මාධ්ය නිදහසට මරණය
The editorial says no government has been as hostile to media freedom as the present one, which claims to have granted that freedom. It recalls that Ravaya exposed bank frauds, land grabs and the Airbus deal under Jayewardene and Premadasa, and that Premadasa even appointed a committee on its land revelations. Media freedom was won by journalists, it argues, and warns against the servility shown at the President’s address.
එස්.බී. ගේ තප්පුලෑම
Ivan answers S.B. Dissanayake, who on television called him an extortionist working for an alleged arms dealer, Ananda Chittampalam, to bring Ranil Wickremesinghe to power. Ivan phoned into a live programme to question him, recounts his past association with Chittampalam, Harry Goonatilleke and Anuruddha Ratwatte in the 1988 campaign, and rebuts claims about his income, houses and English. He contrasts Dissanayake’s former hardship with his new wealth and recalls his own role in the impeachment move against Ranasinghe Premadasa.
How the law is used to silence the truth
Ivan lists the 27 defamation suits brought against Ravaya in its first six years and recounts three: a Minister’s criminal case heard before a partial judge, Attorney General Thilak Marapone’s indictment in the W.A.K. Silva affair after a Bribery Commissioner was removed, and an ex parte suit served to the wrong court. He calls for reform of the criminal defamation law.