Colombo Telegraph (Colombotelegraph.com), a website which became hugely popular during recent times, has been blocked since a week’s time, barring the Sri Lankan viewers from entering the site.
It is said that the reason behind this is the sites’s behaviour, which published articles and reports criticizing some of the activities and decisions of the
Govt.
However, when inquired by the Govt information department, a senior official said that there is no such blocking and that it could be a technical error of the website.
Several attempts made by Sri Lanka Mirror to contact the director general of the TRC Mr. Anusha Palpita to query regarding the matter was not successful.
At the moment Lanka E news, Lanka news web, Tamil net, Lanka Guardian, Gossip Lanka and Paparasiya websites have been blocked inside Sri Lanka.
However, all these websites can be viewed through proxy servers.
However, the editor of Colombo telegraph, Mr. Uvindu Kurukulasuriya told Sri Lanka Mirror that even though the site was blocked, they are hoping to make it visible to Sri Lankan viewers without the help of a proxy server, by using the latest technology.
Expressing his views on the “prohibition” of the Colombo Telegraph, political critic Mr. Kusal Perera says that if the Govt disturbs the modern internet communication, then the journalists must object to it at once and if it does not happen, it draws a question mark about the genuine interest of the journalists regarding the free and independent media.
He further says that as it is the duty of the journalists to work free and independent, whenever, the Govt or the owners of media are disturbing that freedom, the journalists must come forward to object to it, despite where it happens.
(www.srilankamirror.com)
