JVP
chief on media exposure
In an interview with The Sunday Times, Somawansa Amerasinghe, the
Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) leader was asked how the media treated
his party. "We do not have any private media owned by any of
our supporters," he declared. He went on to add "That
is understandable because our supporters are farmers, workers, fishermen
and increasingly, professionals.
There
is surprisingly a new support base of forward looking businessmen
but they do not own media. And although we are part of the Government,
the state media has not always been correct in depicting our activities.
So, in short we do not get good coverage.
Sometimes
there are complete lies about us. There is of course a far more
important national defence issue. Some journalists are paid by anti-national
NGOs to support LTTE oriented policies. We do not mind them supporting
any national party. We know their names and we will publish them."
Loud
in translation
It was a seminar for shipping executives at a five star
hotel in the City. Among those present were Norway's Ambassador
to Sri Lanka Hans Brattskar and JVP's Propaganda Secretary Wimal
Weerawansa. Even if they smiled at all others, the two did not meet
face to face.
When
it was Weerawansa's turn to make a speech, Ambassador Brattskar
was very attentive. He could not, however, understand what the speaker
was saying in Sinhalese.
In
came a translator who repeated in English what Weerawansa was saying.
The translator's voice came over so loud the speaker felt he was
being interrupted. The translator was none other than the Sarvodaya
chief, A.T. Ariyaratne.
Head
who doesn’t take orders
The problems at the Rupavahini Corporation don't seem
to be lessening. After news got out that the news ratings had dropped,
the Media Minister had decided to hire a new Additional Director
General to be put in charge of the news to upgrade the section.
One of the first things he wanted done was restoring to their earlier
positions 15 staffers who were moved to other divisions from the
news section. But the Corporation Chairman would not have any of
it. He had responded by saying that whatever the Minister or the
President says, they would stay where they are and not return to
the news section. So we have at least one Chairman saying he doesn't
take orders from the top.
Costly
cancelling
Well, there was more drama for the news division. The
popular political talk show "Juriyai Obai" scheduled for
February 28 had invited representatives of all the leading political
parties to participate in the show. The UNP had sent Dr.Rajitha
Senaratne, the JVP Sunil Handunetti but the SLFP had not sent in
any representative. The buzz was that all those who were asked had
refused to go saying they couldn't answer the questions raised by
the moderator of the programme and those questions of viewers who
call in, on what the government was doing to help tsunami victims.
The Chairman had then decided the programme would be cancelled for
the day. The result was a loss of millions of rupees to the Corporation
from spot advertisement that appear during breaks in the show.
That
'b' word again
JVP MP Wimal Weerawansa was addressing the National Patriotic
Movement meeting last week and once again he stumbled on his famous
'b' word "bibikkama". This time it was used to describe
the amount of money that most NGOs actually give out as aid after
using what he called the major share for their personal overheads.
Recalling the controversy caused the last time he used the word,
Mr. Weerawansa quipped that it was not a word he likes to use saying
one media institution was sure to give it lot of air play. At least
he was right in that regard.
His comments did get plenty of air play.
Royal
note gets due treatment
A security forces officer now serving a stint in a foreign
military academy rushed a letter to the British High Commission
recently. Of all things, he wanted a High Commission official to
forward his letter to Prince Charles who was visiting Sri Lanka
in the aftermath of the tsunami catastrophe.
In
that letter, this officer had expressed regret he was unable to
meet the Prince of Wales because he was on a training stint. It
turns out that the man was part of the escort staff when Prince
Charles was in Sri Lanka on an earlier occasion.
Embarrassed
High Commission officials found it difficult to send it to HRH (His
Royal Highness). So they sent it to the WPB (Waste Paper Basket). |
