Thursday, 28 March 2024
Response to ‘Attempt to give SLT advertising to Rajapaksas’

Response to ‘Attempt to give SLT advertising to Rajapaksas’

Media Factory has sent us a response in connection with an article published by us under the heading ‘Attempt to give SLT advertising to Rajapaksas’.

Sri Lanka Mirror respects the right to reply, and accordingly publishes the response:

To the editor,

In reply to the article posted on the 21st July on your website under the title “Attempt to give Advertising to Rajapaksa’s”. We would like to put the record straight on the malicious and disillusioned comments made in respect to Media Factory. The Author who creatively and with some obvious fear for Media Factory, fails to mention that Media Factory was also the preferred Media Agency by the current Prime Minister the Honorable Ranil Wickramasinghe during his election campaign of 2015. Even the most illiterate person would understand this is not possible if we were a so called Rajapakse owned agency, nor would it be allowed.

We remain a politically neutral agency though some would like to taint us otherwise for their own benefit and inability to match Media Factory’s service and intellectual levels. We are predominantly a private sector based agency and on private sector business alone are amongst the largest agencies in the island. The claims of the author and the need to subscribe to such unscrupulous behavior of fear mongering is an obvious attempt to benefit by removing Media Factory from the equation of the recent pitch.

On the claim of ITN outstanding the author again attempts to mislead or remains ignorant to the fact Media Factory has been cleared of any wrongdoings and the letters to this effect have been dispatched to relevant authorities. We are innocent of all accusations made and whilst thankful to the editor for allowing us to reply, are saddened they did not bother to verify the claims previously made.

The whole idea of Yaha Palanaya championed by his Excellency the President & Honorable Prime Minister is about building a just society and system that rewards talent and puts the best resources to serve the country. We have no knowledge on the proceeding of the tender process, but if the tender board evaluation shows us as the best partner for SLT Mobitel, What is the problem? This is an absolute victory for Yaha Palanaya and all that it hopes to achieve.

However, we reiterate with responsibility that SLT CEO Dileepa Wijesundara and Mobitel COO Nalin Perera are trying to hand over advertising management of the two institutions to Media Factory.

Editor’s note regarding Media Factory’s response:

According to their response, Media Factory has got involved in the UNP’s election campaign after the January 08 presidential election.

As we reiterated, Media Factory had carried out Mahinda Rajapaksa’s election propaganda campaign.

At the last general election, there was opposition within the UNP for handing over the party’s propaganda work to Media Factory.

There is suspicion as to whether Media Factory had accepted to carry out the propaganda campaign in an attempt to get protection for the wrongs it had committed previously.

When giving the propaganda campaign to Media Factory, Phoenix Advertising owned by UNP working committee member Ervin Weerakkody and Wickremesinghe’s closest friend Pradeep Amirthanayagam’s Holmes Pollard had both been overlooked.

It is an open secret that the PM’s brother Channa Wickremesinghe had recommended that Media Factory would give more facilities than the other two contenders if given the propaganda campaign.

It was JVP leader Anura Kumara Dissanayake who had claimed Media Factory was owned by Yoshitha Rajapaksa, over the matter of non-payment of money for Mahinda Rajapaksa’s propaganda advertisements telecast over ITN.

The presidential commission investigating this scam should question Media Factory and ITN, not Mahinda Rajapaksa who had ‘acted’ in those advertisements, said Dissanayake.

The JVP leader has also called for an investigation as to whether Media Factory has received commissions when the UPFA got the campaign advertisements published.

Last modified on Monday, 25 July 2016 08:26