BBC's unbalanced reporting
on Sri Lanka
Prof. Rajiva Wijesinha, Sri
Lanka's Peace Chief writes to
Head, BBC Sinhala Service
Secretariat for Coordinating
the Peace Process (SCOPP)
16th June 2008
Prof. Rajiva Wijesinha, Secretary General of the Secretariat for Coordinating
the Peace Process has expressed his disappointment over the BBC coverage
of the adoption of the Universal Periodic Review of Sri Lanka. In a
letter to Mr. Priyath Liyanage, Head of the BBC Sinhala Service, Prof.
Wijesinha highlighted the lack of balanced reporting on the part of
Mr. Liyanage, particularly with regard to the alleged rape case in Akkaraipattu.
Given below is the full text of Prof. Wijesinha's letter to Mr. Priyath
Liyanage.
* * *
Priyath Liyanage
Head, BBC Sinhala Service
Dear Priyath,
I was disappointed with the English transcript of your coverage of
the adoption of the Universal Periodic Review of Sri Lanka. Whilst it
was certainly more balanced than some other accounts, it gave much greater
weight to critical input, and took no account of responses with regard
to action being taken with regard to particular criticisms.
I am also not sure why, having interviewed me at length, you left out
all reference to the points I made with regard to the most sensational
allegation during the session, which was also given a sub-heading. I
refer to Ms Nimalka Fernando's claims regarding a rape in Akkaraipattu,
as to which I pointed out that, when the report was first published,
I asked the Deputy Director/Operations (Police) of the Peace Secretariat
for a report.
He mentioned that the matter had not been reported to the police, but
I then suggested that he follow up on all the leads mentioned in the
newspaper. After thorough investigation, including of all hospitals
in the area, it was reported that such an incident had not been reported
to any of them, and that there was no record of this incident.
It is of course conceivable that the investigation had not been thorough,
but even you did not think of that explanation, and suggested that the
matter might not have been reported out of modesty. I pointed out that
in that case it was odd that it should have been specifically reported
only to the Daily Mirror, and secondly that, even assuming that were
the case, it could not be a fault of the State if it could not follow
up on a report on which there were no details - as I mentioned the Daily
Mirror reporter had refused to give any further information or clarifications.
When you highlight Ms Fernando's claim that 'the incident was not investigated'
I believe your failure to report the efforts made to investigate is
at best disingenuous, and suggests an approach that is more interested
in finger pointing than in trying to positively resolve human rights
questions. As you know, we accept that there are problems, but we believe
that these are exaggerated for political purposes, and those doing so
are not at all concerned about alleviating suffering. This particular
report only serves to confirm that view.
Yours sincerely
Prof Rajiva Wijesinha
Secretary General
Secretariat for Coordinating the Peace Process
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