Sirasa And Killy Ridiculed, Condemned And Criticized For Manipulating Political Crisis
author: COLOMBO TELEGRAPH-February 14, 2018 MTV/MBC Media Network, owned by controversial businessman Killy Rajamahendran, has come under severe pressure on social media for its “unethical and brazenly uncivilized” coverage of the current political crisis in Sri Lanka.
Sirasa, the flagship channel of the network, repeatedly aired breaking news, strongly pushing for the removal of Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe. This attack was carried out in the manner of a hate-campaign, violating all norms, ethics and professional standards adopted by ‘civilized’ media institutions across the world.
Colombo Telegraph learns that all this “drama” is initiated and directed by Rajamahendran who holds a grudge against Prime minister Wickremesinghe for refusing to grant national list MP slots for J. Sri Ranga and Susil Kindelpitiya, two of his close allies who failed to enter Parliament through election.
Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesighe claimed in public that Rajamahendran attempted to get national list slots for his ex-employees and challenged him to deny the allegation. So far, Rajamahendran, his channel or his allies have failed to respond to this allegation. Instead, they had resorted to a continuous and relentless hate-campaign against Wickremesinghe.
Facebook and Twitter, last night, was flooded with posts criticizing and condemning ‘Sirasa’ and its owner Rajamahendran’s agenda.
When a group of UNP MPs visited Temple Trees yesterday for a discussion with Prime Minister Wickremesinghe, Sirasa rushed a television crew to broadcast live what they suggested was the imminent fall of the Prime Minister.
The group of MPs walked out of the meeting, smiling, and pledged full support to the Prime Minister, causing great embarrassment to Sirasa. When one TV crew member asked an MP about the ‘fate’ of the Prime Minister, the latter quipped, “Ah eka Sirasen thorala apita kiyayi” (Sirasa will decide that and let us know).
Rajamahendran, who now appears to be a champion of democracy, was a man who manly bowed down to former President Mahinda Rajapaksa and pandered to the previous government’s political agenda.
A leaked “CONFIDENTIAL” US diplomatic cable, dated March 22, 2007, updated the Secretary of State on Sri Lanka’s media suppression situation shows that President Mahinda Rajapaksa managed to influence the owner of the Majaraja Broadcasting Company. The Colombo Telegraph found the related leaked cable from the WikiLeaks database. The cable was written by the Ambassador Robert O. Blake.
Ambassador Blake wrote “Television stations have also been feeling the heat. This matters, because about 60% of the population gets its news for TV. Television journalists tell us, however, that the Majaraja Broadcasting Company, owned by a prominent Tamil, had been the only broadcaster covering press conferences critical of the government by former Foreign Minister Samaraweera, as well as stories on human rights violations and abductions. However, a senior executive of the Maharaja channel (protect) told us that President Rajapaksa had summoned the owner of the station to Temple Trees (equivalent to the White House). During a cordial chat, Rajapaksa was able to persuade Maharajah not to air any more programs on such sensitive topics.”
