US Senators call for Independent International Investigations

[Thu, 18 Nov 2010, 03:01 GMT]

Economic aid should be linked to press freedom in Sri Lanka, veteran Tamil journalist J. S. Tissainayagam, who was released from government custody by international pressure earlier this year, said Wednesday. In his first interview since his release, Mr. Tissainayagam rejected arguments that ‘quiet diplomacy’ would achieve better conduct from President Mahinda Rajapakse regime, and said “the more pressure that is put publicly, the more the government is willing to act”. He linked his own release directly to the government’s then efforts to retain the EU’s GSP+ trade concessions. Tissainayagam is currently a Nieman Fellow at Harvard University Journalism School in Boston. Full story >>

Tissainayagam speaks at 2010 Mackler Award ceremony

[TamilNet, Saturday, 23 October 2010, 02:31 GMT]
2009 recipient of the prestigious Peter Mackler Award, Tamil journalist J.S. Tissainayagma, who was incarcerated in Sri Lanka prison for his writing, and was unable to receive the award in 2009, spoke at the 2010 Award ceremony held Friday at 6:00 p.m. at the National Press Club in Washington D.C. Tissainayagam was announced as the Award's first recipient on August 31, 2009, the same day he was convicted on terrorism charges relating to his work as a journalist. 2010 Mackler award winner is a 24-year old Russian, Ilya Barabanov, the deputy editor of the New Times, an opposition magazine in Russia.

J.S. Tissainayagam

Tissainayagam and his wife Ronnate arrived in the U.S. in August 2010, and Tissainayagam is currently a Nieman Fellow at Harvard University Journalism School in Boston.

Tissainayagam praised Barabanov's work in Russia, and said that while Russia and Sri Lanka are countries with different culture and people, the threats journalists face in both countries are similar. He added that fellow journalists in countries outside authoritarian regimes are the main hope to keep the pressure on these governments spotlighting the dangers journalists face in those countries.

Tissainayagam added that the decreasing emphasis in investigative journalism in the U.S. and in other western countries due to the shortage of funds and support resources is a major concern for journalists. He cautioned that with focus mainly on countries where there is on-going war with the US, coverage of events in remote parts of the world will not receive the attention they deserve to the detriment of journalists living and working in these countries.

Barabanov addressed the gathering in Russian with a live English translator.

Ilya Barabanov is deputy editor of Novoye Vremya (New Times) which has been the target of an attempted illegal search and a lawsuit by the Russian government. Barabanov, 24, has decried the aborted search & seizure of The New Times editorial offices. He charged that the search, carried out in connection with a case filed against the news weekly by the Russian interior minister’s OMON security forces, violated Articles 41 and 49 of the Russian Media Law.Full story >>

Why the media silence on Sri Lanka's descent into dictatorship?

Monday 12 July 2010
Why the media silence on Sri Lanka's descent into dictatorship?

Lasantha Wickrematunge lies in state during his funeral ceremony in Colombo. Photograph: Lakruwan Wanniarachchi/AFP/Getty Images
Edward Mortimer: Local journalists who speak out against human rights abuses fear for their lives and the world press turns a blind eye Continue reading...
Posted by Edward Mortimer 17.00 BST