International media watchdogs expressed their growing concern for the safety of journalists and the sanctity of media freedom in Sri Lanka.
“Pressures on the media have multiplied over the recent months with increasing fears for the safety of journalists, especially those operating in the embattled North and East”, the International Media Group (IMG) said in a press statement.
The group visited Sri Lanka between June 17 and 23 to discuss issues related to media freedom in the country.
“There appears to be complete lack of progress in the investigation of cases of murdered and attacked journalists, and no suspect in such attacks has been taken to court since the current president came to office,” the IMG report notes.
The media group statement also notes that since August 2005, eleven media workers have been killed, including Subash Chandraboas of the Tamil monthly, Nilram, and Selvarajah Rajivarman, of the Tamil language Uthayan newspaper. Both men were murdered in Sri Lanka government-controlled areas.
The increasing hostility of the authorities towards the media and the willingness of the individual ministers to verbally attack for the perceived failings are encouraging a climate of self-censorship, the IMG report also notes.
“In Jaffna the government has restricted the passage of newsprint and ink to the city’s Tamil media”, the report notes.
The majority of the Jaffna population lack access to internet and most people depend on daily newspapers for their local information, residents said.
The Centre for Policy Alternatives submitted a report to the International Media Group stating that “cabinet minister Champika Ramawaka had publicly advocated the brutal suppression of dissent, even through extrajudicial means,” the Hindustan Times newspaper reported.
“Newspaper offices in Tamil-speaking Jaffna had been attacked with guns and bombs by pro-government Tamil armed groups,” the paper said.
Within the past week, a Tamil journalist working for Thinakkural daily was assaulted by a group of airmen after being taken into a Buddhist temple in the High Security Zone in Fort in Colombo, TamilNet reported. He was on his way to cover an event at the nearby Presidential Secretariat.
The safety of media workers was also highlighted by other watchdogs.
“Of most concern to the mission is the continued targeted killing of media workers,” Jacqueline Park, director of the International Federation of Journalists, was quoted by Reuters as saying.
“What's most worrying is the impunity, the fact that none of these cases are being investigated and being brought to court,” she said.
"We were given assurances that the cases would be investigated," she added. "Eleven journalists and media workers have been killed since August 2005."
The “[Sri Lanka] Army-held northern Jaffna peninsula [is] among the most dangerous places in the world to cover,” Reuters quoted the international press freedom mission that included Reporters Without Borders and the International Federation of Journalists as saying.
The mission called on President Mahinda Rajapaksa's government, under mounting pressure from the international community on human rights amid mushrooming abuses, to safeguard media workers during a raging propaganda war.
The government has already ruled out one of the group's demands - that a United Nations human rights monitoring mission be brought to the island.
“There is still an attempt by all groups to intimidate and harass the media, and that is having a very real effect -- a chilling effect -- on press freedom,” Park added.
“Our message is very clear. The responsibility for creating a secure working environment lies with the government and it needs to do this by not tolerating any attacks or killings of journalists and media workers.”
“What we found is in the government-controlled areas there is a general feeling of fear and it has a huge impact on the way the people living in the Jaffna region can get access to information,” said Vincent Brossel of Reporters Without Borders.
“There is no political will to investigate such crimes and that is perpetrating a feeling of fear among the Jaffna journalists,” he added, referring to killings.
Reporters Without Borders also called on the government to stop censoring the TamilNet website, local access to which has been blocked for days.
Though Sri Lanka's government and military both denied they had ordered internet service providers to block www.tamilnet.com, Sri Lanka's leading mobile operator Dialog Telekom, which also offers internet services, told Reuters that it had blocked access to the site on the orders of the government.
“Tamilnet is a source of news and information that is known throughout the world and for the past 10 years its coverage of Sri Lanka's civil war has proved essential,” Reporters Without Borders said.
“The government must put a stop to this censorship and restore access to the site at once.”
TamilNet’s editor, Dharmaretnam Sivaram, was murdered in 2005. He was one of six Tamil journalists and five other Tamil media workers killed since 2004, according to the Free Media Movement.
The government denied any wrongdoing. “The government has nothing to do with this,” Media Minister Anura Priyadarshana Yapa said. Another minister joked he wished he could hire some hackers to block TamilNet.
IMG recommended the government amend or revoke various pieces of legislation that it said failed to meet international standards on press freedom of expression.
The recent visit by the IMG was a follow up session to the initial mission that began in October 2006 to assess the impact of the conflict on the media.
The initial report, Press Freedom and Freedom of expression in Sri Lanka: Struggle for Survival, published in January 2007, found that media, especially the Tamil Media was “under heavy and sustained attack”. This session was aimed at monitoring the progress so far.
“Pressures on the media have multiplied over the recent months with increasing fears for the safety of journalists, especially those operating in the embattled North and East”, the International Media Group (IMG) said in a press statement.
The group visited Sri Lanka between June 17 and 23 to discuss issues related to media freedom in the country.
“There appears to be complete lack of progress in the investigation of cases of murdered and attacked journalists, and no suspect in such attacks has been taken to court since the current president came to office,” the IMG report notes.
The media group statement also notes that since August 2005, eleven media workers have been killed, including Subash Chandraboas of the Tamil monthly, Nilram, and Selvarajah Rajivarman, of the Tamil language Uthayan newspaper. Both men were murdered in Sri Lanka government-controlled areas.
The increasing hostility of the authorities towards the media and the willingness of the individual ministers to verbally attack for the perceived failings are encouraging a climate of self-censorship, the IMG report also notes.
“In Jaffna the government has restricted the passage of newsprint and ink to the city’s Tamil media”, the report notes.
The majority of the Jaffna population lack access to internet and most people depend on daily newspapers for their local information, residents said.
The Centre for Policy Alternatives submitted a report to the International Media Group stating that “cabinet minister Champika Ramawaka had publicly advocated the brutal suppression of dissent, even through extrajudicial means,” the Hindustan Times newspaper reported.
“Newspaper offices in Tamil-speaking Jaffna had been attacked with guns and bombs by pro-government Tamil armed groups,” the paper said.
Within the past week, a Tamil journalist working for Thinakkural daily was assaulted by a group of airmen after being taken into a Buddhist temple in the High Security Zone in Fort in Colombo, TamilNet reported. He was on his way to cover an event at the nearby Presidential Secretariat.
The safety of media workers was also highlighted by other watchdogs.
“Of most concern to the mission is the continued targeted killing of media workers,” Jacqueline Park, director of the International Federation of Journalists, was quoted by Reuters as saying.
“What's most worrying is the impunity, the fact that none of these cases are being investigated and being brought to court,” she said.
"We were given assurances that the cases would be investigated," she added. "Eleven journalists and media workers have been killed since August 2005."
The “[Sri Lanka] Army-held northern Jaffna peninsula [is] among the most dangerous places in the world to cover,” Reuters quoted the international press freedom mission that included Reporters Without Borders and the International Federation of Journalists as saying.
The mission called on President Mahinda Rajapaksa's government, under mounting pressure from the international community on human rights amid mushrooming abuses, to safeguard media workers during a raging propaganda war.
The government has already ruled out one of the group's demands - that a United Nations human rights monitoring mission be brought to the island.
“There is still an attempt by all groups to intimidate and harass the media, and that is having a very real effect -- a chilling effect -- on press freedom,” Park added.
“Our message is very clear. The responsibility for creating a secure working environment lies with the government and it needs to do this by not tolerating any attacks or killings of journalists and media workers.”
“What we found is in the government-controlled areas there is a general feeling of fear and it has a huge impact on the way the people living in the Jaffna region can get access to information,” said Vincent Brossel of Reporters Without Borders.
“There is no political will to investigate such crimes and that is perpetrating a feeling of fear among the Jaffna journalists,” he added, referring to killings.
Reporters Without Borders also called on the government to stop censoring the TamilNet website, local access to which has been blocked for days.
Though Sri Lanka's government and military both denied they had ordered internet service providers to block www.tamilnet.com, Sri Lanka's leading mobile operator Dialog Telekom, which also offers internet services, told Reuters that it had blocked access to the site on the orders of the government.
“Tamilnet is a source of news and information that is known throughout the world and for the past 10 years its coverage of Sri Lanka's civil war has proved essential,” Reporters Without Borders said.
“The government must put a stop to this censorship and restore access to the site at once.”
TamilNet’s editor, Dharmaretnam Sivaram, was murdered in 2005. He was one of six Tamil journalists and five other Tamil media workers killed since 2004, according to the Free Media Movement.
The government denied any wrongdoing. “The government has nothing to do with this,” Media Minister Anura Priyadarshana Yapa said. Another minister joked he wished he could hire some hackers to block TamilNet.
IMG recommended the government amend or revoke various pieces of legislation that it said failed to meet international standards on press freedom of expression.
The recent visit by the IMG was a follow up session to the initial mission that began in October 2006 to assess the impact of the conflict on the media.
The initial report, Press Freedom and Freedom of expression in Sri Lanka: Struggle for Survival, published in January 2007, found that media, especially the Tamil Media was “under heavy and sustained attack”. This session was aimed at monitoring the progress so far.
