{"id":102727,"date":"2013-08-30T02:06:02","date_gmt":"2013-08-29T20:36:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/?p=102727"},"modified":"2013-09-03T21:31:19","modified_gmt":"2013-09-03T16:01:19","slug":"letter-to-pillay-sri-lankas-ngo-media-rights-groups-take-revenge-from-colombo-telegraph","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/letter-to-pillay-sri-lankas-ngo-media-rights-groups-take-revenge-from-colombo-telegraph\/","title":{"rendered":"Letter To Pillay: Sri Lanka’s NGO Media Rights Groups Take Revenge From Colombo Telegraph"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Alliance of Media Organisations yesterday delivered a special memorandum to UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay<\/a><\/span>, appealed to her office in the face of severe threats to the freedom of expression in Sri Lanka. The special memo drafted by seven media organisations including the Free Media Movement, cited the killing and abduction and assault of journalists, attacks on media institutions, attempts to control the private media by threat, concessions or buy outs and web censorship among other issues faced by media professionals in the country. The Memo said a number of websites publishing material critical of the government, such as “Sri Lanka Guardian”, “Lanka E News”, “Lanka newsweb”, “Jaffna Muslims” and “Tamilnet” have\u00a0 been blocked at various times. However, the memo fails to raise concern about Sri Lanka’s block on the Colombo Telegraph website over the past six days<\/a><\/span>.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The alliance calls on High Commissioner Pillay to make explicit reference to these concerns during her final press conference in Colombo, and her oral and written updates to the UN Human Rights Council and all other forums. It also calls for more attention by the UN on freedom of expression issues in Sri Lanka.<\/p>\n

Read the full text of the memorandum\u00a0here<\/a><\/p>\n

When asked why they failed to mention about Colombo Telegraph; \u00a0\u201cIt\u2019s because you have exposed corruption related to these organisations which made most of them angry with CT\u201d , highly placed source within the drafting committee of the memorandum\u00a0told Colombo Telegraph. The memorandum\u00a0was drafted by a group of people who are not members of these organisations.<\/p>\n

These media organisations maintain a culture that they do\u00a0not support critics even when they were being threatened and intimidated for their work as journalists.<\/p>\n

In\u00a0July 14, 2012\u00a0Colombo Telegraph reported<\/a><\/span>; “The Colombo Telegraph learnt that in a conversation with Uvindu Kurukulasuriya<\/a><\/span>, a former Convenor of the Free Media Movement, South Asia Project Manager for IFJ, Sukumar Muralidharan said his organization would not be issuing a statement condemning the Defence Secretary\u2019s recent tirade<\/a><\/span> against Sunday Leader Editor\u00a0Fredrica Jansz<\/a><\/span>\u00a0until the journalist patched up her relationship with the FMM and certain media activist groups in Colombo. ‘They (Sunday Leader) need to patch up their relationship and we cannot get involved in something that could alienate us from the affiliates,’ he said.”<\/p>\n

Three days after Colombo Telegraph was blocked,on August 26,\u00a0Sri Lanka\u2019s Consul General to Sydney and former Presidential Media Director\u00a0Bandula Jayasekara<\/a><\/span>, referring to Colombo Telegraph tweeted;\u00a0“They have gone far beyond that I have heard from many. Is your free media free to insult? Just cowards hiding elsewhere”<\/span><\/p>\n

Freedom House<\/a><\/span>, US based watchdog\u00a0in its report on Freedom on the Net 2012<\/a><\/span>\u00a0said; \u201cIn November 2011, five popular news websites known for their reporting on human rights, governance issues, and corruption were arbitrarily blocked.\u00a0Prior to this incident, the government and the TRCSL had never admitted to blocking websites but did so in this case on the premise of concerns about defamation and the violation of privacy. In December 2011 and intermittently in November 2011, Colombotelegraph.com<\/a><\/span>, a news and commentary website run by exiled Sri Lankan journalists, was also blocked with absolutely no justification provided by authorities,but is accessible as of early 2012. The authorities have occasionally blocked website domains hosted on the servers of blogging platforms rather than specific blogs themselves,although only a few of the most popular blogs publish political content and dissenting narratives.\u201d<\/p>\n

Related posts;<\/strong><\/p>\n

History of Colombo Telegraph blocking<\/strong><\/p>\n

First -December 26, 2011 –\u00a0We are blocked but we will not be stopped<\/a><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Second –\u00a0May 8, 2012 –Colombo Telegraph Blocked Again<\/a><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Third –\u00a0March 29, 2013 \u00a0–\u00a0Sri Lanka Blocks Colombo Telegraph<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0<\/strong>Selected Tweets: Colombo Telegraph Unblocked<\/a><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Fourth – From\u00a0August 23, 2013 up to now –\u00a0Colombo Telegraph Blocked, How To Reach Us Now: Sri Lanka Telecom And Mobitel Joins The DPI Club!<\/a><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Other attempts\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

October 26, 2012 –\u00a0Colombo Telegraph Was Hacked<\/a><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

August 9, 2012\u00a0ColomboTelegraph Password Cracking Attempt Blocked<\/a><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Freedom House Report: Freedom On The Net 2012, Sri Lanka Is A Country At Risk<\/a><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Other related posts;<\/strong><\/p>\n

IFJ Love Hana And Hate Frederica, So No Statements On Ceylon Today And Sunday Leader Issues<\/a><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Why Is The FMM Silent About \u2018Ceylon Today\u2019? By The Nation Editor<\/a><\/strong><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

<\/strong><\/strong>\u2018FMM Fraud Story Rolls On, Despite Denials\u2019 \u2013 With A Note From Colombo Telegraph<\/a><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

<\/strong>Selling The FMM For The Good Life<\/a><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

<\/strong>Lies, Lies And More Lies<\/a><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

<\/strong>FMM Hides 40 Million Fraud<\/a><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

<\/strong>Sunanda Saga, States Of Denial And NGO Accountability<\/a><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

<\/strong>How Sunanda Robbed The Money And NGO Accountability FMM Still Not Submitted Audited Accounts For Rs 30.9 Million<\/a><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n


\n<\/a><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

[…]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":22,"featured_media":102738,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,2187,1,6969,2375],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-102727","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-colombotelegraph","category-most-popular","category-news","category-popular-stories","category-stories"],"yoast_head":"\nLetter To Pillay: Sri Lanka's NGO Media Rights Groups Take Revenge From Colombo Telegraph - Colombo Telegraph<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/letter-to-pillay-sri-lankas-ngo-media-rights-groups-take-revenge-from-colombo-telegraph\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Letter To Pillay: Sri Lanka's NGO Media Rights Groups Take Revenge From Colombo Telegraph - Colombo Telegraph\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"[…]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/letter-to-pillay-sri-lankas-ngo-media-rights-groups-take-revenge-from-colombo-telegraph\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Colombo Telegraph\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2013-08-29T20:36:02+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2013-09-03T16:01:19+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/08\/FMM.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"312\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"348\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"COLOMBO TELEGRAPH\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"COLOMBO TELEGRAPH\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/letter-to-pillay-sri-lankas-ngo-media-rights-groups-take-revenge-from-colombo-telegraph\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/letter-to-pillay-sri-lankas-ngo-media-rights-groups-take-revenge-from-colombo-telegraph\/\",\"name\":\"Letter To Pillay: Sri Lanka's NGO Media Rights Groups Take Revenge From Colombo Telegraph - Colombo Telegraph\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/letter-to-pillay-sri-lankas-ngo-media-rights-groups-take-revenge-from-colombo-telegraph\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/letter-to-pillay-sri-lankas-ngo-media-rights-groups-take-revenge-from-colombo-telegraph\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/08\/FMM.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2013-08-29T20:36:02+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2013-09-03T16:01:19+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/#\/schema\/person\/9db3d0cfcfa59e1997e3c3524d454cb3\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/letter-to-pillay-sri-lankas-ngo-media-rights-groups-take-revenge-from-colombo-telegraph\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/letter-to-pillay-sri-lankas-ngo-media-rights-groups-take-revenge-from-colombo-telegraph\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/letter-to-pillay-sri-lankas-ngo-media-rights-groups-take-revenge-from-colombo-telegraph\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/08\/FMM.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/08\/FMM.jpg\",\"width\":\"312\",\"height\":\"348\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/letter-to-pillay-sri-lankas-ngo-media-rights-groups-take-revenge-from-colombo-telegraph\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Letter To Pillay: Sri Lanka’s NGO Media Rights Groups Take Revenge From Colombo Telegraph\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/\",\"name\":\"Colombo Telegraph\",\"description\":\"In journalism truth is a process\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/#\/schema\/person\/9db3d0cfcfa59e1997e3c3524d454cb3\",\"name\":\"COLOMBO TELEGRAPH\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/920b3181b0bf86b5c339ad9f0963a89f6a8b19c4b971e629987a021ba7a663df?s=96&d=identicon&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/920b3181b0bf86b5c339ad9f0963a89f6a8b19c4b971e629987a021ba7a663df?s=96&d=identicon&r=g\",\"caption\":\"COLOMBO TELEGRAPH\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/author\/colombo_telegraph\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Letter To Pillay: Sri Lanka's NGO Media Rights Groups Take Revenge From Colombo Telegraph - Colombo Telegraph","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/letter-to-pillay-sri-lankas-ngo-media-rights-groups-take-revenge-from-colombo-telegraph\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Letter To Pillay: Sri Lanka's NGO Media Rights Groups Take Revenge From Colombo Telegraph - Colombo Telegraph","og_description":"[…]","og_url":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/letter-to-pillay-sri-lankas-ngo-media-rights-groups-take-revenge-from-colombo-telegraph\/","og_site_name":"Colombo Telegraph","article_published_time":"2013-08-29T20:36:02+00:00","article_modified_time":"2013-09-03T16:01:19+00:00","og_image":[{"width":312,"height":348,"url":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/08\/FMM.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"COLOMBO TELEGRAPH","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"COLOMBO TELEGRAPH","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/letter-to-pillay-sri-lankas-ngo-media-rights-groups-take-revenge-from-colombo-telegraph\/","url":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/letter-to-pillay-sri-lankas-ngo-media-rights-groups-take-revenge-from-colombo-telegraph\/","name":"Letter To Pillay: Sri Lanka's NGO Media Rights Groups Take Revenge From Colombo Telegraph - Colombo Telegraph","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/letter-to-pillay-sri-lankas-ngo-media-rights-groups-take-revenge-from-colombo-telegraph\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/letter-to-pillay-sri-lankas-ngo-media-rights-groups-take-revenge-from-colombo-telegraph\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/08\/FMM.jpg","datePublished":"2013-08-29T20:36:02+00:00","dateModified":"2013-09-03T16:01:19+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/#\/schema\/person\/9db3d0cfcfa59e1997e3c3524d454cb3"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/letter-to-pillay-sri-lankas-ngo-media-rights-groups-take-revenge-from-colombo-telegraph\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/letter-to-pillay-sri-lankas-ngo-media-rights-groups-take-revenge-from-colombo-telegraph\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/letter-to-pillay-sri-lankas-ngo-media-rights-groups-take-revenge-from-colombo-telegraph\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/08\/FMM.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/08\/FMM.jpg","width":"312","height":"348"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/letter-to-pillay-sri-lankas-ngo-media-rights-groups-take-revenge-from-colombo-telegraph\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Letter To Pillay: Sri Lanka’s NGO Media Rights Groups Take Revenge From Colombo Telegraph"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/","name":"Colombo Telegraph","description":"In journalism truth is a process","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/#\/schema\/person\/9db3d0cfcfa59e1997e3c3524d454cb3","name":"COLOMBO TELEGRAPH","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/920b3181b0bf86b5c339ad9f0963a89f6a8b19c4b971e629987a021ba7a663df?s=96&d=identicon&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/920b3181b0bf86b5c339ad9f0963a89f6a8b19c4b971e629987a021ba7a663df?s=96&d=identicon&r=g","caption":"COLOMBO TELEGRAPH"},"url":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/author\/colombo_telegraph\/"}]}},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/08\/FMM.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/102727","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/22"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=102727"}],"version-history":[{"count":30,"href":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/102727\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":102741,"href":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/102727\/revisions\/102741"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/102738"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=102727"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=102727"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=102727"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}