CENSURING CENSORSHIP

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Many years ago, when the boot was on another foot, Aththa (truth or pravda), the Sri Lanka Communist Party´s daily newspaper, railed at the press censorship imposed by the United National Party (UNP) government of the time by carrying vast blank spaces across its pages. Inside each white space was a one-line notice to readers: 'This news was eaten by dogs.'

While this drama was being played, Parliament was buzzing one day with the rumour that a devaluation of the rupee was imminent. Pieter Keuneman, a Communist MP who once wrote leaders for the Daily News, phoned the Aththa number and suggested the next day´s front page headline: 'The rupee too has been eaten by dogs.'

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Himal Southasian
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