Sri Lanka mourns veteran Catholic broadcaster

Former Veritas Radio and BBC journalist Elmo Fernando dies at age 75.

Colombo:  Veteran Catholic Sri Lankan journalist and respected radio announcer Elmo Fernando has died at age 75.

The senior radio journalist, who once worked for Catholic radio station Radio Veritas in the Philippines for several years, died at his home in Colombo on Aug. 11.

Fernando, whose career spanned nearly five decades, made his name as a popular announcer and producer with Radio Ceylon, which he joined in 1967 before joining Radio Veritas in 1984.

He later joined the BBC in 1994 and served as its Colombo correspondent for over 20 years.

"Elmo was a very trustworthy journalist as a BBC correspondent and with Radio Veritas in Manila, always proclaiming the truth, Father Reid Shelton Fernando, a Catholic priest from Colombo Archdiocese told ucanews.com.

"He avidly covered rights issues even during the civil war," Father Fernando said.

"I thank God for the wonderful work he did as a media person for professing the truth," he added.

Nalin Sujeewa Perera, a young journalist in Colombo said Fernando was a teacher and inspiration to many Sri Lankan journalists.

"He shared his knowledge and experience anytime and advised young journalists to respect professional ethics," he said.

"Everybody recognized his voice. He gained immense popularity by presenting news reports for the BBC," he said.

"Fernando was an investigative journalist who covered allegations of bribery and corruption, abuse of power and human rights violations which saw thousands of people tuning in their radios to listen to his broadcasts during the war,” Perera said.

Mark Anton Fernando,74, a retired Catholic teacher from Chilaw said that the late journalist was an excellent newsreader for Radio Ceylon and the BBC.

"He was also a good Catholic and used to work for the church and voiceless people," he said.

President Maithripala Sirisena offered condolences to Fernando’s family after hearing of the broadcaster’s death.

His funeral was held on Aug. 11 at Pelawatte Roman Catholic Church Cemetery which was attended by a large number of media people.

Source: UCAN