Reporter Assaulted As Election Intensifies

Reporter Assaulted As Presidential Election Campaign Intensifies

The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) is concerned over a recent incident in which BBC reporter Thaksila Dilrukshi Jayasena was injured and her equipment stolen after a political campaign she was covering in the central Sri Lankan town of Polonnaruwa turned violent.

According to IFJ sources in Sri Lanka, Jayasena suffered minor injuries and was briefly hospitalised.

“We are concerned at the growing threats to free and fair media coverage in in Sri Lanka’s increasingly contentious election campaign,” IFJ General Secretary Aidan White said.

Aside from direct attacks, the media has come under pressure from both the principal candidates for the presidential election scheduled for January 26.

A well-known English-language newspaper, the Sunday Leader, is being sued for a vast sum of money for alleged misreporting on the war-time role of former army commander Sarath Fonseka, who is the incumbent president’s most serious challenger.

Sri Lanka’s Commissioner for Elections said on January 12 that he was rapidly losing authority to direct state-controlled media to follow basic norms of fair reporting in the run-up to the elections.

Independent observers have sharply criticised the state-controlled media for its partisan coverage of issues ahead of the presidential elections.

Telecom companies, both private and government-owned, have reportedly been pressured to disseminate text messages supporting President Mahenda Rajapaksa’s cause among the numerous mobile phone subscribers in the country.

“Sri Lanka’s media deserve an opportunity to function without threat and inducement in reporting on this crucial election,” White said.

“It is essential that the media is able to tell things as they are if Sri Lanka is to avoid the harmful consequences of the sharp political polarisation that persists despite the end of a quarter-century long civil war last May.”

ENDS

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