The Hindu has hit back at the Sri Lankan president’s denial of reports that he told cabinet ministers that Indian intelligence services were involved in a plot to assassinate him, stating that their report had been cross-verified.
The Hindu’s Readers’ Editor said their reporter in Colombo had “directly cross-verified the information with two Ministers who were present at the Cabinet meeting in which the President made this incredible statement”.
“She got indirect confirmations from two others,” he add.
“It is important to note that the sources were from different political parties in Sri Lanka’s coalition government, as was mentioned in the report. She then contacted the President’s Media Division and sought a clarification and response. She informed them that the newspaper has got multiple confirmations of the statement and would be running the story that night. She asked if they wished to comment on it so that the newspaper could include their version of what happened. They said they would verify and revert, but did not do so till the copy went to print.”
The Hindu went on to state,
“For a responsible media organisation that considers the act of verification as its core objective, truth-telling becomes imperative even if it means reporting tactless and thoughtless utterances”.
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