{"id":61575,"date":"2012-11-23T14:06:48","date_gmt":"2012-11-23T14:06:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/?p=61575"},"modified":"2012-11-27T10:10:08","modified_gmt":"2012-11-27T10:10:08","slug":"exclusive-investigate-your-journalists-opposition-leader-ranil-wickremesinghe-to-bbcs-lord-chris-patten","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/exclusive-investigate-your-journalists-opposition-leader-ranil-wickremesinghe-to-bbcs-lord-chris-patten\/","title":{"rendered":"Exclusive: Investigate Your Journalists! &#8211; Opposition Leader Ranil Wickremesinghe To BBC&#8217;s Lord Chris Patten"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>By <span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/\">Colombo Telegraph<\/a><\/span> &#8211;<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>Talking exclusively to Colombo Telegraph Opposition and UNP Leader <span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/?s=Ranil+Wickremesinghe&amp;x=7&amp;y=4\">Ranil Wickremesinghe<\/a><\/span> said that he is writing to Lord Christopher Patten, Chairman of the BBC Trust regarding the misconduct of its journalists.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_61577\" style=\"width: 420px\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/exclusive-investigate-your-journalists-opposition-leader-ranil-wickremesinghe-to-bbcs-lord-chris-patten\/ranil-wickremasinghe1\/\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-61577\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-61577\" class=\"size-full wp-image-61577\" title=\"ranil-wickremasinghe1\" src=\"http:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/11\/ranil-wickremasinghe1.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"410\" height=\"286\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/11\/ranil-wickremasinghe1.jpg 410w, https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/11\/ranil-wickremasinghe1-300x209.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 410px) 100vw, 410px\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-61577\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Ranil Wickremesinghe<\/p><\/div>\n<p>Two of its journalists, BBC World Service producer <span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/?s=Chandana+Keerthi+Bandara&amp;x=14&amp;y=3\">Chandana Keerthi Bandara<\/a><\/span> and the Colombo Reporter <span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/?s=Elmo+Fernando&amp;x=9&amp;y=8\">Elmo Fernando<\/a><\/span>, applied Rs. 1,200,000\/-each by way of interest free loans from the state banks to purchase cars or vans, where the interest <span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.treasury.gov.lk\/index.php?option=com_content&amp;view=article&amp;id=339%3Avehicle-loans-for-journalists&amp;catid=1%3Alatestnews&amp;Itemid=1\">will be paid by the Treasury using tax payer money<\/a><\/span>.\u00a0 This is part of a Government scheme but the move has been criticised by media rights organisations and the opposition as an attempt to purchase loyalty.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe BBC must investigate its journalists for this and it is clearly a violation of its principles, I \u2018m writing this to Lord Christopher Patten and also table the letter in Parliament,&#8221; the leader of the opposition said.<\/p>\n<p>The\u00a0Opposition and UNP Leader\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/?s=Ranil+Wickremesinghe&amp;x=8&amp;y=8\">Ranil Wickremesinghe<\/a>\u00a0said yesterday that<strong>\u00a0<\/strong>some media personnel who had received laptops and obtained vehicle loans, had defamed him in their publications the very next day.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cLast Sunday BBC Sinhala Service Colombo Reporter filed a distorted report on the Opposition Leader\u2019s press conference and attacked him\u201d a senior opposition legislator told Colombo Telegraph, asking for anonymity because he\u00a0didn\u2019t want to be targeted by the \u2018laptop andinterest free loan\u2019<strong>\u00a0<\/strong>media.\u00a0 The BBC didn\u2019t report what the leader said in full and just criticised him for not answering BBC questions. The BBC even failed to report what the questions were.<\/p>\n<p>Listen to BBC Sinhala reporting on Ranil Wickremesinghe\u00a0<span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><strong><a href=\"http:\/\/www.bbc.co.uk\/sinhala\/multimedia\/2012\/04\/000001_sunday_prog.shtml\">here<\/a><\/strong>\u00a0<\/span>at minutes 7.37 \u2013 11.20.<\/p>\n<p>Addressing new IT recruits at Sirikotha, Wickremesinghe said that the gifting of laptops andinterest free loan\u00a0to journalists and cartoonists, which coincided with the budget was no mere coincidence. It had been calculated to prevent the media from highlighting the burdens placed by the budget on the poor suffering masses.<\/p>\n<p>Related posts;<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><strong><a title=\"\u2018It Is A Shame And Very Disappointing, BBC Should Investigate Its Journalists\u2019 \u2013 Says Dr Saravanamuttu\" href=\"http:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/it-is-a-shame-and-very-disappointing-bbc-should-investigate-its-journalists-says-dr-saravanamuttu\/\" rel=\"bookmark\">\u2018It Is A Shame And Very Disappointing, BBC Should Investigate Its Journalists\u2019 \u2013 Says Dr Saravanamuttu<\/a><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><strong><a href=\"http:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/applying-and-receiving-an-interest-free-motor-vehicle-loan-will-damage-bbcs-credibility-says-the-former-head\/\">Applying And Receiving An Interest-Free Motor Vehicle Loan Will Damage BBC\u2019s Credibility Says The Former Head<\/a><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><strong><a href=\"http:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/bbc-world-service-journalists-interest-free-loan-application-on-the-waiting-list-says-sri-lankan-government\/\">\u2018BBC World Service Journalist\u2019s Interest-Free Loan Application \u2018On The Waiting List\u2019 Says Sri Lankan Government<\/a><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p> [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":22,"featured_media":61577,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,2187,1,2375],"tags":[1343,6564,6659,6658],"class_list":["post-61575","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-colombotelegraph","category-most-popular","category-news","category-stories","tag-bbc-sandeshaya","tag-bbc-world-service-employers-misconduct","tag-journalism-corruption-and-bbc","tag-laptop-andinterest-free-loans-for-sri-lankan-journalists"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.3 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Exclusive: Investigate Your Journalists! 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