Daily Mirror stops journalists from covering Jaffna protest
02/08/2014
The Daily Mirror newspaper stopped its journalists from covering a protest organised by the Jaffna Press Club, condemning the ongoing repression of journalists in the North, the Sinhala paper Ravaya reported.
“Advisor to the Jaffna Media Association, R. Thayaparan said that seven journalists had asked permission to participate in the protest from the Human Resources Department of the Head Office, which had informed them that if they were to attend, they needed to resign from their jobs,” Ravaya said.
See translation and original article in Sinhalese here.
‘No protests says Daily Mirror’, from Ravaya newspaper, 1st August 2014 (English translation below)
No protests says Daily Mirror
T. Nadarasa
Reports indicate that the Human Resources Department of the Daily Mirror newspaper had told its Jaffna correspondents that if they were to cover a protest, held on 31st July in Jaffna around a group of journalists who, on account of false charges, were stopped on their way to Colombo to attend a workshop on digital safety which was barred from taking place, they would lose their jobs.
When Ravaya inquired further, Advisor to the Jaffna Media Association, R. Thayaparan said that seven journalists had asked permission to participate in the protest from the Human Resources Department of the Head Office, which had informed them that if they were to attend, they needed to resign from their jobs.
Thayaparan went on to say that two journalists from the Daily Mirror’s Jaffna office also travelled to workshop in Colombo which was sabotaged by the government, on the day it was supposed to be held.
Reports indicate that the protest on 31st July saw journalists from Jaffna, Mullaitivu, Kilinochchi, Vavuniya and Mannar districts participate.
