Channel 4 News has issued a report to counter what it has called Sri Lanka’s “propaganda offensive” today, after the Sri Lankan government distributed booklets across the world attempting to slur the channel.
The report, entitled “The Uncorrupted Truth”, was released by the British broadcaster, as Sri Lanka comes under increasing scrutiny over its human rights record, in the run up to the next session of the UN Human Rights Council in March.
The 20,000 word report was released to counter Sri Lanka’s booklet entitled “Corrupted Journalism”, which the state had been issuing to diplomats around the world.
Channel 4’s Head of News and Current Affairs, Dorothy Byrne said,
“Corrupted Journalism is a scurrilous piece of work which misleads the public. That is why we decided to publish this full and detailed response, answering every allegation in careful and meticulous detail. In contrast to the authors and funders of this spurious nonsense who have chosen to remain anonymous, Channel 4 stands proudly behind the outstanding journalism in No Fire Zone.”
Speaking on Sri Lanka’s propaganda against Channel 4, No Fire Zone director Callum Macrae stated it was an,
“irresponsible, inaccurate and misleading attack on our journalism. A work notable as much for its failure to confront any of the serious allegations we make of massacres, crimes against humanity and torture, as for the inaccuracy of the criticisms it levels against us. It is perhaps no wonder that they chose to do this from behind a cloak of anonymity"