Posted By:  yajitha Posted On:  Jul 1, 2008	The attack against Namal and the culture of impunity
We reproduce in full a statement by the Free Media Movement on the attacks against journalists in Sri Lanka. Namal Perera, the most recent victim of an abduction attempt, was a former colleague who significantly facilitated a number of progressive media initiatives in Sri Lanka including the...... [view]

Posted By:  yajitha Posted On:  Jul 2, 2008	Going for the Kill in More Ways than One
What does the failed abduction attempt against Namal Perera of the Sri Lanka Press Institute (SLPI), which turned into a brutal assault on him and his friend Mahinda Ratnaweera , Political Officer at the British High Commission, tell us about the Rule of Law, human rights protection, the culture...... [view]

Posted By:  yajitha Posted On:  Jun 13, 2008	Hawks and hypocrisy in the Rajapaksa administration
When President Mahinda Rajapaksa met with some editors and senior journalists recently, he was asked about the attack on the Associate Editor of the Nation. His reply was,” You know me, I didn’t care about what is written against me but other people are not like that.” One can conclude...... [view]

Posted By:  yajitha Posted On:  Jun 6, 2008	A malicious “patriotism” and its impact on media and journalists
Journalists in Sri Lanka are trying to recollect whether they had a worse time under the regime of President Ranasinghe Premadasa when during the height of a crackdown on a JVP insurrection many media personnel were killed or simply disappeared, or if the regime of President Mahinda Rajapaksa is...... [view]

Posted By:  yajitha Posted On:  Jun 2, 2008	War and Press Freedom
The Media at a time of war During the Second World War the German people tuned into the BBC for war news rather than their own radio managed by Goebbels who broadcast war propaganda as news. People under Communist rule listened to Radio Free Europe. Last week the Secretary of Defense...... [view]

Posted By:  yajitha Posted On:  Jun 1, 2008	Sri Lankan journalists: An extinct and unprotected species
By Satheesan Kumaaran   While the freedom of the press is a precious ingredient of a vibrant democracy, in most autocracies claiming to be democracies, journalists are casualties of the various conflicts they report on.  Sri Lanka is among the worst in this regard showing utter hostility,...... [view]