Comments are sacred and facts must be distorted
| by Pearl Thevanayagam
(January 21, 2013, London, Sri Lanka Guardian) This too will blow over. Subverting the course of justice is a serious crime deserving the ultimate punishment by all norms; democratic or otherwise. But subverting the course of justice by a Head of State is considered patriotism! Welcome to Sri Lanka, a unique island which boasts of magical beauty and natural splendour. Magic is the operative word.
While world media is turning 360 degrees and focussing once more on Algeria which caused the Arab Spring with a fruit vendor setting himself ablaze in protest against his government’s handling of the economy, there is hardly a raised eyebrow for what is happening in our country.
International media has the lifespan of a gnat when it comes to current affairs and what with communication narrowed down to nano-seconds, immediacy is paramount to reporting. The four decade old protracted ethnic war which ended three years ago is history for all intents and purposes.
Closer home, AFP (Agence France Presse) in Colombo and Island newspaper are patting themselves on the back that no-one can touch their King Mahinda Rajapaksa. Amal Jayasinghe of the AFP is HMV(His Master’s Voice). No less than the WSJ (Wall Street Journal) which commands much respect from US politicians and which reflects North American psyche.was critical of the SL government in the impeachment of CJ Bandaranayake.
If WSJ sends out a warning, rest assured SL govt. is up for scrutiny and there’s no beating about the bush or flaying the West as conspirators against developing nations. As Obama is being inducted as President for his second term, he is not exactly tossing and turning his head in bed about the shenanigans in sunny Sri Lanka where President Rajapaksa is going his sweet merry way scoffing all norms and inducting his plum choice Mohan Peiris as Chief Justice following the summary impeachment of Mrs Shirani Bandaranayake.
Fourth Estate is the cheapest commodity in Sri Lankan market and even journalists with integrity are bought over or intimidated by the powers that be - to the point that self-censorship is indelibly written into the tenets of Sri Lankan journalism. Compare our scribes to Indian journalists who brought Rajiv Gandhi’s government down following Bofors scandal.
Have Sri Lankan journalists compromised their ethics and fallen victim to gains offered as bribes by the government? Many a journalist is now disinformation counsellor in foreign missions sans foreign service experience.
Island editor Manik de Silva has the knack for prevaricating and he is a dab-hand at backing the winning horse and is brainwashed into genuflecting before the powers that be. It is indeed difficult to indulge in independent thinking when your bread is buttered and jam-sandwiched for well over four decades at the establishment of Lake House; the epicentre of government propagandist spin-machine. Although a veteran journalist with a desire to tell the truth he is hamstrung by the arm-twisting tactics of successive governments. His protégée is none other than Amal Jayasinghe of AFP.
AFP says no-one can touch MR despite the West’s hue and cry over the impeachment of Ms Bandaranayake the Chief Justice. It goes further and boasts that the more the West rallies against the president the more audacious he gets as he has support from grassroots.
‘Facts are sacred; comment is free’ is the dictum by which the respected founder of Guardian, C.P.Scott, guided his journalists and to this day Guardian strives to maintain this status quo. In Sri Lanka, on the other hand, comments are sacred especially when uttered by politicians and facts should be doctored to please the regime.
Many intrepid and honest journalists paid with their lives for uttering things against the government and many more have been harassed, assaulted and kidnapped that journalists are fleeing the country or have fled forfeiting the comfort of their family, friends and relatives back home.
The survival in SL media depends on making a lot of compromise and the first is distorting facts utilising skills of writing learnt through experience, training and education. It is indeed sad that journalists are now mere pawns in the hands of the government or businesses which own the media houses since they are paid a pittance and they are forced into subservience for sheer survival.
The way forward is to rally round and provide journalists with a decent pension and remuneration as befits a profession which has the power to make or break governments and not pander to their whims and fancies.
(The writer has been a journalist for 23 years and worked at Weekend, Daily News, Sunday Leader and Weekend Express in Sri Lanka as sub-editor, news reporter and news editor. She was Colombo Correspondent for Times of India and has contributed to Wall Street Journal; Washington Bureau, where she was on work experience from The Graduate School of Journalism, UC Berkeley, California. Currently residing in UK she is also co-founder of EJN (Exiled Journalists Network) UK in 2005 the membership of which is 200 from 40 countries. She can be reached at pearltheva@hotmail.com)
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