More high-level threats against the Sri Lankan media

Rajapakse made his comments to the Sri Lankan newspaper while in London for a Commonwealth mini-summit. He demanded that the media not publish information and materials that could be beneficial to the LTTE thus undermining governments efforts to weaken [the LTTE] militarily. He claimed that LTTE analysts used the information to form a composite picture of the militarys strengths and weakness and to anticipate actions.

On the face of it, Rajapakses allegations are absurd. The government permits no coverage from the military fronts and carefully vets any journalist who visits army bases or speaks to the military. After the latest military setback at Muhamalai in April, soldiers and police were even stationed at hospitals in Colombo to prevent journalists from speaking to wounded soldiers.

Moreover, the Colombo media have largely been fully supportive of Rajapakses new war. Most act as active propagandists in whipping up communal hatred against Tiger terrorists to justify fratricidal conflict. A handful of journalists have defied government threats and intimidation to criticise not the war itself, but the way it is being carried out, and cases of high-level corruption. Their articles reflect the fears of a layer of the political establishment that the renewed war will end in disaster as has happened in the past.

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