{"id":1714,"date":"2011-11-12T10:35:58","date_gmt":"2011-11-12T10:35:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/colombotelegraph.com\/?p=1714"},"modified":"2011-11-12T10:35:58","modified_gmt":"2011-11-12T10:35:58","slug":"wikileaks-us-thinks-daily-news-has-become-like-pravda","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wikileaks-us-thinks-daily-news-has-become-like-pravda\/","title":{"rendered":"WikiLeaks: US thinks Daily News has become like Pravda"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/11\/dailynews-colombo-telegraph1.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-1717\" title=\"dailynews-colombo telegraph\" src=\"http:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/11\/dailynews-colombo-telegraph1.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"658\" height=\"712\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/11\/dailynews-colombo-telegraph1.jpg 658w, https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/11\/dailynews-colombo-telegraph1-277x300.jpg 277w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 658px) 100vw, 658px\" \/><\/a>By Colombo Telegraph<\/p>\n<p><strong>\u201cThe government\u2019s Daily News has become at this point little more a Rajapaksa daily campaign brochure. We believe that it is now fulfilling the same function as the old Soviet Pravda: aimed not so much at persuading a general audience, the paper primarily serves as a guide to the latest official campaign position for party and state functionaries.\u201d the US Embassy in Colombo wrote to Washington.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>This remark on State run media came after US Ambassador\u2019s meeting with the Elections Commissioner Dyananda Dissanayake no December 18, 2009. The remarks by Washington\u2019s ambassador to Sri Lanka, are revealed by the Wikileaks leaked cable. The Colombo Telegraph found the cable classified as \u201cCONFIDENTIAL\u201d by ambassador Patrica A. Butenis.<\/p>\n<p>Under the Subheading \u201cWHAT CAN THE EC DO TO ENFORCE EVEN-HANDEDNESS IN THE MEDIA? \u201c the Ambassador wrote, \u201cnot very much, the EC has allotted 45 minutes of air-time for each candidate on state television. The EC also has the authority to appoint a \u2018competent authority\u2019 to take over management of state electronic media. The EC explained that if he were to receive a complaint, he would issue a warning to the offending party.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHe would not mention whether he had yet received a formal complaint, through the opposition already has been making loud public complaints. If the warning were not heeded, he would then appoint a competent authority, who would take over the day-to-day management of the state radio or television outlet. The legislation did not provide, however, for a competent authority to oversee state newspapers.\u201d the Ambassador Butenis further wrote.<\/p>\n<p>In paragraph 6 the Ambassador wrote \u201cGiven the short campaign season, it may not be until the very end of the campaign that the EC would get around appointing a competent authority \u2013 a model that was followed in a previous provincial elections, when the EC appointed a competent authority two days before voting. Beyond appointing the competent authority, the EC has very little other power, and thus we expect the state media to continue to be used as an outlet for the president\u2019s campaign. As for private media, the EC has nor authority over it. The Rajapaksas or their allies own many of private media outlets and are crowding out opposition, which also lacks the Rajapaksa\u2019 financial resources.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Below we publish the relevant part of the cable;<\/p>\n<pre>VZCZCXRO2809\nOO RUEHAG RUEHROV RUEHSL RUEHSR\nDE RUEHLM #1177\/01 3561250\nZNY CCCCC ZZH\nO 221250Z DEC 09\nFM AMEMBASSY COLOMBO\nTO RUEHC\/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 1046\nINFO RUCNMEM\/EU MEMBER STATES COLLECTIVE PRIORITY\nRUEHKA\/AMEMBASSY DHAKA PRIORITY 2219\nRUEHIL\/AMEMBASSY ISLAMABAD PRIORITY 9241\nRUEHKT\/AMEMBASSY KATHMANDU PRIORITY 7491\nRUEHLO\/AMEMBASSY LONDON PRIORITY 5340\nRUEHNE\/AMEMBASSY NEW DELHI PRIORITY 3646\nRUEHNY\/AMEMBASSY OSLO PRIORITY 5265\nRUEHOT\/AMEMBASSY OTTAWA PRIORITY 0126\nRUEHSM\/AMEMBASSY STOCKHOLM PRIORITY 0800\nRUEHKO\/AMEMBASSY TOKYO PRIORITY 4387\nRUEHCG\/AMCONSUL CHENNAI PRIORITY 9801\nRUEHBI\/AMCONSUL MUMBAI PRIORITY 7092\nRUEHON\/AMCONSUL TORONTO PRIORITY 0121\nRHEFDIA\/DIA WASHINGTON DC PRIORITY\nRUEHGV\/USMISSION GENEVA PRIORITY 3958\nRHHMUNA\/HQ USPACOM HONOLULU HI PRIORITY\nRUEHBS\/USEU BRUSSELS PRIORITY\nRHEHAAA\/NATIONAL SECURITY COUNCIL WASHINGTON DC PRIORITY\nRUEKJCS\/SECDEF WASHDC PRIORITY\nC O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 04 COLOMBO 001177\n\nSIPDIS\n\nDEPARTMENT FOR SCA\/INSB\n\nE.O. 12958: DECL: 12\/22\/2019\nTAGS: <a href=\"http:\/\/wikileaks.org\/tag\/PGOV_0.html\">PGOV<\/a> <a href=\"http:\/\/wikileaks.org\/tag\/PREL_0.html\">PREL<\/a> <a href=\"http:\/\/wikileaks.org\/tag\/PREF_0.html\">PREF<\/a> <a href=\"http:\/\/wikileaks.org\/tag\/PHUM_0.html\">PHUM<\/a> <a href=\"http:\/\/wikileaks.org\/tag\/PTER_0.html\">PTER<\/a> <a href=\"http:\/\/wikileaks.org\/tag\/EAID_0.html\">EAID<\/a> <a href=\"http:\/\/wikileaks.org\/tag\/MOPS_0.html\">MOPS<\/a> <a href=\"http:\/\/wikileaks.org\/tag\/CE_0.html\">CE<\/a>\nSUBJECT: SRI LANKAN ELECTIONS COMMISSIONER: FAQS FOR AND\nABOUT\n\nCOLOMBO 00001177  001.2 OF 004\n\nClassified By: AMBASSADOR PATRICIA A. BUTENIS.  REASONS: 1.4 (B, D)\n\n<a id=\"par1\" href=\"http:\/\/wikileaks.org\/cable\/2009\/12\/09COLOMBO1177.html#par1\">\u00b6<\/a>1. (C) SUMMARY AND INTRODUCTION: The following provides Post\nassessment of key issues related to the Sri Lankan Elections\nCommissioner and the upcoming presidential election scheduled\nfor January 26.  The message is organized in\nfrequently-asked-question (FAQ) format and draws on\nAmbassador's December 18 meeting with the Commissioner and\nPost research.  END SUMMARY AND INTRODUCTION.\nWHAT CAN THE EC DO TO ENFORCE EVEN-HANDEDNESS IN THE MEDIA?\n--------------------------------------------- --------------\n\n<a id=\"par5\" href=\"http:\/\/wikileaks.org\/cable\/2009\/12\/09COLOMBO1177.html#par5\">\u00b6<\/a>5. (C) Not very much.  The EC has allotted 45 minutes of\nair-time for each candidate on state television (candidates\ncan use the 45 minutes all at once or in 15-minute\nincrements).  The EC also has the authority to appoint a\n\"competent authority\" to take over management of state\nelectronic media.  The EC explained that if he were to\nreceive a complaint, he would issue a warning to the\noffending party.  (He did not mention whether he had yet\n\nCOLOMBO 00001177  002.2 OF 004\n\nreceived a formal complaint, though the opposition already\nhas been making loud public complaints.)  If the warning were\nnot heeded, he would then appoint a competent authority, who\nwould take over the day-to-day management of the state radio\nor television outlet.  The legislation did not provide,\nhowever, for a competent authority to oversee state\nnewspapers.  (NOTE: The government's Daily News has become at\nthis point little more than a Rajapaksa daily campaign\nbrochure.  We believe that it is now fulfilling the same\nfunction as the old Soviet Pravda: aimed not so much at\npersuading a general audience, the paper primarily serves as\na guide to the latest official campaign positions for party\nand state functionaries.  END NOTE.)<\/pre>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p> [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":21,"featured_media":1717,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":true,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1,65,27],"tags":[6986,1143,1139,1208,1425,1135,1185,1206,1298,1426,1263],"class_list":["post-1714","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","category-press-freedom","category-wikileaks","tag-anti-corruption","tag-authoritarianism","tag-democracy","tag-election-monitoring","tag-elections-commissioner","tag-mahinda-rajapakse","tag-patricia-a-butenis","tag-presidential-election-2010","tag-sri-lankans-in-wikileaks","tag-state-run-daily-news","tag-us-embassy-cables-on-sri-lanka"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.3 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>WikiLeaks: US thinks Daily News has become like Pravda - 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