Centre for Policy Alternatives on 25 May, 2009

CPA CHALLENGES 18TH AND 19TH AMENDMENTS

The
Centre for Policy Alternatives (CPA) has filed two petitions in
the Supreme Court of Sri Lanka challenging the constitutionality
of passing both the 18th and 19th Amendments to the Constitution
with a two-thirds majority vote in Parliament. The reasons for the
challenges are quite distinct from those of most of the other petitions.

CPA’s
opposition to the 18th Amendment is premised on its violation of
fundamental first principles of the rule of law. The Constitutional
Council which is a creature of the Constitution must be bound at
least by the chapter on fundamental rights contained in the Constitution.
While the Constitutional Council must have substantial freedom and
autonomy to exercise its important functions, CPA also believes
that the Supreme Court should have the discretion to review decisions
of the Council if they are in flagrant violation of fundamental
rights.

The
Centre for Policy Alternatives, unlike a number of other petitioners
challenging the 19th Amendment, welcomes a constitutional amendment
to remove the President’s power to dissolve Parliament. It also
believes that such an amendment does not require a referendum. However,
CPA strongly disapproves of the specific provisions in the 19th
Amendment that permit a President to dissolve Parliament if the
holder of the office of President and the party that has a majority
in Parliament are the same. The 19th Amendment is, therefore, not
based on the principle that an Parliament should exist free from
the whims and fancies of a powerful Executive President, but rather
is ad hoc, ad hominem and partisan.

Similarly
with respect to the freedom of conscience of Members of Parliament,
CPA believes that Article 99 (13) of the Constitution which has
helped entrench the spurious principle of “party democracy”
should be repealed. At the very least, the principled approach to
constitutional amendment would have required an amendment to permit
an MP to vote according to her/his conscience with respect to ALL
constitutional amendments. The 19th Amendment protects an MP who
defies the party line on only the 19th Amendment itself, from expulsion
from Parliament. Furthermore in a bizarre twist that undermines
freedom of association and the autonomy of political parties, the
19th Amendment even prevents a party from expelling an MP from the
party. Therefore, the misleadingly described “conscience clause”
is itself ad hoc, ad hominem and partisan in nature.

A
short amendment removing the President’s power to dissolve Parliament
and permitting MPs freedom of conscience would have been principle
based, compatible with constitutionalism and, therefore, justifiable.

M.
A. Sumanthiran assisted by Viran Corea and Renuka Senanayake will
represent CPA in the legal proceedings.


 
Rohan Edrisinha
Director – Legal

Centre for Policy Alternatives on 25 May, 2009

Full text of CPA’s response to The Sunday Times article titled “CPA-LTTE-TRINCO” – 15th October 2003

15th October, 2003

Mr. Sinha Ratnatunga
The Editor
The Sunday Times
08, Hunupitiya Cross Road
Colombo 2

Dear Mr Ratnatunga,

SPECIAL
ASSIGNMENT: ‘CPA-LTTE-Trinco’ by Chris Kamalendran
The Sunday Times, Sunday 12th October 2003

I am writing with reference to the above article which appeared in your edition of Sunday 12th October 2003. The article contains
a series of factual inaccuracies and mischievous speculation regarding the work of the Centre for Policy Alternatives. Accordingly, the
publication of this response in full with the same prominence accorded to the article above is greatly appreciated. To facilitate clarity
and brevity, I have quoted below the relevant sections from your article, followed by my corrections in point form.

  • Your reporter states that CPA “…arranged a conducted tour for sections of the media to visit the controversial Manirasakulam
    (Kurangupaanchan) guerrilla camp in the Trincomalee district.”    This visit to Trincomalee constituted the field work component
    of the fourth workshop in a programme of workshops on conflict-sensitive journalism for journalists. Other workshops have focused on the issues of Tamil- Muslim relations in the east and on High Security Zones in the Jaffna peninsula. They have included field visits
    to Muttur, Batticaloa and Jaffna. The visit of the group of journalists to Trincomalee facilitated by CPA included meetings with the armed force commanders in Trincomalee and was not for the exclusive purpose of visiting the LTTE Kurangupaanchan camp alone.
  • Your reporter states that “CPA-LTTE-Trinco was what they themselves termed the project in their e-mail to the newspaper
    offices.”    This is incorrect. The e-mail your reporter is referring to is the one containing pictures sent by CPA to newspapers on Saturday,
    11th October, after the event. “CPA-LTTE-Trinco” is the title of the set of photographs according to the common digital archiving system, which sets out the name of the commissioning person / organisation, the groups involved in the event, and the
    venue / location, followed by a serial number. The caption is for systematic archiving only and does not describe the project.
  • He also states that “CPA representatives were on hand to play the role for the media, in raising loaded questions and
    trying to elicit loaded answers from political and military wing leaders of the LTTE, who were on hand.”    This is simply not true. Journalists were free to ask any questions from the LTTE representatives. It is absurd to state that the role of the media was played by CPA representatives!! Whilst a member of the CPA staff asked a question at the end of this particular meeting and participated in the discussion, it is incorrect to say that the questions were loaded or that particular answers were anticipated.
  • Your reporter further states that “Three people first introduced themselves as from the CPA. They were ‘co-ordinators’ Lionel
    Guruge, Vijaya Shanthan and a Tamil translator Senthil Sivagnanam. The first question at the open air news conference came from Lionel. He produced a copy of the Sunday Times (Situation Report of August 3) where a map marking LTTE camps in the Trincomalee district was published. He said, ‘a leading newspaper in Colombo’ (that was how he referred to The Sunday Times) had published details of LTTE camps established reportedly after the Ceasefire Agreement was signed between the Government and the LTTE. Lionel wanted to know whether this was true.”     There are several factual inaccuracies and distortions here: 1. Senthil Sivagnanam is not an employee of CPA. He is an independent translator commissioned by CPA for this specific programme.2. Lionel Guruge, who coordinates CPA outreach activities, coordinated the programme. The first question was not raised by Lionel Guruge, and he did not produce a copy of any newspaper. The first question in fact was raised by Ravi Chandralal, a freelance journalist. It was he who produced The Sunday Times. The Tamil Net picture reproduced in The Sunday Times report clearly shows this. Your reporter is clearly labouring under a misconception as to Lionel Guruge’s identity, confusing him with Ravi Chandralal. This
    is borne out by other observations in the report where he makes the same mistake, attributing words and actions of Ravi Chandralal
    to Lionel Guruge. Consequently, the report is based on a serious case of mistaken identity.

    3. As part of the programme of conflict-sensitive journalism, newspaper reportage in all three languages, and not just The Sunday
    Times Situation Report, was distributed to the invited journalists as well as to other participants such as military officers, the
    LTTE and civil society groups.

  • Your reporter goes on to say that “[Thilak, the LTTE’s political wing leader in Trincomalee] kept repeating that there
    were no new camps in the Trincomalee district – a statement that was echoed in unison by both Lionel (CPA) and Vijaya Shanthan (CPA). They were duly translated by Senthil (CPA).”    CPA is an independent public policy organisation with a proven record of non-partisan research and advocacy in the areas of governance and peace. CPA representatives did not and had no interest in echoing
    the sentiments of the LTTE spokesperson.
  • “One striking observation I made during the nearly hour-long CPA-LTTE press conference, was that most of the questions were
    asked by CPA representatives and not the media.”    This is simply untrue. The invited participants from the media in the programme were expected to, and did, drive the question and answer session. As stated earlier, CPA employees did ask some
    questions during the discussion, but to say that they asked most of the questions and not the media is grossly incorrect.
  • Your reporter concludes that “As we left the area many of the media personnel including myself had more questions than answers when we came to the controversial camp. One such question was – what is the CPA’s agenda? Is it to cover up
    the truth to help the LTTE, or is there some other game plan? Even the Ministry of Defence that gave permission for the media to
    travel to these areas may not know the answers.”    The mandate and mission of the Centre for Policy Alternatives is clearly
    set out on its web site – www.cpalanka.org. The web site also hosts a wealth of information including public statements,
    research papers and briefing documents on the work of CPA in respect of governance and peace in Sri Lanka. The questions raised above by your reporter can be fully answered by perusing the CPA website.
  • A boxed section of the article entitled “Balanced reporting starts at home”, carries the following statement attributed
    to Mr. Sunanda Deshapriya, Director CPA and Head of the Media Unit: “He admitted that he had failed to contact journalists in The Sunday Times…”    Mr. Deshapriya did inform The Sunday Times that CPA had contacted the Sunday Times, but were unable to speak to Mr Iqbal Athas. On the same occasion, Mr. Deshapriya also explained to The Sunday Times the nature and purpose of the programme on conflict-sensitive reporting, and this information has not been taken into consideration by your reporter.

I look forward to the publication of this response in full with the same prominence accorded to the original article.

Thank you.

Yours sincerely,

Dr. Paikiasothy Saravanamuttu
Executive Director
Centre for Policy Alternatives

Centre for Policy Alternatives on 25 May, 2009

PA’s letter to Daily News Editor regarding the headline story on the CPA poll – 21st March 2004

21st March, 2004

Geoff
Wijesinghe
Editor
Daily News
Associated Newspapers of Ceylon Ltd.
Lake House
Colombo 10

Dear
Sir,

IMPRESSIVE
FREEDOM ALLIANCE LEAD IN INDEPENDENT OPINION POLL DAILY NEWS. SATURDAY
MARCH 20, 2004

I am
writing in response to your headline story as titled above, which
appeared in your issue of Saturday 20 March 2004 with the strip
headline:

52%
per cent say President Kumaratunga more honest, Prime Minister
Wickremesinghe 33%

The
headline story states that it is based on the results of a “snap
poll” taken by the Centre for Policy Alternatives. The entire
article i.e the headline story as well as its continuation on page
15 is purportedly based on the poll conducted by the Centre for
Policy Alternatives.

As
the Executive Director of the Centre for Policy Alternatives (CPA)
it is my duty to point out to you that this article not only contains
major distortions of the results of the survey “THE
SRI LANKAN VOTER AND THE APRIL 2004 ELECTIONS” conducted
by Social Indicator, the Polling Unit of CPA which was released
to you on Friday 19 March 2004, but gross fabrication of survey
results as well. Please see the attached Schedule for details of
the distortions and fabrication.

In
particular, I would like to draw your attention to the strip headline
referred to above, the entire section of the article under the sub-title
“Phase 2” on page 15 of this issue
of your newspaper and the first three paragraphs under the sub –title
“All Island” on the same page.

These
sections of the article refer to

a)
questions relating to the honesty of the current President and
the Prime Minister,
b) “…… a general feeling that Sinhala buddhists
(sic) are under threat from the church and donor nations -65%”,
c) “…..a feeling that some external powers are diluting
the culture of Sinhalese – 69%” (sic) and
d) “ the chances of donor nations pushing their culture
is very high –64%” .

Even
a very cursory perusal of the survey document sent to you –
another copy of which is attached for your convenience – will
reveal that the survey did not question respondents on the
honesty of any political leaders, leave aside the current President
and Prime Minister, nor did it contain questions on cultural dilution,
a “threat” from the Church and donor countries or as
to whether the latter were “pushing” their culture.

The
inclusion of such material and the presentation of it as being part
of the CPA survey is contemptible and unpardonable. It smacks of
the worst forms of shoddy journalism. It leads me to the conclusion
that these fabricated survey results were inserted into the article
for cheap and narrow partisan advantage, aimed at misleading the
voting public. Furthermore, given the serious nature of the fabricated
data, these insertions have the potential of inflaming sections
of public opinion and poisoning relationships between the peoples
of different religious faiths who inhabit Sri Lanka. This is a serious
breach of media ethics and responsibility, by any standard.

The
Centre for Policy Alternatives (CPA) is an independent, public policy
institute that focuses on questions of democratic peace and governance
through programmes of research and advocacy. The work of CPA has
received critical appreciation locally and internationally and from
both local and international media institutions as well. Your article
purportedly on a survey done by CPA’s Polling Unit, threatens
to impugn the integrity of CPA and its programming in the crucial
areas of democratic peace and governance.

Accordingly, I am writing to ask you to publish a correction of
this article and given the gravity of the issues raised, to accord
the correction the same prominence given to the original offending
article. The appended Schedule has been attached to assist you in
this.

I am
releasing this letter to the local and international print and electronic
media and copying it to the list of persons identified below.

Thank
you.


Yours sincerely,


Dr. Paikiasothy Saravanamuttu
Executive Director
Centre for Policy Alternatives

CC.
HE the President
Hon Prime Minister
Commissioner of Elections
Chairman – Press Complaints Commission
Hon Lakshman Kadirgamar
European Union Election Monitoring Committee
Commonwealth Secretariat
PAFFREL
HE The Ambassador – Embassy of the USA
HE The High Commissioner – British High Commission
HE The Ambassador – Royal Norwegian Embassy
HE The High Commissioner – Canadian High Commission
HE The High Commissioner – Australian High Commission
HE The Ambassador – Royal Netherlands Embassy
HE The Ambassador – German Embassy
HE The High Commissioner – Indian High Commission
HE The Ambassador – Japanese Embassy
HE The Ambassador – Swedish Embassy
HE The Ambassador – Embassy of Switzerland
HE The Ambassador – Delegation of the EU
All Print & Electronic Media Institutions
Members of the Board of Directors of CPA

SCHEDULE
OF CORRECTIONS TO DAILY NEWS HEAD LINE ARTICLE OF FRIDAY 20 MARCH,
2004, TITLED “Impressive Freedom Alliance lead in independent
opinion poll”

The
following reported in the above article as the results of a poll
carried out by the Centre for Policy Alternatives (CPA) have been
fabricated. They are purported answers to questions that were never
asked in the CPA poll.

1)
The strip headline on the honesty of the President and Prime Minister
respectively is a fabrication. No such question was asked.

2) No question was asked on which party “has more chances
to come to power”.

3) No question was asked on the ability of either the President
or Prime Minister to “handle the peace process effectively”.

4) No question was asked on whether people felt that the “problems”
associated with the dissolution of Parliament “should have
been sorted out”.

5) No question was asked on whether the President or the Prime Minister
respectively, would “compromise the country’s interest,
while negotiating peace”.

6) On page 15, the first paragraph of the continuation of the headline
story, does not bear any relation to the CPA survey apart from the
statement that the survey is independent and not connected to any
political party.

7) The second paragraph on page 15 bears no relation to the CPA
survey.

8) The third paragraph on page 15 bears no relation to the CPA survey.

9) In the fourth paragraph on page 15, no question was asked on
the President and/or Prime Minister’s handling of the peace
process “effectively”. The figures with regard to the
dissolution of parliament distort the figures in the CPA survey
re those who disagreed. No district wise figures were given.

10) Everything in the section subtitled “Phase 2” is
a fabrication.

11) Likewise, the first three single sentence paragraphs under the
subtitle “ All Island”.

Centre for Policy Alternatives on 25 May, 2009

CPA’s letter to Daily News Editor – 24th March 2004

24th March 2004

Mr.
Geoff Wijesinghe
Editor – Daily News
Associated Newspapers of Ceylon Ltd.
Lake House
Colombo 10.

Dear
Sir,

CPA
EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR STATES…….

I am
writing to you re the above report which was carried in your edition
of Tuesday 23 March 2004, at the bottom of the front page or page
1. The report is continued on page 18.

The
report clearly states that its subject matter relates to my letter
to you of 21st March 2004 in response to your headline story the
previous day, purportedly on a Survey conducted by Social Indicator,
the Polling Unit of the Centre for Policy Alternatives (CPA) which
in turn had been sent to you for publicity on 19th March 2004.

In
the above report (23rd March, 2004), you correctly state that in
my letter of 21st March 2004 I had pointed out to you that your
report of 20 March 2004 contained major distortions of the CPA poll
as well as gross fabrication of survey results. I attached a Schedule
of Corrections to the 21st March 2004 letter, which you have reproduced
in this report of 23rd March 2004. At the end of the report there
is an Editor’s note which reads:

This report was based on a report sent to the Daily News by the
CPA.

It is regrettable that the CPA is not completely aware of all
documents sent to the Daily News from his (sic) Institution.
We stand by our report.

Given
the shabby nature of the distortions and the gross and inflammatory
fabrication of survey results, now seriously compounded by the contents
of your above cited Editor’s note, in particular that you

a)
stand by your report,
b) it is based on a report sent to you by CPA, and
c) that “It is regrettable that the CPA is not completely
aware of all documents sent to the Daily News from his (sic) Institution”,

I challenge
you to produce the document sent to you by CPA on which your report
of 20th March 2004 was purportedly based. Please disclose this in
your newspaper without delay and thereby substantiate the astounding
claim and gratuitous remark made against the integrity and professionalism
of CPA and myself, in your Editor’s note of 23rd March 2004.

Thank
you

Yours
sincerely,


Dr. Paikiasothy Saravanamuttu
Executive Director
Centre for Policy Alternatives

CC.
HE the President
Hon Prime Minister
Commissioner of Elections
Chairman – Press Complaints Commission
Hon Lakshman Kadirgamar
European Union Election Monitoring Committee
Commonwealth Secretariat
PAFFREL
HE The Ambassador – Embassy of the USA
HE The High Commissioner – British High Commission
HE The Ambassador – Royal Norwegian Embassy
HE The High Commissioner – Canadian High Commission
HE The High Commissioner – Australian High Commission
HE The Ambassador – Royal Netherlands Embassy
HE The Ambassador – German Embassy
HE The High Commissioner – Indian High Commission
HE The Ambassador – Japanese Embassy
HE The Ambassador – Swedish Embassy
HE The Ambassador – Embassy of Switzerland
HE The Ambassador – Delegation of the EU
All Print & Electronic Media Institutions
Members of the Board of Directors of CPA

CPA’s
letter to the Chairperson, Sri Lanka Rupavahini Corporation
(SLRC)

24th
March 2004

Mr.
Harim Peiris
Chairperson
Sri Lanka Rupavahini Corporation (SLRC)
Independence Square
Colombo 7

Dear
Mr Peiris,

RUPAVHINI
NEWS BROADCASTS ALLEGING CPA’S PRO UNP BIAS

I am
writing with regard to the above allegation made against the Centre
for Policy Alternatives (CPA) in the Sri Lanka Rupavahini news broadcasts
of last evening (23rd March, 2004).

Given
the track record of CPA as an independent public policy institute
focusing on peace, democracy and governance through programmes of
research and advocacy and given the critical appreciation it has
received both locally and internationally from media institutions
as well, I call upon you to ensure that your organization makes
an immediate correction of this grossly erroneous and mischievous
allegation in its news broadcasts.

Such
an allegation is calculated to also adversely affect the participation
of CPA in the election monitoring activities of the Centre for Monitoring
Election Violence (CMEV) in the crucial period of the run up to
polling day. It is extremely regrettable that such an allegation
can be aired at prime time, given the guidelines laid down by the
Election Commissioner on best practices and standards for state
and non-state media.

I look
forward to the immediate correction of this false and misleading
allegation.

CPA
reserves its right to resort to appropriate legal remedy in respect
of the loss and damage caused to it by the said broadcasts.

I am
releasing this letter to the local and international print and electronic
media and copying it to the list of persons identified below.

Thanking
you.

Yours
sincerely,


Dr. Paikiasothy Saravanamuttu
Executive Director
Centre for Policy Alternatives

CC.
HE the President
Hon Prime Minister
Commissioner of Elections
Chairman – Press Complaints Commission
Hon Lakshman Kadirgamar
European Union Election Monitoring Committee
Commonwealth Secretariat
PAFFREL
HE The Ambassador – Embassy of the USA
HE The High Commissioner – British High Commission
HE The Ambassador – Royal Norwegian Embassy
HE The High Commissioner – Canadian High Commission
HE The High Commissioner – Australian High Commission
HE The Ambassador – Royal Netherlands Embassy
HE The Ambassador – German Embassy
HE The High Commissioner – Indian High Commission
HE The Ambassador – Japanese Embassy
HE The Ambassador – Swedish Embassy
HE The Ambassador – Embassy of Switzerland
HE The Ambassador – Delegation of the EU
All Print & Electronic Media Institutions
Members of the Board of Directors of CPA

Centre for Policy Alternatives on 25 May, 2009

CPA’s response to the Daily News headline story ?Daily News sets the record straight? – 27th March 2004

CPA’s
response to the Daily News headline story “Daily
News sets the record straight”
of 27th March 2004


29th March, 2004

Mr.
Geoff Wijeysinghe
Editor
Daily News
Lake House
Colombo 10

Dear
Sir,


Daily News sets the record straight, Daily News,
Saturday, March 27, 2004

I am
writing with reference to the above headline story and letter to
me dated 26th March, 2004 along with an appended document titled
“Snap Poll Results”, hereafter referred to as the “Document”.
I have received two copies of this said letter and “Document”
today, one of which bears your stamp under your signature and at
the bottom of the first page of the “Document” appended
to it, there is an asterisk after which follows the handwritten
comment:

The
lines across the graphs were made by the Sub-Editor to indicate
he had dealt with the copy.

Both
copies of the “Document” carry what appears to be a
reference number “C20NRR60”, on the top right hand corner
of the first page.

You
maintain, as in your Editor’s Note of 23rd March 2004, that
your 20th March 2004 front page headline report of the CPA/Social
Indicator Survey, was based on the above mentioned “Document”.
In your letter of 26th March 2004, you state that :

The
Report I received from the CPA had between the cover page and first
page another loose document consisting of 4 pages divided into two
parts titled “Snap Poll Results, Phase 1” (3 pages)
and “Snap Poll Results Phase 2” (1 page).

As
you will note from the copy of the CPA/Social Indicator Poll Report,
entitled “The Sri Lankan Voter and the April 2004 Elections”
which was sent to you on Friday 19 March 2004, every page of the
Report is marked at the bottom left hand corner with

©
Copyright Social Indicator – March 2004

You will note that this is not the case with the “Document”
or as described by you “another loose document…..titled
‘ Snap Poll Results….”.

Furthermore,
your letter of 26th March 2004 is the first reference to the “Document”.
Your Editor’s Note in the issue of the Daily News of 23rd
March 2004 reads in full as follows:

This
report was based on a report (italics mine) sent to the
Daily News by the CPA.
It is regrettable that the CPA is not completely aware of all documents
sent to the Daily News from his (sic) Institution.
We stand by our report.

There
is no reference to “another loose document
consisting of 4 pages …….”, as in your letter
to me of 26th March 2004 in response to the challenge I made to
you to produce and publicly disclose the document on which your
20th March front page headline report, was purportedly based.

This “Document” is not a CPA publication. All references
to it in your last letter to me dated 26th March 2004 and in your
front page headline story of 27March 2004 are therefore irrelevant
and a red herring. This includes the allegation that I am partisan
and supporting the Prime Minister. In my letter to you of 21st March
2004, I stated that the inclusion of fabricated material in your
front page headline story of 20 March 2004 as being part of the
CPA survey, was “contemptible and unpardonable”. I further
stated that:

It
smacks of the worst forms of shoddy journalism. It leaves me no
other conclusion than that these fabricated survey results were
inserted into the article for cheap and narrow partisan advantage,
aimed at misleading the voting public. Furthermore, given the serious
nature of the fabricated data, these insertions have the potential
of inflaming sections of public opinion and poisoning relationships
between the peoples of different religious faiths who inhabit Sri
Lanka. This is a serious breach of media ethics and responsibility,
by any standard.

Your
letter of 26th March 2004 and headline story the following day,
Saturday the 27th of March, only reinforces the above points made
by me in my letter to you of 21st March 2004.

I
trust you will abandon the “Document” and move to restore
basic standards of ethics, responsibility and professionalism in
your media institution.

Thank
you.

Yours
sincerely,


Dr. Paikiasothy Saravanamuttu
Executive Director
Centre for Policy Alternatives

CC.
HE the President
Hon Prime Minister
Commissioner of Elections
Chairman – Press Complaints Commission
Hon Lakshman Kadirgamar
European Union Election Monitoring Committee
Commonwealth Secretariat
PAFFREL
HE The Ambassador – Embassy of the USA
HE The High Commissioner – British High Commission
HE The Ambassador – Royal Norwegian Embassy
HE The High Commissioner – Canadian High Commission
HE The High Commissioner – Australian High Commission
HE The Ambassador – Royal Netherlands Embassy
HE The Ambassador – German Embassy
HE The High Commissioner – Indian High Commission
HE The Ambassador – Japanese Embassy
HE The Ambassador – Swedish Embassy
HE The Ambassador – Embassy of Switzerland
HE The Ambassador – Delegation of the EU
All Print & Electronic Media Institutions
Members of the Board of Directors of CPA

Centre for Policy Alternatives on 25 May, 2009

Misreporting of Social Indicator Opinion Poll and the Letter to Hon. Lakshman Kadirgamar PC MP – 29th March 2004

Misreporting of Social Indicator Opinion Poll and theLetter to Hon. Lakshman Kadirgamar PC MP

MISREPORTING BY DAILY NEWS OF SOCIAL INDICATOR OPINION POLL

There has been a recent controversy over the reporting by the Daily News of an opinion poll conducted by Social Indicator, the polling unit of the Centre for Policy Alternatives (CPA). Social Indicator published the poll in the form of a report entitled “The Sri Lankan Voter and the April 2004 Election”, which was released to the media and others on 19 March.

On 20 March the Daily News carried the headline story “Impressive Freedom Alliance lead in independent opinion poll”, which claimed to be reporting the results of this poll. The article however claimed to report on a number of questions and responses to questions which were never asked in the CPA poll. No questions were asked, for instance, on the honesty of the President and the Prime Minister respectively, or which party has more chance to come to power, whereas the Daily News article states that these questions were part of the survey and goes on to provide the “results” of the survey, containing statistical analyses which were not in the CPA report.

The Executive Director of CPA, Dr P Saravanamuttu wrote to the Editor of the Daily News pointing out that the poll had been misreported and listing the inaccuracies in the article. The Daily News responded by stating that their “report was based on a report sent to the Daily News by the CPA” and that they stand by their report. As this did not adequately address CPA’s concerns, Dr Saravanamuttu wrote again to the Editor of the Daily News challenging him to produce the document claimed to be sent to him by CPA on which the article was based. On March 27 under the headline story “Daily News sets the record straight” the newspaper states that the article in question was based on a “loose document consisting of 4 pages divided into two parts titled ‘Snap Poll Results, Phase 1’ (3 pages) and ‘Snap Poll Results Phase 2’ (1 page)” which had been found between the cover page and the first page of the CPA report. The Editor of the Daily News has sent CPA a copy of this 4 page document.

CPA categorically states that this document was never sent as part of the survey, and never was part of the survey conducted by CPA. CPA had not seen this document until it was sent by the Daily News. The 4 page document, produced by the Daily News and attributed to CPA, clearly appears to be a fabrication.

The CPA report was a bound volume consisting of 25 numbered pages, all of which were copyrighted to CPA/Social Indicator with the mark “© Copyright Social Indicator – March 2004”. The report contained an Executive Summary. Any responsible journalist would have been troubled by the idea of basing an article, all the more so a headline story, on an unauthenticated loose leaf document which on the face of it was not attributed to any person or organisation.

CPA has written to Mr Lakshman Kadirgamar as Media Minister requesting that he conduct an independent investigation into this matter.

Letter to Hon. Lakshman Kadirgamar PC MP

29th March 2004

Hon. Lakshman Kadirgamar PC M.P.
Minister of Media,

Dear Minister,

DISTORTIONS BY CEYLON DAILY NEWS OF
SOCIAL INDICATOR SURVEY

We the undersigned, members of the Board of Directors of the Centre for Policy Alternatives (CPA), are deeply concerned at the distortions in the coverage of the Lake House Group of newspapers of the survey conducted by Social Indicator, the polling unit of the Centre for Policy Alternatives, which was released to the public on 19 March 2004.

Questions that were not part of the survey questionnaire and responses to such questions were inserted to the CPA/Social Indicator survey as published in the Ceylon Daily News of 20 March 2004. As indicated in the letters sent by the Executive

Centre for Policy Alternatives on 25 May, 2009

Misreporting of Social Indicator Opinion Poll and the Letter to Hon. Lakshman Kadirgamar PC MP – 29th March 2004

There has been a recent controversy over the reporting by the Daily
News of an opinion poll conducted by Social Indicator, the polling
unit of the Centre for Policy Alternatives (CPA). Social Indicator
published the poll in the form of a report entitled “The Sri
Lankan Voter and the April 2004 Election”, which was released
to the media and others on 19 March.

On
20 March the Daily News carried the headline story “Impressive
Freedom Alliance lead in independent opinion poll”, which
claimed to be reporting the results of this poll. The article however
claimed to report on a number of questions and responses to questions
which were never asked in the CPA poll. No questions were asked,
for instance, on the honesty of the President and the Prime Minister
respectively, or which party has more chance to come to power, whereas
the Daily News article states that these questions were part of
the survey and goes on to provide the “results” of the
survey, containing statistical analyses which were not in the CPA
report.

The
Executive Director of CPA, Dr P Saravanamuttu wrote to the Editor
of the Daily News pointing out that the poll had been misreported
and listing the inaccuracies in the article. The Daily News responded
by stating that their “report was based on a report sent to
the Daily News by the CPA” and that they stand by their report.
As this did not adequately address CPA’s concerns, Dr Saravanamuttu
wrote again to the Editor of the Daily News challenging him to produce
the document claimed to be sent to him by CPA on which the article
was based. On March 27 under the headline story “Daily News
sets the record straight” the newspaper states that the article
in question was based on a “loose document consisting of 4
pages divided into two parts titled ‘Snap Poll Results, Phase
1’ (3 pages) and ‘Snap Poll Results Phase 2’ (1
page)” which had been found between the cover page and the
first page of the CPA report. The Editor of the Daily News has sent
CPA a copy of this 4 page document.

CPA
categorically states that this document was never sent as part of
the survey, and never was part of the survey conducted by CPA. CPA
had not seen this document until it was sent by the Daily News.
The 4 page document, produced by the Daily News and attributed to
CPA, clearly appears to be a fabrication.

The
CPA report was a bound volume consisting of 25 numbered pages, all
of which were copyrighted to CPA/Social Indicator with the mark
“© Copyright Social Indicator – March 2004”.
The report contained an Executive Summary. Any responsible journalist
would have been troubled by the idea of basing an article, all the
more so a headline story, on an unauthenticated loose leaf document
which on the face of it was not attributed to any person or organisation.

CPA
has written to Mr Lakshman Kadirgamar as Media Minister requesting
that he conduct an independent investigation into this matter.

Letter
to Hon. Lakshman Kadirgamar PC MP


29th March 2004

Hon.
Lakshman Kadirgamar PC M.P.
Minister of Media,

Dear
Minister,


DISTORTIONS BY CEYLON DAILY NEWS OF
SOCIAL INDICATOR SURVEY


We the undersigned, members of the Board of Directors of the Centre
for Policy Alternatives (CPA), are deeply concerned at the distortions
in the coverage of the Lake House Group of newspapers of the survey
conducted by Social Indicator, the polling unit of the Centre for
Policy Alternatives, which was released to the public on 19 March
2004.

Questions
that were not part of the survey questionnaire and responses to
such questions were inserted to the CPA/Social Indicator survey
as published in the Ceylon Daily News of 20 March 2004. As indicated
in the letters sent by the Executive Director of CPA, Dr. Paikiasothy
Saravanamuttu to the Editor, Ceylon Daily News on 21 March 2004
and 24 March 2004 (copies attached), the survey did not question
respondents on the honesty of any political leaders, including the
incumbent President and Prime Minister, nor did it contain questions
on “cultural dilution” or a “threat” from
the Church and donor countries. Dr. Saravanamuttu challenged the
Editor to produce evidence of the existence of these questions in
the survey.

To
our astonishment, instead of apologizing for the error and accepting
the explanation of the institution which conducted the survey, the
Editor of the Ceylon Daily News in a letter dated 26 March 2004,
sent to our Executive Director and carried on the front page of
the Ceylon Daily News on 27 March 2004 has made the outrageous claim
that the disputed questions were contained in a “4 page loose
document” “divided into two parts titled “Snap
Poll Results, Phase 1” and “Snap Poll Results Phase
2”. It is significant that the Editor made no reference to
a “4 page loose document” until challenged by Dr. Saravanamutu.

No
4 page loose document was sent as part of the CPA survey report.
The full survey report, including an executive summary, was published
in a bound volume and released to the public, including the media
and other civil society groups and the diplomatic community in that
form.

The
Board of Directors of the Centre for Policy Alternatives is appalled
at this disgusting fabrication of a survey conducted by its polling
unit. We request you, as the Minister in charge of the subject of
Media, to conduct an impartial investigation into how such despicable
journalism could take place in a publicly owned media institution.
We welcomed your assertion, after you assumed duties as the Media
Minister, that public media institutions have special obligations
to uphold standards of professionalism and independence and trust
that you will appreciate the deep concern that we have with respect
to this unprecedented development outlined above.

As
you will no doubt understand, we reserve the right to pursue appropriate
legal remedies in relation to this matter.


Yours sincerely,

[sgd.]
Sunil Bastian
Director		 [sgd.]
Sunanda
Deshapriya
Director 		[sgd.]
Rohan Edrisinha
Director

[sgd.]
Kethesh Loganathan
Director
[sgd.]
Gowrie Ponniah
Director
[sgd.]
Cyrene Siriwardhana
Director
[sgd.]
Shelton Wanasinghe
Director
[sgd.]
Paikiasothy Saravanamuttu
Executive Director