{"id":4999,"date":"2012-02-28T23:56:52","date_gmt":"2012-02-28T23:56:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/colombotelegraph.com\/?p=4999"},"modified":"2019-01-13T18:42:14","modified_gmt":"2019-01-13T13:12:14","slug":"wikileaks-rajapaksa-managed-to-influence-mtv-owner-maharaja","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wikileaks-rajapaksa-managed-to-influence-mtv-owner-maharaja\/","title":{"rendered":"WikiLeaks: Rajapaksa Managed To Influence MTV Owner Maharaja"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>By <span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><a href=\"http:\/\/colombotelegraph.com\/\">Colombo Telegraph<\/a><\/span><\/strong> &#8211;<\/p>\n<p><strong>\u201cDuring a cordial chat, Rajapaksa was able to persuade Maharajah not to air any more programs on such sensitive topics,\u201d the US Embassy Colombo informed Washington.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/02\/mtv-sirasa-colombotelegraph1.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft wp-image-5156\" title=\"MTV-Sirasa colombotelegraph\" src=\"http:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/02\/mtv-sirasa-colombotelegraph1.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"388\" height=\"318\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/02\/mtv-sirasa-colombotelegraph1.jpg 704w, https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/02\/mtv-sirasa-colombotelegraph1-300x245.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 388px) 100vw, 388px\" \/><\/a>A leaked \u201cCONFIDENTIAL\u201d US diplomatic cable, dated March 22, 2007, updated the Secretary of State on \u00a0Sri Lanka\u2019s media suppression situation shows that\u00a0President\u00a0Mahinda Rajapaksa managed to influence the owner of the Majaraja Broadcasting Company. The <strong><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><a href=\"http:\/\/colombotelegraph.com\/\">Colombo Telegraph<\/a><\/span><\/strong> found the related leaked cable from the WikiLeaks database. The cable was written by the Ambassador Robert O. Blake.<\/p>\n<p>Ambassador Blake wrote \u201cTelevision stations have also been feeling the heat. This matters, because about 60% of the population gets its news for TV. Television journalists tell us, however, that the Majaraja Broadcasting Company, owned by a prominent Tamil, had been the only broadcaster covering press conferences critical of the government by former Foreign Minister Samaraweera, as well as stories on human rights violations and abductions. However, a senior executive of the Maharaja channel (protect) told us that President Rajapaksa had summoned the owner of the station to Temple Trees (equivalent to the White House). During a cordial chat, Rajapaksa was able to persuade Maharajah not to air any more programs on such sensitive topics.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Below we give the relevant part of the leaked cable;<\/p>\n<pre>VZCZCXRO2317\r\nOO RUEHBI\r\nDE RUEHLM #0475\/01 0811128\r\nZNY CCCCC ZZH\r\nO 221128Z MAR 07\r\nFM AMEMBASSY COLOMBO\r\nTO RUEHC\/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 5725\r\nINFO RUEHRL\/AMEMBASSY BERLIN PRIORITY 0293\r\nRUEHKA\/AMEMBASSY DHAKA PRIORITY 9984\r\nRUEHIL\/AMEMBASSY ISLAMABAD PRIORITY 6959\r\nRUEHKT\/AMEMBASSY KATHMANDU PRIORITY 5037\r\nRUEHLO\/AMEMBASSY LONDON PRIORITY 3620\r\nRUEHNE\/AMEMBASSY NEW DELHI PRIORITY 0781\r\nRUEHNY\/AMEMBASSY OSLO PRIORITY 3706\r\nRUEHOT\/AMEMBASSY OTTAWA PRIORITY 1021\r\nRUEHKO\/AMEMBASSY TOKYO PRIORITY 2786\r\nRUEHCG\/AMCONSUL CHENNAI PRIORITY 7534\r\nRUEHBI\/AMCONSUL MUMBAI PRIORITY 5236\r\nRUEHON\/AMCONSUL TORONTO PRIORITY 0146\r\nRHEFDIA\/DIA WASHINGTON DC PRIORITY\r\nRUEHGV\/USMISSION GENEVA PRIORITY 1916\r\nRHEHAAA\/NATIONAL SECURITY COUNCIL WASHINGTON DC PRIORITY\r\nRHHMUNA\/HQ USPACOM HONOLULU HI PRIORITY\r\nRUEHBS\/USEU BRUSSELS PRIORITY\r\nC O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 04 COLOMBO 000475\r\n\r\nSIPDIS\r\n\r\nSIPDIS\r\n\r\nDEPARTMENT FOR SCA PDAS MANN, SCA\/INS AND SCA\/PPD\r\n\r\nE.O. 12958: DECL: 03\/21\/2017\r\nTAGS: <a href=\"http:\/\/wikileaks.org\/tag\/PGOV_0.html\">PGOV<\/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\/KPAO_0.html\">KPAO<\/a> <a href=\"http:\/\/wikileaks.org\/tag\/KDEM_0.html\">KDEM<\/a> <a href=\"http:\/\/wikileaks.org\/tag\/CE_0.html\">CE<\/a>\r\nSUBJECT: SRI LANKA: SLOW STRANGULATION OF MEDIA FREEDOM\r\n\r\nREF: A) COLOMBO 460 B) COLOMBO 439 C) COLOMBO 337 D)\r\n     COLOMBO 264\r\n\r\nClassified By: Ambassador Robert O. Blake, Jr., for reasons 1.4(b,d).\r\n\r\n<a id=\"par1\" href=\"http:\/\/wikileaks.org\/cable\/2007\/03\/07COLOMBO475.html#par1\">\u00b6<\/a>1.  (C) Summary: Since the inauguration of President Mahinda\r\nRajapaksa in November 2005, Sri Lanka's vibrant media has\r\nbeen slowly smothered by attacks on journalists, publishers\r\nand broadcasters by the LTTE and armed paramilitary groups\r\nwith alleged links to the government security forces.  The\r\ndecline of human rights generally and the resulting \"culture\r\nof impunity\" have stoked the surge in intimidation,\r\nkidnapping and murder of journalists.  The Government of Sri\r\nLanka (GSL), invoking strengthened emergency regulations, has\r\nput pressure on editorial content and arrested journalists\r\nwithout charges.  More recently, editors and broadcasters\r\nhave received veiled threats by telephone allegedly from the\r\ntop levels of the Rajapaksa government.  As a result of\r\ndirect and indirect harassment, four independent newspapers\r\nare likely to close in the next 90 days.   End Summary.\r\n\r\n<a id=\"par7\" href=\"http:\/\/wikileaks.org\/cable\/2007\/03\/07COLOMBO475.html#par7\">\u00b6<\/a>7.  (C) Television stations have also been feeling the heat.\r\nThis matters, because about 60% of the population gets its\r\nnews for TV.  Television journalists tell us, however, that\r\nthe Majaraja Broadcasting Company, owned by a prominent\r\nTamil, had been the only broadcaster covering press\r\nconferences criticial of the gvernment by former Foreign\r\nMinister Samaraweera, as well as stories on human rights\r\nviolations and abductions.  However, a senior executive of\r\nthe Maharaja channel (protect) told us that President\r\nRajapaksa had summoned the owner of the station to Temple\r\nTrees (equivalent to the White House).  During a cordial\r\nchat, Rajapaksa was able to persuade Maharajah not to air any\r\nmore programs on such sensitive topics.\r\nBLAKE<\/pre>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p> [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":21,"featured_media":5155,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":true,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[43,54,1,63,65,27],"tags":[2050,2051,2052,2053,2054,2055],"class_list":["post-4999","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-anti-corruption","category-good-governance","category-news","category-politics-2","category-press-freedom","category-wikileaks","tag-kili-maharaja-and-mahinda-rajapaksa","tag-kili-maharaja-in-wikileaks","tag-maharaja-in-wikileaks","tag-mtv-on-wikileaks","tag-mtvmbc-in-wikileaks","tag-pressure-on-independent-media-in-sri-lanka"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.3 - 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