Channel 4 News on Sri Lanka
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This complaint is in reference to the news reportage by you on Sri Lanka on 25th August 2009, at 7.00pm, where you have telecast a video footage narrated by your foreign affairs correspondent Jonathan Miller purporting to portray a Sri Lankan soldier from the Sinhalese community shooting naked men whose arms were bound behind their backs. The victims were purported to be Tamil civilians and he reported it as alleged incident of the Sri Lanka military forces executing Tamils.
That unauthenticated video footage is said to have been filmed in January 2009 and was apparently received on the day before the telecast by your News Room. It has been given to you by the so called Journalists For Democracy -an anti Sri Lankan Government organisation which makes the truth of these allegations questionable due to the previous fake accusations orchestrated by them. Therefore we believe this unauthenticated information carries the risk of broadcasting doctored propaganda.
This is another attempt by Tamil Tiger front organizations and other anti-Sri Lankan government elements whose prime objective is to discredit the government of Sri Lanka in the post conflict development phase of the country. This whole issue is unacceptable to the Sri Lankan community. It is also a deliberate and sinister attempt to prevent the reconciliation process that is taking place now to heal the wounds of the past and to rebuild the country in order to move on to the future.
More over, when the Sri Lankan expatriate community in the UK is also attempting to bring all the communities together by healing the wounds of the war, it is regrettable that you decided to broadcast this alleged incident.
When unbiased, balanced, professional reportage should be the norm, you have failed the viewers. We the Sri Lankan expatriates in the UK demand that you make a public apology or authenticate the video footage. We also sincerely hope that Channel 4 news would be unbiased, balanced, objective as well as professional in its reporting on Sri Lanka in the future.
Thank you very much
Yours sincerely
Janaka Alahapperuma
British Sri Lankan Forum (BSLF)
[email protected]
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