While Channel 4’s investigative documentary Sri Lanka’s Killing Fields is yet to be shown at the UN despite numerous requests, the Sri Lankan Government’s counter-documentary was granted permission to be screened earlier this month.
The decision to air the documentary “Lies Agreed Upon” (and not Sri Lanka’s Killing Fields) was made by the UN Correspondent’s Association President, Giampaolo Pioli, who also covered the event.
It has now been revealed that he was Sri Lanka’s representative to the UN, Palitha Kohona’s former landlord.
“But undisclosed at the time was that Pioli collected money as rent from Kohona for years. When this obvious conflict of interest was raised, the response was that the monetary relationship began when Kohona was a UN staff member.
But in a sense that's worse: how can a reporter ostensibly covering the UN objectively have a monetary relation with a senior UN official?”
See the full report from Inner City Press here.
We need your support
Sri Lanka is one of the most dangerous places in the world to be a journalist. Tamil journalists are particularly at threat, with at least 41 media workers known to have been killed by the Sri Lankan state or its paramilitaries during and after the armed conflict.
Despite the risks, our team on the ground remain committed to providing detailed and accurate reporting of developments in the Tamil homeland, across the island and around the world, as well as providing expert analysis and insight from the Tamil point of view
We need your support in keeping our journalism going. Support our work today.
For more ways to donate visit https://donate.tamilguardian.com.
