Sri Lankan media executive Chevaan Daniel has been elected vice-president of the Asia-Pacific Broadcasting Union, the first Sri Lankan to hold the post in the body’s 63-year history.
The ABU describes itself as the world’s largest broadcasting union, with around 225 media organisations across 66 countries in membership. It was established in 1964 and is headquartered in Kuala Lumpur, NewsFirst reported.
Daniel is Group Director of the Capital Maharaja Group, where he heads the group’s media and music business.
Elected at the Colombo assembly
The election comes during the 63rd ABU General Assembly, which Sri Lanka is hosting in Colombo. Technical and expert committee meetings opened at Cinnamon Life on 30 October, with the assembly formally inaugurated on Sunday, 1 November, as this desk reported.
At those opening sessions, ABU Secretary-General Ahmed Nadeem told delegates that audiences are shifting towards short-form and personalised content, and that broadcasters must innovate while protecting the credibility and cultural relevance of their output.
Not reported
The filing does not state the length of the vice-presidential term, who else stood or was elected to the union’s leadership at this assembly, or who holds the presidency. It does not give the date of the vote within the assembly programme.
One of those gaps is partly closed by a separate source. A preview of the assembly published by The Island on 1 November — before the vote — quotes Zhou Jihong in the standing capacity of “Vice President of ABU”, which indicates the union carries more than one vice-presidential post and that Daniel’s election is to one of several such seats rather than to a single office. The Island’s piece is a curtain-raiser on the General Assembly and does not report the election, so it is cited here in prose only and is not counted as corroboration for it; it is cited in full on this desk’s report on the assembly, where it also supplies the event’s theme and attendance.
Disclosure and sourcing
Readers should note that NewsFirst is part of the Capital Maharaja Group, of which Daniel is Group Director — the outlet is reporting on its own group’s senior executive. MTV Channels (Pvt) Ltd, also part of the group, is the assembly’s host broadcaster.
Single verified source. The election was carried by several Sri Lankan aggregator sites, but those do not count towards this desk’s credibility index, and no second verified newsroom filing was found. Ada Derana remains blocked to this desk. Given the ownership overlap above, corroboration from an unconnected newsroom would have been preferable and was sought.
