"We strongly condemn the government's punitive measures against the ABC group and we call for the immediate reinstatement of its licence," the press freedom organisation said.

"We regret that the ABC network did not take more care with its sources, but that should under no circumstances be used by the government as a pretext for a form of censorship."

ABC's licence was suspended after it broadcast a report that residents in the village of Ranminitenna, in the southern Tissamaharama area, had panicked on hearing that Tamil rebels were about to arrive.

The report turned out incorrect, and ABC apologised as soon as it discovered this.

The group's license was suspended after the information ministry carried out an investigation at President Mahinda Rajapakse's behest.

RSF added, “…while noting that the station has a reputation for reporting news critical of the government. N. Kurupharan, the director of one its stations, Sooriyan FM (one of the two most important Tamil-language radio stations in Sri Lanka), was kidnapped for 13 hours in August 2006…”

At the beginning of last year, ABC was threatened by members of the government to stop its broadcasting of interviews with rebel chiefs.

On Saturday electronic media organizations were called for an inquiry by the Media Ministry to discuss the controversial news report and the publicity given by other networks to the incident.

ABC is contesting the move to withdraw the license and a Court hearing is scheduled to take place today.

Comments (0)

Subscribe to this comment's feed