{"id":46051,"date":"2012-06-22T18:22:12","date_gmt":"2012-06-22T18:22:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/?p=46051"},"modified":"2012-06-25T08:31:39","modified_gmt":"2012-06-25T08:31:39","slug":"ceylon-today-saga-rsf-fears-politically-motivated-censorship-in-sri-lanka","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/ceylon-today-saga-rsf-fears-politically-motivated-censorship-in-sri-lanka\/","title":{"rendered":"Ceylon Today Saga :RSF Fears Politically Motivated Censorship In Sri Lanka"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Colombo Telegraph –<\/strong><\/p>\n

Press freedom advocates Reporters Without Borders (RSF) today said it fears that the dismissal of Ceylon Today Editor in Chief Lalith Allahakkoon was a restriction on news and information and politically motivated censorship.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Lalith Allahakkoon<\/p><\/div>\n

In an official statement on its website today, RSF expressed concern about the reasons that led the management of Ceylon Today to force its Editor in Chief Lalith Allahakkoon to resign. RSF added that it had written to the management of Ceylon Today seeking reasons for Allahakkoon\u2019s dismissal and all possible steps to resolve the crisis that has arisen at the newspaper.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf it is merely an internal restructuring issue, as experienced by many media organizations, there would be no reason to intervene, but we fear that it is rather a restriction on news and information and politically-motivated censorship,\u201d the media watchdogs said.<\/p>\n

We produce below the full text of the statement by Reporters Without Borders:<\/strong><\/p>\n

<\/strong>CEYLON TODAY EDITOR IN CHIEF FORCED TO QUIT, REASONS STILL UNCLEAR<\/span><\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

Reporters Without Borders is concerned about the reasons that led the management of the newspaper\u00a0Ceylon Today<\/a><\/em>\u00a0to force its editor in chief\u00a0Lalith Allahakkoon\u00a0to resign on 13 June. The journalist, who received no letter of dismissal, arrived at his office on 16 June to find that access to his computer had been blocked.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe dismissal of Lalith Allahakkoon by\u00a0Ceylon Today<\/em>\u00a0is worrying,\u201d the press freedom organization said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf it is merely an internal restructuring issue, as experienced by many media organizations, there would be no reason to intervene, but we fear that it is rather a restriction on news and information and politically-motivated censorship,\u201d<\/p>\n

Reporters Without Borders wrote today to the management of\u00a0Ceylon Today<\/em>\u00a0seeking the reasons for Allahakkoon\u2019s dismissal and asking that all possible steps be taken to find a favourable outcome to this crisis gripping the newspaper\u2019s editorial staff.<\/p>\n

On 13 June Allahakkoon was summoned by the executive director Dushyantha Basnayake who asked for his resignation.<\/p>\n

The following day, in a\u00a0letter<\/a>\u00a0to Basnayake and circulated to news organizations in Colombo, four of his colleagues, deputy editors\u00a0Wilson Gnanadass\u00a0and\u00a0Dharisha Bastians, and journalists\u00a0Rasika Jayakody\u00a0and\u00a0Dinidu De Alwis, expressed concern about \u201cthe persecution of our Editor-in-Chief Lalith Allahakkoon and our journalists that has arisen, based on false assumptions of political and ideological affiliations and allegiances; it is alarming, to a greater extent, that these persecutions and allegations stem from the highest echelons of the management, being you.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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