Tiran worried by loss of income: Thushara gets Manel in trouble

Nov 25, 2015

‘Mawbima’ and ‘Ceylon Today’ owner Tiran Alles is creating trouble for everyone these days as the income of the two newspapers have dropped to below zero, say sources at the newspapers. ‘Mawbima’s copies have been brought down from 100,000 to 25,000, while ‘Ceylon Today’ prints only 1,500 copies, all of which are distributed free.

The unsold copies of ‘Mawbima’ are given free to customers at fish stalls in Nugegoda and its vicinity. Getting to know about this situation, Alles has placed the entire blame on Thushara and Manel. The newspapers’ advertising and marketing division has come to an almost standstill. It has become a white elephant after director Saranga Wijeratne resigned and Suraj Pathirana and Kapila Bandara joined ‘Sathhanda.’ Head of the division Manel Dharmakeerthi spends most of his office time on facebook. Posting his pictures at office with a ‘Today is a very relaxing day’ remark, he spends most of the day chatting to his facebook friends, according to a report given Tiran by ‘Mawbima’ editor Thushara Guanratne recently, when Manel was away in Indonesia. 

 

Putting Thushara’s report in the drawyer and saying “He gets a salary from me but only does chatting in facebook and spends the rest of the time on wushu,” Alles has decided to teach Manel a lesson. They next met on the day ‘Mawbima’ marked its fourth anniversary. Leaving for a wushu conference in Indonesia with sports minister Dayasiri Jayasekara, Manel had promised Tiran he would return on the 15th, but came back only on the 17th. Coming for the anniversary celebration, Tiran went straight to Manel and took him to task in front of everyone present, “When did you say you would return? Are you doing a job or doing a joke? At office, what you do is chatting and uploading pictures on facebook, not finding advertisements. If you cannot complete the targets within the next month, you better stay at home from January 01.”

 

Alles is the local agent for France’s Alcatel, which is now looking for a new agent in Sri Lanka. He is about to mortgage his house to pay legal fees for the RADA case. However, he is continuing with the two newspapers as their closure will spell the end of his other businesses too. The only weapon he now has to strike deals with the government is ‘Mawbima’ and ‘Ceylon Today.’

 

On the anniversary day, Tiran had a discussion with the editorial members and advised the ‘Mawbima’ managing editor Thushara Gunaratne and others, “Get Upul to continue promoting Maithri in Guruda Vigrahaya. Now, let go of Rajapaksa. Try to get the Maithri boss anyhow. Whenever he goes abroad, go with him even at personal expense. Upul or you should go to Malta with the president in the coming days. (To Thushara and Upul) Continue deceiving Maithri in the same way Mahinda Rajapaksa was deceived,” the sources added.