IFJ asks govt. to order end to anti-media slanders

The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) has appealed to the Government of Sri Lanka to order Ministry of Defence and defence personnel to end immediately their campaign of slanderous attacks and threats against independent journalists and media.

The IFJ said in a statement that it is alarmed by the latest attack in which an editorial posted on a website run by the Ministry of Defence calls on “all members of the armed forces to unite and guard against” a “treacherous media campaign [being run] against them”.


The editorial, posted on May 31, makes serious allegations against IFJ affiliate the Free Media Movement (FMM), former FMM Convenor Sunanda Deshapriya, Sunday Times Associate Editor and defence columnist Iqbal Athas, and eight news outlets.

The FMM and Deshapriya are accused of “terrorist propaganda” while Sirasa TV, Sunday Leader, Morning Leader, Iru Dina, Daily Mirror, Sunday Times, Lanka Dissent and Lanka E are accused of carrying content that “humiliated, scorned and blamed” soldiers of the Sri Lankan Army.

Athas has suffered similar attacks in the past, but the invective of defence personnel, including Defence Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa, has increased recently following the abduction and assault of journalist Keith Noyahr and with threats issued against several journalists.

The FMM said, “We are deeply fearful that these charges are in effect a death warrant to journalists and editors of the media mentioned in the statement.

“These allegations criminalize independent media and viciously clamp down on their ability and democratic right to question tactics, promotions, procurements and allegations of significant corruption in matters related to defence and governance.”

The IFJ statement said that unsubstantiated allegations made about FMM’s sympathy toward the LTTE, with whom the government is at war, overlook the FMM’s criticism of all groups, including the LTTE and the Sri Lanka Army that abuse the right of journalists to report the truth and the right of citizens to receive fair and impartial information.

“The Government of Sri Lanka must show it has the authority to order an end to these hate-inspiring attacks by defence personnel against independent media voices,” IFJ Asia-Pacific said.

Earlier, the FMM said it is outraged at the recent statement by the Ministry of Defence that incites violence by claiming that the FMM and other independent media support terrorism and the LTTE.

Full of half-baked conspiracy theories, hate speech, unsubstantiated allegations and an idiom of terror, the statement is the latest from a government increasingly intolerant of investigative and independent journalism.

The editorial posted on www.defense.lk run by the Ministry of Defence (http://www.defence.lk/new.asp?fname=20080531_04) on 31st May 2008 levelled dangerous charges against number of newspapers, the FMM and its former convenor Sunanda Deshapriya and Sunday Times Associate Editor and noted defense columnist Iqbal Athas. It is a matter of fact that Mr. Athas in particular has borne the brunt of such attacks from the Ministry of Defence in the past.