Tuesday, October 30, 2007

ABC Network says report confirmed by Govt. Media Spokesman, SSP and Grama Sevaka

In the first hearing of the FR petition filed at the "Court of Appeal" yesterday Asian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) denied any wrong doing and says that the news report aired by them was confirmed by the Govt. Media Spokesman, SSP and Grama Sevaka.

Further they stated that once they received the report in question they conducted independent investigations and then made inquiries from the Govt. Media Spokesman Brigadier Udaya Nanayakkara who said that he too had received such reports and that the armed forces have been sent to the village to investigate the matter. According to ABC the news went on air on Hiru FM upon this confirmation from the Media Spokeman. ABC has also stated that other television and radio media had also reported the incident in question.

Apparently the Media Ministry has sent a letter to ABC informing them of the withdrawal of the temporary broadcasting licenses and the Director General of the TRC sent another letter informing them of the cancellation of the frequencies allocated to two FM stations operated by ABC Networks. Counsel appearing for TRC undertook not to allocate the frequencies to any third party until Nov 16th, the date listed for giving support to the application.

ABC Networks has also filed a FR petition before the Supreme Court challenging the withdrawal of broadcast license and frequencies.

It should be said that the withdrawal of broadcast licenses and cancellation of frequencies is not at all required to handle this situation. The authorities could have suspended news broadcasts over ABC after which explanations could have been obtained from the management and news division of ABC. If ABC claims of confirmation from the Govt Media Spokesman, SSP and Grama Sevaka are true then they should also be held responsible over the incident. The authorities should immediately suspend the Govt Media Spokesman, SSP and Grama Sevaka until this entire issue is sorted out, since their credibility is also at stake here.

We urge the authorities concerned to reinstate the licenses issued to ABC and demand not to allocate the ABC Network frequencies to any other individuals until a final determination is made on this matter.

Daily Mirror (Oct 30th 2007) : ABC stick to their guns file FR petition

1 comment:

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