Channel 4 Team Quits Sri Lanka Citing ‘Unacceptable Intimidation’
November 17, 2013
The controversial British broadcaster Channel 4 has decided to leave Sri Lanka due to “unacceptable intimidation” that prevents them from reporting, the channel’s news editor says.
Channel 4 Editor Ben De Pear
A Channel 4 crew headed by Ben de Pear has been in Colombo since last week where they have been bombarded with protests and placed under severe surveillance by the defence authorities.
“As it is impossible to operate as journalists due to unacceptable levels of control and intimidation @channel4news are leaving Sri Lanka”, De Pear tweeted a short while ago.
It is also reported that Channel 4 CorrespondentJonathan Miller was pelted with stones earlier in the day.
The crew were dogged by demonstrators accusing them of being LTTE mercernaries and prevented from travelling North by protestors who flooded the railway tracks in Anuradhapura last week. Police shoved them into a vehicle and forced the crew to return to Colombo. The driver of their vehicle later accused the team of not paying the van hire and filed a police complaint at Slave Island police.
