya was threatened by Sunday Divaina editor Mr. Gamini Summanasekara. Journalist Kodagoda had published some criticism Mr. Sumansaekra. Angered by the article Mr.Sumanasekera had called Kodagoda at Ravaya news paper phone number and threatened him with death: “I will tell about you to the army commander and get you killed. You better be careful.” (This news was published on 2 nd July so far Mr. Sumnasekara has not sent a denial to the lankanewsweb. According to reliable sources Mr.Sumanasekara's threatening phone call has been recorded.) http://www.lankanewsweb.com/news/EN_2009_07_02_004.html mediafreedom in srilanka Monthly report No 06, period covered June 2009 2 Compiled by a group of journalists working voluntarily. [email protected] 06. 04 th June 2009 - Poddala Jayantha writes to IGP On 04 th June 2009 in a singed letter to Inspector General of Police journalists Poddala Jayantha said: “I write this letter to bring to your notice a shocking incident that I came to know while being treated in National Hospital for the serious injuries sustained in torture by a gang of thugs on June 01, 2009.Benet Rupasinghe and Sandaruwan Senadheera of Lanka-e-News website have been arrested and produced in court regarding the crime against me. These two persons are close professional associates and personal friends of mine. They have taken steps to inform the Inspector General of Police, the President’s office, government ministers and other authorities, media activists and my wife about the incident and I believe that their urgent mediation helped me to save my life at least like this." http://www.lankaenews.com/English/news.php?id=7802 07. 03 rd June 2009 - University cultural events limited to one day In a bid to avert violence in universities, the Ministry of Higher Education has decided to limit all university functions to one day and ban outsiders from attending them. "Undergraduates organise several functions and art festivals such as ‘Nala Mudu Suwanda’ at the Sri Jayewardenepura University and ‘ Mage Deshaya Awadi Karanu Mena ’ at Peradeniya University. These festivals continue for one or two weeks" higher Education Minister Professor Wiswa Warnapala told. The Island. Undergraduates were unhappy with the Minster’s decision. They will launch a mass protest against the Ministry’s decision. http://www.island.lk/2009/06/24/news4.html 08. 04 th June 2009 - President's coordinating secretary threaten journalist On 04 th June it was reported that Kumarasiri Hettige, coordination secretary for the president Rajapaksha had threatened a journalists of Neth FM with death. At the weekly press conference of the government Neth FM journalists played the recorded death threat by Mr. Hettige. Mr. Hettige a former journalist himself had said that he will do the same thing to NETH FM journalist that they did to Poddala (Jayantha) and they should know what happened to Lasantha (Wikrematunge). So far no action has been taken against Mr. Hettige and he continues to act as presidential coordinating secretary. http://www.lankanewsweb.com/news/2009_06_04_002.htm 09. 05th June 2009 - President requests media self censor President Mahinda Rajapaksa addressing the media in an inter-active session with the owners and Chief Editors of print and electronic media made an earnest request not to use the media to disturb communal harmony in the new era that has begun with the defeat of LTTE terrorism and the unification of the Motherland. “My earnest appeal to you is not to write or broadcast anything that would create unnecessary divisions in society,” he said. “There is a danger that even a small incident could be blown up by provocative elements to cause much damage,” he cautioned. “Do not write anything to arouse hatred, do not let another terrorist movement to emerge” http://www.dailynews.lk/2009/06/06/news02.asp 10. 07th June 2009 - Journalists paid by the LTTE will be exposed - Minister On 07 th June 2009 in an interview with state controlled Sinhala weekly " Silumina" cabinet spokesperson for national security Minister Keheliya Rambukwella had stated that government has mediafreedom in srilanka Monthly report No 06, period covered June 2009 3 Compiled by a group of journalists working voluntarily. [email protected] information on journalists who obtained money form the LTTE to work for terrorists. According to the minister government is planning to expose them and talk legal action against them soon.
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    අංක இல 7 (1) No. හවැ පා ෙ ෙ පළවැ සැවාරය උපෙශක කාරක සභා මාක වා තාව (2014 --- ෙන$වැ බ ෙන$වැ බ )))) ஏழாவP பாராfமyறwதிy YதலாவP Buடwெதாட} ஆேலாசைனp Ahpகளிy மாதாxத அறிpைக ((( நவ{ப} மாத{ ––– 2014 ))) First Session of the Seventh Parliament Monthly Report of the Consultative Committees (November – 2014) WmfoaYl ldrl iNd udisl jd¾;dj ^2014 ෙන$වැ බ ) අ)මැ*ය ලැ,ම මත මාක වා තාවට ඇළ කරන ලද කාරක සභා කා ය සටහ පහත දැ0ෙ . උපෙශක කාරක සභාෙ නම 1නය 1 වැ2 ක මා ත කට3 (අ) කාරක සභාව) 2014.08.19 2 මහාමා ග, වරාය හා නා2ක 2014.08.19 3 ඛ;ජෙත= ක මා ත 2014.08.21 4 ක ක> හා ක ක> සබඳතා 2014.09.09 5 ඉඩ සහ ඉඩ සංව ධන 2014.09.10 6 පEසර හා Fන ජනGය බලශ0* 2014.09.10 7 තැපැ= ෙසIවා 2014.09.24 8 පා ෙ කට3 2014.10.10 9 ජනමාධJ හා Kවෘ* 2014.10.21 10 සපකාර හා අභJ තර ෙවළඳ 2014.10.23 11 ජා*ක භාෂා හා සමාජ ඒකාබධතා 2014.10.23 12 ෙප$= සංව ධන හා ජනතා ව සංව ධන 2014.10.29 13 මහජන ස බ ධතා හා මහජන කට3 2014.11.10 14 ජා*ක උ>මය 2014.11.11 2014.11.20 15 ආ Pක සංව ධන 16 ආෙයQජන Kව ධන 2014.11.24 17 ෙප$= සංව ධන හා ජනතා ව සංව ධන 2014.11.24 (2) WmfoaYl ldrl iNd udisl jd¾;dj ^2014 ෙන$වැ බ ) ෙ වනෙත0 අ)මැ*ය ෙන$ලැ,ම ෙහIෙව මාක වා තාවට ඇළ ෙන$කරන ලද කාරක සභා කා ය සටහ පහත දැ0ෙ .
  • Monitoring Media Coverage of Presidential Election November 2005

    Monitoring Media Coverage of Presidential Election November 2005

    24/2, 28t h La n e , Off Flowe r Roa d , Colom bo 7, Sri La n ka Tel: 94-11-2565304 / 94-11-256530z6 / 94-11-5552746, Fax: 94-11-4714460 E-mail: [email protected], Website: www.cpalanka.org Media Unit Monitoring media coverage of Presidential election November 2005 Report No. 02 Compiled by Sunanda Deshapriya & Sisira Kannangara 8th-24th October Monitored news papers: 11 dailies, 17 weeklies Number of newspaper issues monitored: 205 State media - Monitored Newspapers: Dailies: Dinamina (Sinhala language), Thinakaran (Tamil language), Daily News (English language); W eeklies: Silumina (Sinhala language), Thinakaran Vaaramanjaree (Tamil language), Sunday Observer (English language); 1. The three state owned dailies - Dinamina, Thinakaran and Daily News - had the lowest Unfavorable coverage of total election coverage on Mahinda Rajapakse, respectively 1.04. 00.33% and 1.87%. 2. The same newspapers had the highest Favorable coverage given to any candidate by same language daily news paper, in these instances to Mahinda R. - Dinamina (50.61%), Thinakaran (59.70%) and Daily News (38.18%) 3. The three state dailies had the highest Unfavorable coverage of the Ranil W ickramasinghe of except daily DIvaina (7.05%). Dinamina had 29.46%. Thinkaran had 10.30% and Daily News had 06.21%. Their Favorable coverage of Ranil W ickramasinghe was 08.26%, 5.11% and 09.18% respectively. 4. The state owned dailies and weeklies had 17 front page Lead stories and 09 Editorials in favor of Mahinda Rajapakse, while 08 Editorials and 03 front page Lead stories were Unfavorable to Ranil Wickramasinghe. Monitoring Presidential Election Coverage Nov.
  • Auditor General Overridden for the First Time in History!

    Auditor General Overridden for the First Time in History!

    Thursday 21st February, 2008 9 Congrats, Ranil: Auditor General overridden Addendum I wish to add a few thoughts to Durrand Appuhamy’s letter in your journal yesterday for the first time in history! (19/02) on the above sub- ject. I read your article in The Island of Secretary General for appropriate interesting to find out who gave this questionable practices involving certain A responsible Senior Monday 18 February 2008, titled Experts action in terms of perhaps reference for Committee the mandate to call into projects of Parliament. It appears that Citizen, above all, Committee rejects AG’s Report. I was investigating those responsible for cor- question the findings of the AG who is those who are responsible have con- Leader of one of two appalled to find that the Auditor rupt practices disclosed in the report is solely mandated under the Constitution spired to ‘play down’ and nullify these leading Political Parties General of Sri Lanka who is appointed now being overridden by a Committee to conduct such an investigation. findings by appointing such a and Leader of the main under Article 153 of the Constitution appointed by ICTA, whose members Your news item emphasizes the fact Committee to oversee the AG’s findings. Opposition violated the and whose functions, duties and powers themselves were subject to investiga- that for the first time in the history of It’s high time the President inter- law of the land publicly. Is he not aware are specified in the Constitution and tion by the Auditor General. It appears this country the AG’s findings are inves- vened to probe those responsible for that pasting posters on walls, parapet walls who accordingly audits certain projects that some interested, affected party in tigated and dismissed by such an ad hoc that high handed act.
  • PDF995, Job 7

    PDF995, Job 7

    24/2, 28t h La n e , Off Flowe r Roa d , Colom bo 7, Sri La n ka Tel: 94-11-2565304 / 94-11-256530z6 / 94-11-5552746, Fax: 94-11-4714460 E-mail: [email protected], Website: www.cpalanka.org Media Unit Monitoring media coverage of Presidential election November 2005 Compiled by Sunanda Deshapriya & Sisira Kannangara First week from nomination: 8th-15th October Monitored news papers: 11 dailies, 17 weeklies Number of newspaper issues monitored: 94 State media - Monitored Newspapers: Dailies: Dinamina (Sinhala language), Thinakaran (Tamil language), Daily News (English language); W eeklies: Silumina (Sinhala language), Thinakaran Vaaramanjaree (Tamil language), Sunday Observer (English language); • The three state owned dailies - Dinamina, Thinakaran and Daily News - had the lowest Unfavorable coverage of total election coverage on Mahinda Rajapakse, respectively 1.14, 00% and 1.82%. The same newspapers had the highest Favorable coverage given to any candidate by same language daily news paper, in these instances to Mahinda Rajapakse. - Dinamina (43.56%), Thinakaran (56.21%) and Daily News (29.32%). • The three state dailies had the highest Unfavorable coverage of the Ranil W ickramasinghe, of any daily news paper. Dinamina had 28.82%. Thinkaran had 8.67% and Daily News had 12.64%. • Their Favorable coverage of Ranil W ickramasinghe, was 10.75%, 5.10% and 11.13% respectively. • The state owned dailies and weeklies had 04 front page Lead stories and 02 Editorials in favor of Mahinda Rajapakse, while 02 Editorials and 03 front page Lead stories were Unfavorable to Ranil Wickramasinghe. State media coverage of two main candidates (in sq.cm% of total election coverage) Mahinda Rajapakshe Ranil W ickramasinghe Newspaper Favorable Unfavorable Favorable Unfavorable Dinamina 43.56 1.14 10.75 28.88 Silumina 28.82 10.65 18.41 30.65 Daily news 29.22 1.82 11.13 12.64 Sunday Observer 23.24 00 12.88 00.81 Thinakaran 56.21 00 03.41 00.43 Thi.
  • Order Paper Parliament

    Order Paper Parliament

    ( ) [ Sixth Parliament - Second Session ] No. 192.] ORDER PAPER OF PARLIAMENT FOR Friday, February 22, 2008 at 9.30 a.m. QUESTIONS FOR ORAL ANSWERS 1121/’07 1. Hon. Anura Dissanayake,— To ask the Minister of Agricultural Development and Agrarian Services,—(2) (a) Will he inform this House— (i) the total amount of money estimated for the Moragahakanda reservoir construction project; (ii) the amount of money allocated for year 2007; (iii) whether foreign loans or grants are given for this project; (iv) the number of years in which this project is due to be completed; and (v) the amount of money expected to be allocated for each year? (b) Will he state— (i) the number of families that will be displaced due to this project; (ii) the location of the lands that are proposed to be given to them and the extent of land given for each family; and (iii) the other facilities that will be given to the displaced persons other than the lands? (c) Will he state— (i) whether an Environmental Impact Assessment Report has been prepared for this project; (2) (ii) if so, when; and (iii) the recommendations of the aforesaid report? (d) Will he state— (i) the total amount of money that has been spent for the inaugural ceremony of this project; and (ii) the name of the company which was in charge of the publicity activities of that ceremony? (e) Will he submit to this House, the amounts of money paid to the aforesaid company in respect of television advertisements, posters, newspaper advertisements, hoarding, and other publicity activities? (f) If not, why? 1148/’07 2.
  • How Can There Be Freedom Without Discipline ? - Gotabaya

    How Can There Be Freedom Without Discipline ? - Gotabaya

    How can there be freedom without discipline ? - Gotabaya By Kelum Bandara Since the defeat of former President Mahinda Rajapaksa four years ago, there has been speculation in the political circles that his brother and Former Defence Secretary Gotabaya Rajapaksa, known as an efficient administrator, would come forward as the next Presidential candidate. His Viyathmaga movement was seen as a launching pad in this direction. Recently speaking at one of its meetings he publicly stated that if the people were ready for a Presidential election he was ready too. The following are excerpts of an interview done with him. QYou said that if the people were ready you were ready for the presidential elections. Is it an indication that you will contest the Presidential election at the end of this year? The most important person to decide on it is Mr. Mahinda Rajapaksa. However, many requests have been made from me and that is why I said so. QMany people are talking about your US citizenship which is a barrier to contesting the Presidential Elections. Have you renounced it? That is finalised. No worry about it. QIn case, you become the candidate, what are your plans for the country? Today, it is very clear that the whole country is disgruntled with this Government. The Government has failed to produce results, be it in security, development, economy or even reconciliation among the communities. What people want is a person who can really work. A stable country is of paramount importance. It is fundamental to everything. Stability is very important. We have to ensure that there is a disciplined, stable and secure initial base for development.