http://www.defence.lk/new.asp?fname=lttes_money_talks_again_20120315_07

LTTE's money talks again
Channel4 has come up with another disgusting piece of journalism
aimed at tarnishing Sri Lanka's reputation. We deny outright the wild
allegations contained therein.
The programme is yet another example of western media arrogance
in dealing with or claiming to report on the emergent and developing world. Sri
Lanka may be in focus at the moment, but it will be another developing world
country in the not too distant future.
The programme represents nothing more than the self-indulgent
and deeply-flawed focus of self-selecting, middle-class white elite. This white,
western elite is represented by British journalists, British politicians,
British international bureaucrats, Canadian and American Human Rights activists
- all of whom were commenting on the internal affairs of a sovereign state.
This western self-indulgence - interventionism as it were by
media - clearly endangers peace and reconciliation within post-war Sri Lanka. It
inevitably fans the flames of the very extremism that was defeated at the end of
the civil war. This sort of external media campaigning will encourage
intransigence within those political forces historically identified with LTTE
extremism - intransigence which will postpone a final political settlement
within Sri Lanka.
The programme was made up in large part of essentially rehashed
and repackaged allegations edited and reformatted in time for presentation at -
and with the clear intention of influencing - the United Nations Human Rights
Council meetings in Geneva, and any possible vote regarding Sri Lanka within
those meetings. Channel 4 News' objective was self-evidently more political and
partisan than objective and journalistic. It was "advocacy" in the guise of
journalism.
The self-publicised presence of Callum Macrae, the director of
both of Channel 4 News' programmes on Sri Lanka, in Geneva during the meetings
of the Human Rights Council amply demonstrates the real motivation for the
programme and why it was screened when it was.
That Channel 4 News has continued to rely largely upon
sensationalist materials made available to it by anti-government groups and
individuals. Unnamed and disguised "witnesses" are once again used by Channel 4,
together with sworn statements by an unnamed Sri Lankan "Army Officer".
For all the focus on Sri Lanka, the Sri Lankan government and
military and the country's civil war, Channel 4 still makes fundamental mistakes
in describing Gotabaya Rajapaksa as the Minister of Defence as opposed to his
actual position as the Permanent Secretary at the Ministry of Defence.
There is no mention yet again of the fact that the LTTE were a
terrorist organisation.
There is no focus on the fact that the LTTE forced hundreds of
thousands of civilians to accompany them or that they killed civilians to
prevent them leaving.
There is no mention whatsoever of the fact that the LTTE had
artillery and mortar units and that these fired into the No Fire Zones and at
hospitals. Ironically, the only picture of an artillery piece being fired
appears to be one manned by the LTTE.
David Miliband's comments are somewhat undermined by the fact
that Wikileaks showed that his interest in Sri Lankan was solely the result of
the influence of Tamil voters within the United Kingdom. Miliband's stated
concerns for Human Rights investigations and justice do not extend to his own
country's 30 year civil war in Northern Ireland (ended with an amnesty) or the
responsibility the government of which he was part for thousands of civilian
deaths and injuries in Iraq and Afghanistan.
The consistent telecasts have had no objectives other than to
name and shame Sri Lanka with unsubstantiated materials quite contrary to the
ethics of journalism and international norms. The commercialization behind the
telecast is possibly the only motivating factor that drives Channel 4 towards
this scurrilous campaign against Sri Lanka.