BBC broadcasts irk censor

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 17 June 1998, 23:59 GMT]
Sri Lanka's Competent Authority on press censorship, Maj. Gen. Jaliya Nammuni has ordered the chairman and director general of the Sri Lanka Broadcasting Corporation (SLBC) to take action against the BBC for broadcasting news on the war which have to be subject to the censorship regulations.

Sources in Colombo said that sections of the local press and others have complained to the competent authority that the BBC is broadcasting news censored by the government in Sinhala and Tamil for an hour daily.

A newspaper published from Colombo has also written about this they said.

The matter, according to sources in Colombo, has been brought to the attention of the deputy minister of defence.

The SLBC's director general, Mr.Eric Fernando, said that under the agreement signed by his organisation with the BBC, the Sri Lankan government cannot block the British radio from broadcasting news on its (the SLBC's) medium wave.

According to Mr. Eric Fernando, the BBC provides free training and programs to the SLBC and hence, it is important to be patient on the question of the BBC's news broadcasts not coming under Sri Lanka's censorship regulations.