The Channel 4 canard
(Includes technical
analysis report)
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The reporting team of Channel 4 reports in the exact way as
they are seen in this picture. |
The Channel 4, a British TV channel apparently engaged
in a deliberate propaganda campaign against Sri Lankan citizens, has
come up with its latest canard about the island nation. A video footage
of very poor quality showing two persons clad in combat uniforms
shooting down two others has been given a huge publicity by the Channel
4 TV claiming it to be of Sri Lankan soldiers "summarily executing
Tamils".
The channel's so-called "foreign affairs
correspondent", Jonathan Miller filing another twisted story of his
about Sri Lanka, almost wows that it was "Sinhalaese" soldiers killing
Tamils in the video. He further goes on breaching all rules observed in
professional journalism by generalizing charges against one ethnic group
of a multi-ethnic country; an obvious and irresponsible attempt to
incite communal hatred. Shrewdly playing with his words this journalist
not only conceals the serious question about the authenticity of the
video footage but also brings about unnamed sources to support his mean
objective of damaging ethnic harmony in Sri Lanka.
The following report is filed based on an analysis
conducted by the defence.lk team involving specialists in the field on
the video itself and commentaries about it. (
Click to view Technical Analysis
Report )
Professional journalism requires journalists to ensure
the information he or she disseminates to be fair and accurate.
Fulfilling this requires the journalist to avoid expressing comments and
conjecture as actual facts.
Miller opens his story about the video calling the
victory over terrorism in Sri Lanka is something to be celebrated only
by the Sinhalese majority, which is certainly not the ground reality. It
is interesting to know how a foreigner like Miller could make such a
serious comment about the thinking of Sri Lankan people. Then he goes on
saying that it has been a "brutal war" in which "unknown thousands of
Tamil civilians were killed", yet fails to elaborate any source where
his comments can be referred. Then comes a carefully edited video
footage released by the LTTE propaganda arm during the wartime. At the
end of this section Miller says, "now, we know one soldier had a mobile
phone"; an obvious attempt to conceal the problem of authenticity of the
video to the audience.
Then comes the scene of a man wearing an olive-green
overall shooting a naked and loosely blindfolded man with his hands tied
behind his back. The victim is shot at point blank range at the back of
the head. Then the one with the camera turns at several other males
lying on the ground apparently dead. The 1:02.781 (minute) video
footage ends showing another man shooting the second blindfolded man in
the same fashion as the earlier one. The only difference was the shooter
was clad in a camouflaged combat uniform. Throughout the video, several
men were heard shouting in Sinhalese and thundering blasts were clearly
heard in the background as if the video was taken under heavy fire.
The pictures of the video footage were in very bad
quality that there was no visible evidence whether the victims were
actually injured in shooting. Also, the shooters were clad in combat
clothes generally worn by all armies in the world. No Sri Lankan army
insignias or anything such items were captured in the video to identify
the shooters with the Sri Lanka army. Although the video footage seemed
to have been taken with great deliberation to show what had happened at
the location, the person who took it avoids directing the camera towards
the shooters' faces. The voices heard in the background gives no clue
about shooters or the victims. Furthermore, it is quite clear that the
cameraperson was doing his work quite freely and openly without any
objections from those who were committing the crime, as if they wanted
him/her to carryout the work unhindered.
Irrespective of all mentioned above, Miller speculates
that a "soldier" not shown in the video jumped with joy at the first
shooting. Then he confirms that that a shooter was a "Sinhalese country
boy". What's more, Miller says to the audience that the killing Tamils
were like a game to the "Sinhalese Soldiers". It is only after
speculating on all these that Miller decides to tell his audience that
there is no independent authentication about the video.
However, he officiously tell the audience the group
that claimed have handed over the video to him is not a "Tamil
liberation organization" but a group of journalists in 'exile' fighting
for media freedom. Moreover, he has found an unknown independent human
right expert a "Sinhalese" to confirm him that video to be genuine. The
whole episode if analyzed in the rational mind is an excellent example
of deceitful journalism of the first degree. Miller closed his story
creating disbelief in the audience that Tamils will be able to live
peacefully with the other communities in the Island.
It is clear to any right minded person that it would
not take much time for Sri Lankan defence officials to decide that the
information in the video footage was insufficient for any further
investigations. In fact, it is understandable that the aim of its
originators was not to bring justice to the apparent victims shown in
the video but to rekindle the dangerous ideology that gave life to the
LTTE terrorists for decades. The government has rightly denied any
breach of international law of war by Sri Lankan armed forces. Having
painfully learnt the capacity of the LTTE propaganda arm - the only
element of the terrorist outfit that still remains intact, the
government has substantial evidence to prove that the video was a fake.
On the other hand, there is more than sufficient
evidence that LTTE cadres masquerading in army uniforms had carried out
crimes and used videos of such crimes to win international sympathy.
Many LTTE cadres surrendered to the army have confessed to be involved
in such crimes where they were asked to kill captives, mostly Tamils who
were labeled as traitors. Civilians too have revealed seeing such videos
showed by the LTTE cadres when they were held as a human shield by the
LTTE. It was a commonly known tactic used by the LTTE to prevent
civilians seeking refuge with the armed forces.
However, Miller's reportage on the video and the
commentaries of the LTTE sympathizers that followed, attempt to
generalize the accusations against the government and armed forces as
whole. It should be noted that Sri Lankan armed forces have given refuge
to thousands of LTTE cadres including over 120 senior leaders of the
outfit. The parents of the LTTE chief himself and his mother in law were
also among the rescued during the final phase of the conflict. If Sri
Lanka adapted summary execution of LTTE cadres as a policy, none of the
LTTE cadres would be left and there would be ample videos available for
media when considering the strength of the LTTE propaganda arm.
Above all, there exists serious suspicion about the
integrity of the parties involved in propagating this video. The group
claimed to have smuggled the video out of the Island, the so-called
Journalist for Democracy (JDS) is an unheard media rights group in Sri
Lanka of which no details can be found about its members. The group
apparently runs an internet blog that contains propaganda material
usually used by LTTE lobbyists but does not give any information about
the personnel involved. However, available sources confirmed that the
members of this group to be LTTE hired hands and some are even wanted
terrorists under the Prevention of Terrorism Act in Sri Lanka. Hence,
there are valid reasons to the group to be in self-exile, allegedly
leading the struggle for media freedom.
The Channel 4 too has a history of broadcasting
distorted and misleading news about Sri Lanka. Specially, Jonathan
Miller is doing his best to settle what appears to be a personal grudge
he has with Sri Lankan people at the expense of his professionalism. It
is interesting to watch how Miller has filed stories about Gaza and
Iraq. There are few that can be easily goggled.
Even his story about Gaza after 22 days of bombing by
the Israel in February was free from adjectives he often uses in his
stories about Sri Lanka. He saw no "brutalism" in the bombing that many
reliably claimed to have killed over thousand civilians including some
400 children, he found no "brutalized" people there. Moreover, it was
not "shocking" for him to see the UN headquarters in Gaza bombed with
white phosphorus. Nothing is "callous" or "sickening" about conflicts in
Iraq, Gaza or in Afghanistan for Miller or for the Channel 4. This
hypocrisy is of course common to many other similar media and is no
longer a secret to the world.
It should be noted that it was this Miller who
boastfully claimed the credit for having the first "face to face"
interview with Interpol's wanted terrorist Kumaran Padmanadan alias KP
few months ago. Unfortunately for Miller, the criminal that he ridiculed
Sri Lankan government for being unable to nab for 25 years is now with
Defence Ministry. KP is certainly spilling the beans and has given a
very important place to the Channel 4 affair and Miller connection in
his confessions. Though not much information on this is permitted to be
revealed at this stage, it can be said with great responsibility that
LTTE had made Channel 4 one of its propaganda allies.
Finally, the whole affair about the video indicates
nothing but the dearth of genuineness on the part of the human rights
activists in Sri Lanka. Jonathan Miller is certainly an unknown figure
to Sri Lankans despite his pretence as an expert in Sri Lanka's affairs.
Yet, the people who feed information to Miller, the so-called Sri Lankan
rights activists, are well known to all discernible citizens here.
Portraying these individuals as rights activists before ordinary Sri
Lankan citizens is certainly a laughable matter for everyone knows that
it is just a good business for them.
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