by Pearl Thevanayagam
(April 04, London, Sri Lanka Guardian) Somebody from somewhere finally thought of the wisdom to restore the lost reputation of Daily News since veteran journalist Manik de Silva left to take over the editorship of the Island. In appointing Lynn Ockersz as its editor Lake House has gained some of its lost glory.
If Lake House never had independence in reporting at least its literary standard was of the highest calibre in the whole of the island until 20 years ago. Then some rot set in and we see an alarmingly deteriorating quality of languages. Whether it is due to the general deterioration of educationalstandards in schools nationwide or not these institutions are incapable of producing quality journalists.
An unassuming and very erudite journalist in the calibre of the now departed Leslie Dahanaike and Ajith Samaranayake Lynn has the onerous task of restoring dignity of media ethics pitched against government dictate which is absolutely certain to present him with many challenges. How he will balance his integrity and at the same time play to the gallery which is the State baffles me.
Daily News has had some jokers such as Geoff Wijesinghe, Dinesh Weerawansa ( a sports correspondent) and Pramod De Silva as editorial heads who although quite intelligent but groomed and brainwashed to cover Presidents as they came and went, their natural intellect was obscured by fear and blind faith in the ruling regimes.
Lake House is still the State organ although it is run by a Board of Trustees and reputed to be only part-owned by the State. The truth is, it is the propaganda machine for the ruling power. The dictum at Lake House is do nothing in the way of investigative journalism, say nothing against ruling politicians, do what you are told and your job is safe. And always write sunshine stories about the President and his cabinet of ministers as my former news editor Aaron would always drum into my ears.
Some 70 percent of the journalists at Lake House including those who recently received awards for long-standing service remain mute servants of the state and hardly exercise their journalistic integrity or independence.
Those who dare to breach the rules of Lake House soon find themselves personae non grata and moved to inactive areas of journalism such as editorial consultancy ( a vague position with no real authority), features desk or culture where you can hardly cause controversy.
It was the late Bonnie Fernando (sub-editor, photojournalist and media lecturer at Lake House who mentored many an up and coming journalist including yours truly) who once told me that subscribers order Daily News and Observer out of habit or else they would suffer constipation. These are daily laxatives. Even when the war is raging in the North and East or the JVP rebellion causing bodies to float down the many rivers of the island these stories are played down or not reported at all so that the middle-class are not traumatised by the horrors of real life.
Many buy these newspapers for the obituaries and the advertisements. For any worthy news they
look to the independent media. And we al know what happens to independent media when they step out of line.
But Lake House pays its employees fat bonuses and ever-increasing salaries much to the disappointment of those who work for the independent media. Also freebies in the form of favours such as houses, telephone lines without being on the waiting list and other monetary perks are what make Journalists at Lake House tolerate writing sycophantic and often outright lies about their paymasters aka the government and defamatory articles about opposing politicians.
How Lake House could be redeemed from the clutches of the State’s claws is a conundrum which is hard to discern and who will undertake to challenge the State’s dominance over is even more daunting. Has any presidential candidate ever pledged to broad-base Lake House and its siblings the Rupavahini and the SLBC?
State media institutions need to be rescued from state monopoly and placed entirely at the hands of the journalists with possibly an independent media commission comprising media personnel elected by popular vote from across our media institutions both independent and State- managed.
The media commission should have the independence of monitoring violations of media ethics and abuse of journalistic powers sand subject these abuses to be brought before the court of justice like any other crimes.
There are two crucial issues affecting the standard of journalism in this country. One is proficiency in languages and the other is media suppression. With technology one is able to overcome the paucity of language proficiency. But media freedom needs to be upheld through sustained campaigns and
wresting free of self-imposed censorship.
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