NEARLY 150 UK residents of Sri Lankan origin demonstrated opposite London's Channel 4 television broadcasting station calling it a bogus news service. They had placards which said "Channel 4 now say Sorry", "Miller means twisted stories", "Channel four broadcasts shameful lies", "How could we believe Channel 4 anymore?", "Channel 4 scoops are fantasy dramas" and "Channel 4, hands off Sri Lanka."
One placard said 'Channel 4 research before you broadcast (C 4 research B 4 U broadcast)' while another said "4 bogus news-Go watch C4".
The agitated viewers were protesting against the broadcasting of a video footage by channel four news program which showed an execution type killing saying it came from an unauthenticated video clip but identified the item as a killing by the Sri Lankan Security Forces. The broadcaster said it was filmed eight months ago but showed no logical reason as to why it was delayed so long to broadcast.
One demonstrator, opposite the Channel 4 studios, London alleged that the video shown on August 25, 2009 as a telephone camera video, was actually a video taken by a more advanced video camera, of a dramatized incident by the LTTE, and later transferred into a telephone camera dubbed with background sounds and voices.
They called it a highly concocted piece of propaganda to deceive Channel 4 viewers to believe it is a record of a true incident.
Demonstrator, Sri Lal Dias said. "Channel 4 has a duty towards its viewers. They will have to make sure that what they show is authenticated and if they cannot they must not show them at all just to be fair by the viewers. Do they want viewers to record their news stories and send them to security laboratories for verification for authenticity"?
A petition signed by hundreds demanding the news channel either to apologize or authenticate the video footage it showed, was handed over to the television station by the demonstrators organization, the British Sri Lanka Forum.
Some demonstrators said the film clip was one of the most unethical news clips shown on the British television. They asked how come it has been rebroadcast in Paris and New York. (Courtesy : Daily News)
