US embassy cable - 04COLOMBO126

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 04 COLOMBO 000126 
 
SIPDIS 
 
 
SENSITIVE 
 
 
DEPT FOR INR/MR, I/RW, I/REC; PA 
SA/INS (CAMP, DEAN, WALLER); SA/PD (REINCKENS, SCENSNY, 
HROGERS; STRYKER); SSA/PAS 
 
E.O.12958:N/A 
TAGS: KPAO, PHUM, OPRC, KMDR, OIIP, CE, LTTE - Peace Process 
SUBJECT: TRYING TIMES FOR JOURNALISTS IN THE NORTH AND EAST 
OF SRI LANKA 
 
 
SENSITIVE BUT UNCLASSIFIED: PROTECT ACCORDINGLY 
 
1. (SBU) Summary.  The media scenes in Jaffna and 
Trincomalee are dramatically different from each other and 
from the scene in Colombo.  Local newspapers are king in 
the Jaffna media world, with consistently pro-LTTE 
reporting and editorials.  Coverage of local Muslim issues 
in Jaffna is nonexistent.  Television, radio and internet 
are not viable sources of news on the Jaffna Peninsula.  In 
contrast, Trincomalee enjoys ready access to national 
electronic and print media outlets.  Television is by far 
the most popular source for news.  The vast majority of 
Trincomalee residents watch government and independent 
newscasts in English, Tamil, and Sinhala.  Trinco residents 
also read newspapers in their mother tongue, and to a 
lesser extent, in English.  Reporting from Jaffna and 
Trincomalee is difficult: the pay is low and the work can 
be dangerous.  Professional journalists are few and far 
between in both areas.  Trincomalee journalists, while 
polarized by ethnicity, are compelled to work with 
reporters from different ethnic groups in order to get 
their stories.  End summary. 
 
----- 
Getting the news on the Jaffna Peninsula 
----- 
2. (SBU) Newspapers are king in the Jaffna media world, and 
because getting national papers from Colombo up the A-9 
road to the North is difficult, local papers reign supreme. 
Local newspapers with a strong pro-Tamil bias function as 
the primary source of news in the area.  Jaffna residents 
are not in the habit of cross-checking their news, but even 
if they were, would find it difficult to do so.  Access to 
television and radio is limited because of reception 
difficulties - local programming comes from Tamil Nadu, not 
Colombo - and is usurped by popular Indian tele-dramas.  A 
recent improvement to this situation is the late 2003 debut 
of government-owned Sri Lanka Broadcasting Corporation 
Tamil National Service in Jaffna.  On-line news is 
difficult to get: a scarcity of computers means accessing 
the internet for news or any other purpose is nearly 
impossible for the average Jaffna Peninsula resident, 
including journalists. 
 
----- 
What Jaffna dwellers read 
----- 
3. (SBU) Jaffna town and peninsula residents are staunchly 
loyal to pro-LTTE UTHAYAN (The Sun), a Jaffna-based Tamil 
daily founded nearly 20 years ago.  UTHAYAN is famous for 
keeping its printing presses running throughout the war, 
withstanding mortar attacks and publishing despite 
blackouts and a scarce supply of newsprint.  UTHAYAN's 
staff members eschew electronic layout programs and prefer 
labor intensive hand set printing presses, just in case the 
lights go out again in Jaffna. 
 
4. (SBU) While circulation figures throughout Sri Lanka are 
unreliable, several sources confirm that UTHAYAN 
distributes more than 20,000 copies a day on the Jaffna 
Peninsula, a number which rivals the circulation of major 
national Tamil dailies.  UTHAYAN is not distributed outside 
of the Jaffna Peninsula.  Its absence of reporting on 
Muslim issues makes commercial success in the more heavily 
Muslim areas of Colombo and the East impossible.  UTHAYAN's 
three year-old sister paper SUDAR OLI (Light of the Flame) 
fills this void, with headlines catering to both Tamil and 
Muslim Tamil-speakers in Colombo and the East.  Despite its 
more Muslim-friendly headlines, SUDAR OLI mirrors UTHAYAN's 
editorial content, which invariably ignores Muslim issues 
and politicians. 
 
5. (SBU) Although UTHAYAN's editors vehemently defend their 
independence and argue that they reflect the aspirations of 
all Sri Lankan Tamils, the paper's general reporting and 
editorials are invariably supportive of the LTTE and its 
activities.  UTHAYAN's editorials regularly comment on the 
peace talks, world affairs, and issues of concern to Jaffna 
residents through a pro-LTTE prism.  Editorials from 
December 2003, and January 2004 yield examples: commentary 
about a Jaffna shooting incident critical of the government 
(12/11), an explanation of LTTE taxation and economic 
policy (12/17), a caution that India should support the 
LTTE (12/18), a series of commentaries critical of 
international involvement in Sri Lanka, particularly 
American involvement (1/5, 1/7, 1/8), the LTTE political 
wing leader's comments on respecting the ceasefire (1/14), 
and regular mentions of the "LTTE as the sole 
representative of the Tamil people." 
 
6. (SBU) While UTHAYAN's reporting and commentary ignore 
Sri Lankan Muslim issues, the newspaper's editors strongly 
identify "the Tamil struggle" with the plight of the 
Palestinians.  When comparing the two groups, UTHAYAN's 
editors claim Tamil and Palestinian desires for 
independence are parallel and are both stymied by the 
interference of big world powers.  Anti-American editorials 
make frequent appearances, although the editors were warm 
and friendly during APAO's visit to their office in the 
fall of 2003.  The editors took pains to note that it is 
the foreign policy of the United States they disliked, not 
Americans per se. 
 
7. (SBU) Other Jaffna-based Tamil papers have much smaller 
readerships.  EELANADU (Eelam Country) is the unofficial 
mouthpiece of the LTTE in Jaffna.  Founded last year and 
funded by the Tigers, its editors have an "open door" with 
senior LTTE members, possibly even with Prabhakaran. 
Circulation estimates for EELANADU range from 3,000 to 
8,000 copies per day.  VALUMPURI (Shell), the rumored 
former mouthpiece of anti-LTTE Eelam People's Revolutionary 
Liberation Front (EPRLF), has changed its stripes. No 
longer anti-Tiger, it sells about 3,000 copies a day. 
 
8. (SBU) National Tamil newspapers don't stand a chance 
with Jaffna readers, to the distress of local government 
representatives who think a more unbiased source of news 
would be helpful to their cause in Jaffna.  The morning 
opening of the A-9 road from Colombo to Jaffna means papers 
from the capital don't arrive in stores until midday. 
Accordingly, independent Tamil dailies THINAKKURAL (Daily 
Voice) and VIRAKESARI (Bold Lion) each sell only about 200 
copies daily in Jaffna.  VIRAKESARI's Sunday edition 
arrives on Saturday and sells about 3500 copies. 
Government-owned Tamil daily THINAKARAN (Daily Sun), widely 
viewed as pro-Muslim, doesn't sell well at all.  The Sri 
Lanka Army presence in Jaffna means limited copies of 
English and Sinhala dailies are flown in or trucked up 
daily. While the Sri Lankan armed forces are their primary 
audience, government departments also read them to keep up 
with the government notices published in these papers. 
 
----- 
Jaffna's journalists 
----- 
 
9. (SBU) Working as a journalist in Jaffna is not easy. 
The pay is very low, and as a result, most reporters must 
have another source of income.  Journalistic 
professionalism is limited.  Most reporters have not had 
formal training, and many do not have university degrees. 
Reporting is low-tech, usually by telephone and rarely by 
fax or e-mail. Jaffna's reporters are divided into two 
journalists' associations - one much more pro-LTTE than the 
other.  Few reporters report recent threats from the 
Tigers, despite the LTTE's history of threatening 
journalists on the peninsula.   In the past, journalists 
have also received threats from the Sri Lankan Armed Forces 
and Tamil militia groups opposed to the LTTE.  In 2000, a 
Tamil reporter working for BBC and Tamil daily Virakesari 
was killed in Jaffna, allegedly for reporting on human 
rights violations by the Eelam People's Democratic Party's 
militia, a Tamil party opposed to the LTTE.  The case is 
still unresolved. 
 
----- 
Getting the news in Trincomalee 
----- 
 
10. (SBU) Trincomalee is home to a vibrant mix of English, 
Sinhala and Tamil print and electronic media outlets. 
National media dominates the area.  Accordingly, 90% of 
area residents get their news via Colombo from government 
and independent television broadcasts in English, Sinhala 
or Tamil.  Government and independent radio broadcasts are 
also available in all three languages.  In particular, the 
BBC's Tamil service is popular with Tamil speakers.  Trinco 
residents read newspapers in their mother tongue, and to a 
lesser extent, in English.   Internet news is difficult to 
access, as it is for most residents of Sri Lanka. 
 
11. (SBU) Newspapers come from Colombo, but are typically 
provincial editions of the national dailies.  Major 
independent Tamil dailies VIRAKESARI and THINAKKURAL sell 
several thousand copies each day, while independent Sinhala 
dailies LANKADEEPA (Light of Lanka), LAKBIMA (Land of 
Lanka), and DIVAINA (Island) sell several hundred copies 
daily.  Government-owned Sinhala daily DINAMINA's (Daily 
Sun) popularity is limited. 
 
12. (SBU) Muslims read some national Tamil dailies, but 
prefer government-owned Tamil THINAKARAN as it focuses more 
on Muslim issues than other Tamil dailies.  THINAKARAN also 
employs more Muslim journalists than other Tamil 
newspapers.  Frequently anti-American Muslim papers with 
small circulations can also be found in Trincomalee. 
Muslim-oriented Tamil weeklies, NAVAMANI (New Bell), 
MEELPARVAI (Another Look), ENGALTHESAM (Our Nation), and 
MUSLIMKURAL (Muslim Voice) come from Colombo in small 
numbers. 
 
----- 
Reporting from Trincomalee 
----- 
 
13. (SBU) During APAO's fall, 2003 visit, many sources took 
care to describe local Muslims, Sinhalese and Tamils in 
familial terms - living together as brothers and sisters - 
but journalists described a more polarized reality.  Long- 
simmering ethnic tension in Trincomalee and its environs 
has created a group of journalists with distinctly 
different viewpoint and agendas.  Local reporting reflects 
stronger ethnic bias than members of the local population 
will admit to. This phenomenon is complicated by editors in 
Colombo who further distort the bias to fit their editorial 
agendas, particularly if the story highlights the distress 
of their ethnic constituency in the Trincomalee District. 
 
14. (SBU) Reporting in Trinco can be tricky.  Given the 
area's history of both military and Tiger terror, a Tamil 
reporter will likely have difficulty reporting a Sri Lanka 
Army story, and a Sinhala or Muslim reporter may not be 
able to report on an incident in an LTTE-controlled area. 
Depending on their ethnicity, journalists aren't allowed 
access to certain areas, or might not cover stories in 
areas where they do not feel safe.  Nearly all Trinco 
reporters are paid by the story, and do not receive a 
salary.  Economic necessity dictates that despite their 
often divergent worldviews, Muslim, Sinhala and Tamil 
journalists share information with each other.  Nearly all 
journalists recount instances when they relied on a 
reporter from another ethnic group to help them get the 
facts of a story, and give examples of when they did the 
same for reporter from another ethnic group.  But while 
they share information for professional reasons, their 
actual reporting tends to reflect their own biases. 
 
15. (SBU) There are three full-time professional 
journalists in Trincomalee, all of whom work for multiple 
media outlets.  Other journalists are part-time and have 
less training and experience.  The small core of 
professional reporters submit their stories by e-mail, but 
everyone else uses the phone.  Threats to journalists in 
Trinco are quite common, sometimes even from members of the 
same ethnic group.  Nearly all reporters recall instances 
of intimidation or attack and note that journalism is a 
dangerous profession in Trinco. 
 
16.(SBU) Comment.  Journalists all over Sri Lanka work in 
difficult conditions, but the conditions in Trincomalee, 
and to a greater extent, Jaffna, are especially trying.  On 
a basic professional level, these journalists find it more 
difficult than their counterparts in other parts of Sri 
Lanka to access modern technology for transmitting and 
fact-checking information.  More troubling, reporters in 
Jaffna and Trinco enjoy less freedom in their reporting 
than do other journalists in Sri Lanka.  Living and working 
in an area with strong LTTE influence means that a 
journalist's reporting must be acceptable to the LTTE. Or 
as one source put it, "you're asking for trouble."  End 
comment.  LUNSTEAD