Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="mldarshana" data-source="post: 17671956" data-attributes="member: 25657">Media freedom redefinedIssues of media freedom often make news and Wednesday's media related story was somewhat different.It related to the take over of Rivira Publications by two Rajapakse confidants having purchased 49% of the shares in a bid to take over the newspaper's burgeoning debts. Rivira publishes The Nation, The Bottom Line, and Rivira newspapers.UNP legislator Lakshman Kiriella felt that the latest media suppression tactic was not just to threaten, abduct or kill journalists, carry out arson attacks or wave criminal defamation laws before them but to purchase principle shares of newspaper companies so that slanted government opinion making can take place in organisations other than those under strict government control. "This is the icing on the cake. One Nilanka Rajapakse, a real estate broker from London has purchased 49% of shares and the cheque was deposited to the Rivira Media Corporation account at the National Development Bank (NDB) for a thumping Rs. 100 million. The Seylan Millennium Branch issued the cheque bearing No: 574484 under the signature of Sujith Rajapakse for the said amount, sealing the deal. "It is indeed an interesting way to gain control over independent media institutions," Kiriella noted, adding that under the Rajapakse administration, media freedom and coercion tactics needed to be redefined.</blockquote>

Top Bottom