Dow Jones [24 Mar 2004 06:45 GMT]: Tamil Rebels Square Off Along Sri Lanka's Verugal River
"alu bonda"?? who uses this word in Tamil areas in the island? This is the problem with the news when the news filing reporter's name is not given. None knows what motive he/she has. Neutrality is just an assumption.

The Hindu [Tuesday, Mar 23, 2004]: "Campaign in Jaffna fails to reflect plurality" By V.S. Sambandan .
Reuters [23 Mar 2004 08:15]: "Muted criticism of Tigers as Sri Lanka poll nears" By Lindsay Beck

Another problem; "Coincidence" Yesterday, Reuters and The Hindu "coincidently" talks about the lack of securty for EPDP. Who funds EPDP? What is its support among Tamils? How murerous are they? Neither of these reporters answered. They just want to paint that EPDP is a democratic way walking party. What people who look into the way The Hindu and other reporters reported in the past (pre 2002) can see is they were always given the SL-Army sponsored tours into the "North-east", and reported as they went and saw them at their free will. Even Nirupama Subramanian pointed this out when American reporter Mary Collins was critically shot by Sri Lankan forces in Vavuniya when she entered into the north without SL Army's approval. Subramanian's arguement was that was the reason they report(ed) from Colombo or went/go with the Army tour. When you go on a Sri Lankan government sponsored tour, "coincidential/overlapping" reporting is inevitable. What is usually hidden from the readers is this sponsorship mostly in order to give an impression to the readers that the reporters went and saw the things in their own freewill without any restrictions.

Sambath Kumar gives a contracting report in BBC ThamizhOsai (24 March 2004) bbc thamizhOsai
"Jaffna election mood-- interview with Sampath Kumar"


Daily Mirror [Tuesday, March 23, 2004]- Opinion :The new flights from India
The Hindu[Friday, Mar 19, 2004]: Sri Lanka a big draw for Indian visitors By Shonali Muthalaly
Another way of reporting (that most of the Indian journalists living in Colombo did/do) is getting the news from Colombo media and vice versa. This can be easily seen if one compares the news/views appear on both sides of Pak Straits.