Date: Wed, 19 Jun 1996 08:03:33 -0700A number of news items from Reuters and other agencies is regularly posted on the Circle. The purpose apparently is to conveniently present the predominantly Sinhala point of view under the cover of rational reporting by a foreign news agency.
In reading these reports, it is important to bear in mind that the reports are written by Sinhala reporters employed by the respective agencies. Their reports are often in stark contrast to the news coverage appearing in the local news papers in Colombo, as the former presents a rosy but distorted picture of events in Sri Lanka.
Here is a list of Sinhala reporters who feed the news for the agencies from Colombo.
The ethnicity of Gaston is undetermined at this time. He is probably a Sinhalese of Portuguese origin.
An analysis of the news items of foreign agencies, over a period of several months, leads to the following conclusion on the motive of the Sinhala reporters behind these news agencies.
Here is a news item for comparison.
A paragraph from a front page article on the Island Newspaper of June 6, 1996 entitled - Stiff Resistance from UNP, DUNLF and Others - is as follows.
-- Subjects such as foreign affairs, defense, finance, postal services, railways, national harbour, airports, national development, national planning and customs could be retained by the central government while the other subjects be given to the regions. --Compare this news with a paragraph from Reuters news of June 18, 1996 written by Rohan Gunasekera.
-- The (peace) plan offers to devolve extensive power to Tamils in the north and east to meet their demands for autonomy and woo them away from the Tiger struggle for a separate state. ---
The former was written to massage the Sinhala ego and the latter to appease the world community. The truth is hardly spoken or written in these news reports.
Today, foreign agencies of all kinds suffer from a credibility crisis.
Tamils must believe in themselves, first!
Nanda Ganesan
