Ch 4 , let them face an investigation before inviting to Sri Lanka
Posted on October 4th, 2011
ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ Ranjith Soysa
According to information fromNew York, Ch 4 representatives have metƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ Maj Gen Savendra de Silva for a discussion and have requested theirƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ application to visitSri Lankabe considered.
ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ Before accepting them with open arms acting as decent guys the SriƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ Lankan authorities should request them to face a professional Sri Lanka team of investigators to verify the facts covered in Ch 4’s ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ documentary ‘Killing Fields’ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ A person like Dr Siri Hewa, a ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ specialist in digital technology who found several mischievous ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ insertions in fabricating incidents reported in the Ch 4 ‘s killing ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ fields should be invited to be a member of the investigating team.
ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ With regard to Sri Lankan Defense forces ‘shelling’ of hospitals in the North, the doctors who served in these locations and later ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ clarified the issues must be allowed to question the Ch 4.
ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ The commentary of the Killing Fields should be scrutinized by media ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ professionals to judge the relevancy etc. ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ The Ch 4 should not be allowed to have another fresh innings in Sri ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ Lanka as they willfully violated ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ very relevant media ethics and ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ignored the tenant that the facts were sacred.
ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ Let Ch 4 face an inquiry which will have some effect on the so called ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ liberal media which have no qualms in repeating ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ slogans of the LTTE ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ then and of the LTTE rump now.
ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ The Killing Fields achieved the objectives of the ‘investors’ and theƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ questionable movers in the Ch 4 in blackening the image ofSri Lanka ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ even in the eyes of unsuspecting youngsters of Sri Lankan origin ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ living in the foreign countries.
ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ Therefore, the Ch 4ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ should clear its ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ role before allowing to report fromSri Lanka.
October 4th, 2011 at 3:12 pm
Well said! This is an absolute must. Channel 4 is just playing for time, now that they have a billion-pound lawsuit against them, and are bribed by ltte terrorists abroad. Channel 4 should abide by the laws of Sri Lanka.
October 5th, 2011 at 1:54 am
Thank you Ranjith for your comments. In addition to what you rightly expect from the GoSL, there is the ‘little’ matter of legal action against CH4 under libel laws in the UK for compensation! Very sadly, there is utterly no sign of that yet. Further, the UK Broadcast Regulator Ofcom is currently investigating the complaints by VIEWERS of this program. But, again, to compound the gross incompetence so far of the GoSL on this matter there appears to no FORMAL complaint to Ofcom by the GoSL I am hoping that in the event the outcome of Ofcome is favourable to SL some one in the government will wake up from his sleep. It is all talk so far but no action!! – S de Silva – London
October 5th, 2011 at 7:02 am
S de Silva you have a lot faith in British institutions especially on matters with respect to Sri Lanka. OfCom is run by the British Government it is not an actual “independent” body.
1) It receives huge funds and support from the British Government.
2) The people who work for it come from Channel 4/ITN/ITV, basically Channel 4s friends.
3) The Government has gone to this mighty OfCom before (over Channel 4 back in 2009/2010) and NOTHING HAPPENED. They “ruled” in favour of Channel 4.
4) OfCOM drags its feet on issues like this because they, like the rest of the British media are part and parcel of the Foreign Office –receiving, funds, instructions and “guidelines” from them. They are part of the many Foreign Policy tools of the British Government.
5) When it comes to Foreign reporting that is the domain of the Foreign Office and the British media (as well as “bodies” such as OfCom) not only tow the line they do not rock the boat.
6) So many times Sinhalese have gone to complain to OfCom before about the disgusting media coverage on SL and got nowhere because they are not going to castigate their pay masters or go against them and Britian’s national interests (one of which is demonising Sinhalese).
October 5th, 2011 at 7:03 am
People must realise that the Tamil “diaspora” is not some all powerful, super body that is “blinding” the “poor innocent” suddhas in Britain and the US. They are a potent TOOL of interference that the West (specially Britain and the US) has created and is happily using to manipulate, control and thus dominate Sri Lanka.
They happily allow this image of die-ass-pora “control” to propagate so it looks like they are “deeply concerned” and a third “neutral” party “shocked” at what they are told and see. They also deeply enjoy the site of little brown people the world over grovelling at their feet crying their hearts out to “win them over”. Makes them feel superior when they witness such a sight and extremely powerful knowing that these are the results of their activities. Enforcing their position of dominance and being the master puppeteers.
Do you honestly think these Tamil lobbies are so powerful to “influence” the worlds most powerful countries? In that case the West should be bombing itself rather than the Middle East because the “muslim” vote blocks/lobbies are much much larger and wealthier yet they GET NO WHERE when they prostitute their vote blocks. Because what the West is doing in the Middle East is to further and strengthen their interests.
The West is fulfilling its interests (the control and manipulation of Sri Lanka) and the Tamils they allowed to accumulate in their countries are merely the conduit of getting into Sri Lanka to do this. Why else do you think they allowed the Tamils to establish their networks, collect funds and massacre Sinhalese from afar in spite of their so-called “bans” and without a single tear dropping? Because doing so, keeping Sri Lanka at war and in constant misery is to their benefit and furthering of their interests.
Why else do you think they (the West, NGOs,UN) ordered the LTTE to create a human shield with the hopes of engineering a humanitarian catastrophe? It was to justify intervention to save the LTTE leadership and pro-long war and misery in SL after the LTTE proved to be Militarily impotent. The fact SL (specifically GR) told them to “get lost” and did not listen to their dictats is why they are filled with RAGE. They went vengeance for their “authority” being ignored, they want the LTTE back, they want an asset to manipulate SL and after loosing the LTTE, the asset is their “war crimes” propaganda they created aided by traitors in SL). Why do you think they allowed those illegal Tamil protests? It was to help in building their “negative” media coverage as part of justifying intervention; the Foreign Office was the one who engineered those “protests” as well.
Another goal of Channel 4/Foreign Office as most know is to keep Tamils (in SL) furious and angry with Sinhalese in the aftermath of the war -another way to ensure pro-longed conflict. They feared that if Sinhalese (as the Sinhalese have always been as per Sinhala nature) show kindness towards these Tamils (the enemy) who carried out atrocities and massacres but were rescued from a self inflicted (Western engineered) hell the Tamils would lessen their racist hardened attitudes (but we’re dealing with Tamils and they are an extremely ungrateful chauvinistic people). The whole purpose was to keep Sinhalese and Tamils at each others throats. When one or the other sees Channel 4s fiction piece they get filled with rage. The West does not care for “reconciliation” or whatever. Under this guise they want to keep the fires of hatred burning to incite new conflict. Like just how they do not care for “human rights” and so on.
Channel 4 is doing this because it has the firm backing and support of the British Government and is receiving instructions from the Foreign Office. No doubt die-ass-pora input and support is there, but it is the British Government that is giving the “green light”. The same goes for other NGOs some not so well known and others well known like AI.
October 5th, 2011 at 7:32 am
As Raju says, OfCom consists of ex-channel-4 conmen. What can we expect from these people? Not much. They are just helping ch4 to play for time to help recover from the lawsuit filed against them.
October 5th, 2011 at 8:30 am
Only Sinhala people in the UK can file legal action and get something from the British courts.
Had the SL Gov. not bungled this issue (back in 2009 by “going to sleep” and thus missing Tamil version of the same video) nor behaved like some irritated child in 2011 this would not be as difficult as it is. Worst of all they seem to think the “we deny this” statement is enough? By the looks of things it seems they have completely forgotten the whole Channel 4 thing.
The biggest mistake they made was by not responding to the “UN panel” report. They should have issued their own comprehensive response to it and thrashed Moon’s jokers to pieces immediately after the “reports” release. It is such an EASY thing to do. But they sat around and did nothing and lost an opportunity to turn a situation gigantically into our favour, now are scrambling on how to handle the fall out after letting it settle deep into the ground. Going by some stupid “technicality” over the illegality of the Moons Panel is idiotic. They should first tare to shreds the rubbish in the “report” (A), then target the construction of the Panel(b), thus A gives more weight to B and bolster SLs position. Now its too late.
All i have seen from this Government is the belief that when someone “attacks” they response, then once the noise has died down they completely forget about it. There is NOTHING pro-active.
And then when the West launches another salvo they will repeat their usual childish defence. Best of all they have failed miserably on the propaganda front because they A) Seem not bothered. B) Think the moronic and selfish SL political “ways” can be applied to the rest of the world. C) Do NOT HAVE A GRASP of who is doing what and for WHY. D) Refused to listen from back in 2007 to people who TOLD THEM what situation they were in and how to handle it. Their stubborn attitude is unbelievable.
After the war TIME magazine interviewed MR and it went like this:
“TIME: The West tried to put war crimes charges on you, this is very serious an issue
MR: Well, these things happen”.
WHAT THE HELL. He thought he can apply the lame and pathetic SL politics applies to the world. He didn’t know the vindictive and vengeful people he was dealing with INSPITE of being told many times over from those supporting Sri Lanka (Sinhala and non-Sinhalese) in the West.
The Government must realise that the West “will not deal with the Rs”, i.e. they want them gone. So no matter what is done nothing will change them or make them amendable. MR like a FOOL thinks he can “shape” them and acts as though SLs grotesque internal political system (jumping ship, trying to kill your enemy then be in bed with them the next day, and this sickening notion “there is no permanent friend or enemy in politics” that exists in SL which makes me want to puke) can be applied to the rest of the world, when it does not.
No matter how many slaps the West gave (especially after May 2009) sending a clear message of what they wanted (as in MR GONE, punishment for the destruction of the LTTE, punishment for Sri Lanka not bowing down to their “authority”, and a new tool to replace the LTTE i.e. “war crimes”). HE REFUSED TO LISTEN or understand the gravity of the situation. Now so much damage has been done. They have only slightly grasped the situation TWO YEARs after the war. TWO YEARS after incredible damage was done.
October 5th, 2011 at 8:38 am
Vis8 has a law suit been filed? That would explain C4s sudden silence during the month of September. I was expecting them to launch a full barrage with respect to the UN meetings. I boycott everything of theirs and hence do not check their website, so do not know if they had complied more lies on SL.
Furthermore is there anyway we can assist? Channel 4 has done incredible damage to Sri Lanka and Sinhalese with their racist vile never ending garbage. In so called “non-racist”, “fair” and “liberal” Britain such racism is deemed “unacceptable”. Then again you go against them and anything is “game” when crushing a dissenter.
October 5th, 2011 at 9:38 am
Dear Raju – thank you very much for your very pertinent and detailed comment, the substance of which I am well aware myself. My complaint though is on the absence of legal action against CH4 and the absence of a formal complaint to Ofcom. Notwithstanding bias shown by Ofcom, a FORMAL complaint must be made to them. This is not a situation where the GoSL can remain silent leaving the complaining and legal action solely to the general public!- S de Silva – London
October 5th, 2011 at 11:13 am
Apologies for sounding insulting (for a lack of a better word).
However the Government has done this before. They have used the Ofcom route to be humiliated, as Channel 4 used the previous attempts (and its subsequent failure as Ofcom “found nothing wrong”) to prove how “great” there journalism is.
Only option is a legal case by Sinhalese living in the UK.
October 5th, 2011 at 1:04 pm
Very valuable contribution by Raju.
October 5th, 2011 at 1:41 pm
Raju
You need to calm yourself. Have some Pol Sambol (wink*) on buttered bread Ratnapala to stop that pent up frustration overwhelming your rational thinking.
Firstly, when CH4 Sri Lankan report was aired GOSL took the “raised sarong” approach of taking legal action against CH4. Leading Counsel advised the dangers and pointed the pitfalls of affidavits and cross-examination of “leading” players. GOSL took the soft approach of UK High Commission complaining to Ofcom as the complaints procedure is only available to UK viewers. CH4 was given a slap on the wrist. “ You naughty boys!”
CH4, took the bait, so to speak and obtained the sanction of Ofcom before “Killing Fields” was aired with much publicity to dare GOSL or any private or a consortium to take legal action against them.
You know as well as I do, any successful action in the UK or any Country (except SL) would lead to cross examination of “leading players”.
I wonder if the Shavendra Silva lawsuit in the US is test case for MR as you quite rightly say challenge the bogus human rights issue and put to bed once and for all.
Will MR take the plunge or take the soft option?
You say “Only Sinhala people in the UK can file legal action and get something from the British courts.”
Why only Sinhala people? Don’t the Tamil and the Muslims have the same rights to take legal action? Incidentally, the same community you talk about demonstrated against CH4 on two occasions with the blessing of the High Commission giving rice packets, BUT at the WRONG ADDRESS!
Try Grays Inn Road, not Horseferry Road as Mr Asoka Weerasinghe quickly realised why he was not been responded to.
Think we are getting rather tired, of the same old story of the IC (who are they?), UN, HRW, AI, BBC, CH4, Al Jazeera, CNN, ABC, XYZ being paid by the tamil diaspora when the diashoras are unable to get the act together.
Thankfully, Raju not many discerning (sic) Lankans share your views
October 5th, 2011 at 4:09 pm
Most SLs support and share Raju’s sentiments.
Sinhalese include other Hela people too may they be Muslim or Tamil. Tamils and Muslims are Sinhalese too! Aren’t migrant citizens in Italy, Italians?
LOSERS go around the world showing Channel 4 BS. But is there any court case, etc. based on that? No. Why? Because nobody believes that crap. Self confessed untruths in the UN panel report has more credibility than Channel 4!!
Channel 4 is just dirty entertainment for westerners. That’s all. Some people like to watch various forms of violence. Look at the market for horror movies and p*ssy movies! Killing fields is a combination of these. “I know what you did last summer” is a better horror movie than “killing fields”.
October 5th, 2011 at 4:25 pm
I hope Sri lanka isn’t dumb enough to let these guys in!
Because if you do, expect another round of UN War crimes investigations. SL doesn’t need to go through that pain again. Ch4 shot themselves in the foot when they produced a totally fabricated footage and showed it all over the world. For their bad behaviour I think this is an exceptional case where they should be denied a visa. They aint coming for a nice holiday!
October 5th, 2011 at 4:36 pm
Marco Marco, how are thee? I’ve been worried about your pro-longed absence these days. You can’t seem to find a “home” shall we say? Poor you!
Anyway glad to see you’re still skulking around SL websites venting your frustrations and concealed “upset” (an appropriate word for the machinations of a highly concerned individual such as yourself don’t ya think?) that there are people who still actively try and defend Sri Lanka.
”the same community you talk about demonstrated against CH4 on two occasions with the blessing of the High Commission giving rice packets, BUT at the WRONG ADDRESS”
LOL this must have hurt you a lot.
They did a fantastic job showing there indeed was revulsion to Channel 4’s grotesque rumblings. Why bother going to ITN studios when it was Channel 4 which actually carried out the broadcast? It is all associated with Channel 4 one way or another, little one. As if Snow and the gang would be “bothered” either way. But I know you most defiantly are bothered. Poor soul just can’t stand the sight of any person, especially Sinhalese, defending Sri Lanka even more so when they do it in the West. Guess such a thing in your grand mind is a giant crime.
Well till next time.
October 6th, 2011 at 1:30 pm
Raju,
Your slip is showing.
Am i right in thinking that you are willing to “blackmail” the Rajapakse Cabal with the war crimes bullshit and “game change” in order for them to do the “Right” thing. ( Comment from Pol Sambol aka Raju from another blog)
Perhaps you like to share with us what is “Right ” in your opinion.
You and i know the war crimes bullshit will never stick whilst MR and his cahoots are in power. The stigma will not concern him.
You should be concentrating on the “balls” that hurt.