Tuesday, October 25, 2005
Hysterical Hudson? |
The Story
Sri Lanka Broadcasting Corporation (SLBC) News Director Raja Katugampola is in hospital. He says Chairman of the SLBC Hudson Samarasinghe and two security personnel assualted him.
The Background
Raja Katugampola is the same News Director who got into trouble over the SLBC report about LTTE leader Prabhakaran's death in the Tsunami. The SLBC ran the story on an anonymous tip, without waiting for any confirmation. It turned out to be a very big mistake. He was fired for that and replaced but he managed to save his ass, and get his job back, because he was in Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapakse's good books.
A few days ago there was a story online that said the Chairman of the SLBC, Hudson Samarasinghe was again firing News Director Katugampola. Apparently Samarasinghe was not happy with the way SLBC News was being handled. As had been expected, since the Presidential elections were announced, the political players inside all the state media had been manipulating thier news to make it favourable to the UPFA candidate Mahinda Rajapakse.
News Director Katugampola is a known Mahinda supporter and had been seen as following a openly pro-Mahinda and anti-Ranil agenda in his work in the past month or so. LankaPage reported Samarasinghe as having said 'I don’t need pro-Mahinda director here at SLBC'. It seemed Samarasinghe was no longer willing to toe the UPFA line and make a heavy pull for Mahinda in their newscasts.
But people at SLBC stated that this story was completely wrong, and that though Samarasinghe had warned Katugampola about his conduct, but had not removed him from his post or threatened to do so.
A few days ago SLBC News ran a story about a fight between UNP candidate Ranil Wickramasinghe and Ceylon Workers Congress leader Thondaman. The SLBC was criticized because the story had no substance and no backing and was seen simply as an attempt to discredit the UNP CWC alliance.
When Chairman Samarasinghe questioned Katugampola about why he ran this story, Katugampola refused to take the Chairman's calls and avoided him in the SLBC building. Sources within SLBC also alledge that Katugampola had been missing a lot of his work and neglecting his duties for reasons unknown, and that Samarasinghe had been quite annoyed about how things were being run in general.
The Fight
All we know for sure is that there was a SLBC Directors meeting this morning. Chairman Samarasinghe called this meeting to discuss a letter sent to him from the Commissioner of Elections regarding 38 specific occasions in which the SLBC had behaved in violation of election regulations during their broadcasts. Someone who was present at the meeting states that Samarasinghe was not happy about this, and wanted to question Katugampola. The News Director was the only person who was absent at the meeting.
Samarasinghe then discovered that Katugampola was in the building and sent a peon to search for him, and to get him to attend the meeting. Sources at SLBC say that when the peon found Katugampola the News Director asked the peon to inform Samarasinghe that he was not in the building. After the meeting Samarasinghe personally went to the News Division to look for Katugampola, who had made himself scarce by then.
Later in the day Katugampola had finally gone into the Chairman's office. He just couldn't dodge the Chairman anymore.
This is where things get interesting, and murky. We have 4 versions.
Katugampola's Story:
The News Director says that when he went into the Chairman's office Samarasinghe began shouting at him without any explanation. Responding to allegations of neglect the News Director then defended himself saying his wife was ill and that his father was in hospital, and yet he had not neglected his duties. Katugampola says that then the Chairman stood up and assualted him, and called for the security personnel outside to also assault him. According to a interview given to Sirasa TV the News Director says the security personnell held him from behind and he was not sure who assaulted him as his spectacles were smashed and his vision was blurred. He also claims one of the security personnel picked him up and threw him against the wall twice.
Hudson's Story:
The Chairman says that he was displeased with the way the News Director had been acting with regard to the upcoming Presidential elections. He says he had sent several messages to the News Director asking him to explain himself, and that Katugampola had just avoided them without reply. Samarasinghe says that today when Katugampola came into his office there were heated words exchanged, and that Katugampola got into a fight with his security personnel upon exiting the Chairman's office. He says he did not witness the incident. But has taken action to suspend the duties of the security personnel.
SLBC Source 1's Story:
When Katugampola did not arrive for the morning meeting and dodged the Chairman during the day Samarasinghe gave orders to have the News Director removed from his post and from the premises of the SLBC. The source says Samarasinghe is known to say things like 'Get this guy out of the building' (Dapan Okawa Eliyata). He generally expects his orders to be followed. According to the source Katugampola came into Hudson's office to find out why he was being thrown out and then he kicked one of the security personnel. At this point the two security personnel assaulted him.
SLBC Source 2's Story:
Inside the Chairman's office Samarasinghe criticized Katugampola both for his political agenda being reflected in their newscasts and for his neglection of duties. When Katugampola said that his wife was ill Samarasinghe had said that Katugampola's problems with his wife were of no concern to the SLBC. At this point Katugampola has stated that his wife is important to him while Samarasinghe has many women, and is not concerned about his wife. The source says that at this point the Chairman assaulted Katugampola.
So, those are four of the stories that I have heard so far, including the two official statements made by Samarasinghe and Katugampola. The News Director (ex?) is now in the Colombo General Hospital, but the doctors say he was never in any danger and was not seriously hurt at all.
We don't how political or personal this fight was, but it's just ugly.
Sri Lanka Broadcasting Corporation (SLBC) News Director Raja Katugampola is in hospital. He says Chairman of the SLBC Hudson Samarasinghe and two security personnel assualted him.
The Background
Raja Katugampola is the same News Director who got into trouble over the SLBC report about LTTE leader Prabhakaran's death in the Tsunami. The SLBC ran the story on an anonymous tip, without waiting for any confirmation. It turned out to be a very big mistake. He was fired for that and replaced but he managed to save his ass, and get his job back, because he was in Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapakse's good books.
A few days ago there was a story online that said the Chairman of the SLBC, Hudson Samarasinghe was again firing News Director Katugampola. Apparently Samarasinghe was not happy with the way SLBC News was being handled. As had been expected, since the Presidential elections were announced, the political players inside all the state media had been manipulating thier news to make it favourable to the UPFA candidate Mahinda Rajapakse.
News Director Katugampola is a known Mahinda supporter and had been seen as following a openly pro-Mahinda and anti-Ranil agenda in his work in the past month or so. LankaPage reported Samarasinghe as having said 'I don’t need pro-Mahinda director here at SLBC'. It seemed Samarasinghe was no longer willing to toe the UPFA line and make a heavy pull for Mahinda in their newscasts.
But people at SLBC stated that this story was completely wrong, and that though Samarasinghe had warned Katugampola about his conduct, but had not removed him from his post or threatened to do so.
A few days ago SLBC News ran a story about a fight between UNP candidate Ranil Wickramasinghe and Ceylon Workers Congress leader Thondaman. The SLBC was criticized because the story had no substance and no backing and was seen simply as an attempt to discredit the UNP CWC alliance.
When Chairman Samarasinghe questioned Katugampola about why he ran this story, Katugampola refused to take the Chairman's calls and avoided him in the SLBC building. Sources within SLBC also alledge that Katugampola had been missing a lot of his work and neglecting his duties for reasons unknown, and that Samarasinghe had been quite annoyed about how things were being run in general.
The Fight
All we know for sure is that there was a SLBC Directors meeting this morning. Chairman Samarasinghe called this meeting to discuss a letter sent to him from the Commissioner of Elections regarding 38 specific occasions in which the SLBC had behaved in violation of election regulations during their broadcasts. Someone who was present at the meeting states that Samarasinghe was not happy about this, and wanted to question Katugampola. The News Director was the only person who was absent at the meeting.
Samarasinghe then discovered that Katugampola was in the building and sent a peon to search for him, and to get him to attend the meeting. Sources at SLBC say that when the peon found Katugampola the News Director asked the peon to inform Samarasinghe that he was not in the building. After the meeting Samarasinghe personally went to the News Division to look for Katugampola, who had made himself scarce by then.
Later in the day Katugampola had finally gone into the Chairman's office. He just couldn't dodge the Chairman anymore.
This is where things get interesting, and murky. We have 4 versions.
Katugampola's Story:
The News Director says that when he went into the Chairman's office Samarasinghe began shouting at him without any explanation. Responding to allegations of neglect the News Director then defended himself saying his wife was ill and that his father was in hospital, and yet he had not neglected his duties. Katugampola says that then the Chairman stood up and assualted him, and called for the security personnel outside to also assault him. According to a interview given to Sirasa TV the News Director says the security personnell held him from behind and he was not sure who assaulted him as his spectacles were smashed and his vision was blurred. He also claims one of the security personnel picked him up and threw him against the wall twice.
Hudson's Story:
The Chairman says that he was displeased with the way the News Director had been acting with regard to the upcoming Presidential elections. He says he had sent several messages to the News Director asking him to explain himself, and that Katugampola had just avoided them without reply. Samarasinghe says that today when Katugampola came into his office there were heated words exchanged, and that Katugampola got into a fight with his security personnel upon exiting the Chairman's office. He says he did not witness the incident. But has taken action to suspend the duties of the security personnel.
SLBC Source 1's Story:
When Katugampola did not arrive for the morning meeting and dodged the Chairman during the day Samarasinghe gave orders to have the News Director removed from his post and from the premises of the SLBC. The source says Samarasinghe is known to say things like 'Get this guy out of the building' (Dapan Okawa Eliyata). He generally expects his orders to be followed. According to the source Katugampola came into Hudson's office to find out why he was being thrown out and then he kicked one of the security personnel. At this point the two security personnel assaulted him.
SLBC Source 2's Story:
Inside the Chairman's office Samarasinghe criticized Katugampola both for his political agenda being reflected in their newscasts and for his neglection of duties. When Katugampola said that his wife was ill Samarasinghe had said that Katugampola's problems with his wife were of no concern to the SLBC. At this point Katugampola has stated that his wife is important to him while Samarasinghe has many women, and is not concerned about his wife. The source says that at this point the Chairman assaulted Katugampola.
So, those are four of the stories that I have heard so far, including the two official statements made by Samarasinghe and Katugampola. The News Director (ex?) is now in the Colombo General Hospital, but the doctors say he was never in any danger and was not seriously hurt at all.
We don't how political or personal this fight was, but it's just ugly.
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# posted by
 : October 25, 2005 9:33 AM |
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# posted by
: October 27, 2005 6:24 AM |
|
have you ppl seen this- a pre-election opinion poll by social indicator, research unit of the centre for policy alternatives(it's a pdf 1.5mb). some analysis of numbers there seems to confirm that ranil will win. btw ashathi what do you mean by 'to tune into state owned bullshit'. from where you do get the bullshit there? |
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