{"id":125434,"date":"2014-06-03T20:10:01","date_gmt":"2014-06-03T14:40:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/?p=125434"},"modified":"2014-06-10T17:41:35","modified_gmt":"2014-06-10T12:11:35","slug":"response-to-article-in-colombo-telegraph","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/response-to-article-in-colombo-telegraph\/","title":{"rendered":"Response To Article In Colombo Telegraph"},"content":{"rendered":"

By\u00a0Sanjana Hattotuwa<\/a><\/span>\u00a0–<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

\"Sanjana<\/a>

Sanjana Hattotuwa<\/p><\/div>\n

*This article appeared in Groundviews\u00a0<\/em><\/i>on June 03, \u00a02014.<\/em><\/i><\/em><\/p>\n

An article published<\/span><\/a> in the\u00a0<\/span>Colombo Telegraph<\/em>\u00a0(see PDF\u00a0<\/span>here<\/span>, the site itself continues to be illegally blocked in Sri Lanka by all ISPs) makes several allegations against me. This hasn\u2019t been the first article on that site which has targeted me<\/span><\/a> personally and\u00a0<\/span>Groundviews<\/em>\u00a0as a platform. It is however the most serious in a series I expect to continue into the future. While I do not intend to engage on\u00a0<\/span>Colombo Telegraph<\/em>\u00a0on its site \u2013 the comments section is a cesspool of bile by those hiding behind veils of anonymity \u2013 I would like to flag just two points around the article.<\/span><\/p>\n

I find it curious that the article refers to the Media Unit coordinator, who isn\u2019t named, as a male. The last time CPA\u2019s Media Unit had a male coordinator was before 2004. Since 2004, the institution has had two female coordinators \u2013 one from 2004 to 2012, and the other from 2012 to date.<\/p>\n

In 2009, a series of email exchanges with the then coordinator of the Media Unit, CPA\u2019s Executive Director and the Editor of\u00a0Colombo Telegraph<\/em>, an erstwhile employee of CPA, also clearly alluded to allegations along the same lines as that which is now in public. Clearly then, given that these receipts and associated farrago of allegations made in the article seem to have resided with the Editor of\u00a0Colombo Telegraph<\/em>\u00a0for over ten years, and have also in the past been alluded to in emails but never substantiated, it is curious as to why they only now appear in the public domain.<\/p>\n

Let me also say this.<\/p>\n

The article published today against me is yet another example why\u00a0Colombo Telegraph<\/em>\u2018s on-going and illegal block by all ISPs in Sri Lanka is so ill-advised. In blocking the site, the Government of Sri Lanka gives it an air of authority that ill fits the quality of discourse featured on it. And yet, if we cannot countenance the worst that is written of us, without any substantiation and for the most parochial of reasons on the principle that it has as much a right to be published as that which praises us, we aren\u2019t really champions of media freedom. For this reason alone, I remain as committed to the unblocking ofColombo Telegraph<\/em>\u00a0as I am truly appalled by the content published and penned by its Editor.<\/p>\n

*This article appeared in Groundviews\u00a0<\/em><\/i>on June 03, \u00a02014.<\/em><\/i><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

[…]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":22,"featured_media":38511,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,46,8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-125434","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-colombotelegraph","category-constitutional-reforms","category-editorial"],"yoast_head":"\nResponse To Article In 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\/response-to-article-in-colombo-telegraph\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Response To Article In Colombo Telegraph - Colombo Telegraph\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"[…]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/response-to-article-in-colombo-telegraph\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Colombo Telegraph\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2014-06-03T14:40:01+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2014-06-10T12:11:35+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/04\/Sanjana1.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"156\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"156\" \/>\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=\"2 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\/response-to-article-in-colombo-telegraph\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/response-to-article-in-colombo-telegraph\/\",\"name\":\"Response To Article In Colombo Telegraph - 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