'Interference' led to Sunday Leader Editor's resignation

by Manjula Fernando

Editor in Chief of the Sunday Leader and senior journalist Shakuntala Perera tendered her resignation last week protesting against moves by the management and its CEO to curtail editorial freedom.

Her action followed a directive by the CEO to forward all articles for approval by the Management. The directive was a sequel to the publication of an explosive article titled 'High Flying Corruption in Aviation' by the Leader staff journalist Nirmala Kannangara. In a letter dated February 13, a copy of which the Sunday Observer has received, Ms. Perera had written that since she could not 'undermine her role and credibility as an editor who is called upon on to act in the public interest', she wished to tender her resignation from her post.

She also referred to a warning issued to her on January 19 by the management to stop publishing articles that could have 'severe legal implications' for the company. She said the warning was issued after the paper carried two articles; 'Flying High with Public Funds' and 'The Rs. 4 Billion Computer Scam' which exposed corruption by the previous regime.

Expressing disappointment with the management over its actions to control the editorial content and thus suppress the public right to know the truth about their country and government, which is the freedom of information the new government is trying hard to uphold, she said, 'these articles were published as a matter of routine in the best interests of the newspaper and its readers'.

She said that on no occasion were these stories sourced by her. While vouching that the sole criteria for publication of such stories during her tenure was foolproof documentary evidence, she expressed regret that pressure has been brought upon the management with regard to those particular stories despite many similar articles against other individuals that were passed by her and published before.

When contacted by the Sunday Observer, CEO of Leader Publications Nalin Jayatilake denied the allegations in her letter but said the management had accepted her resignation. He said he had written a lengthy letter rejecting all her reasons for resignation and it was an internal matter.

However, he acknowledged that there had been a directive issued to show the articles to him as he felt that as the publisher and the owner of the company, he should also see what goes in the paper.