Media Freedom Hijacked
by Politicians and Their Kith and Kin
Dilrook Kannangara
Stories are abound from times immemorial how drought aid, flood aid
and later tsunami aid was robbed by the kith and kin of politicos. The
strange thing is they are well to do people robbing what was meant for
the poor and the desperate. The plight of the private media is same.
In 1994 ‘media freedom’ was granted after a long lapse. It
was a sudden decision as promised in the election manifesto and the
government at the time didn’t realize the change that has taken
place for approximately 30 years. There was no media policy; no media
guidelines and no planning. This is in wide contrast to other democratic
countries. A few private media institutions grabbed what was given to
trumpet the praises of their favored politicians and their other business
interests. As usual the public went empty handed.
It is a great irony that still a very few seem to understand that media
freedom is a right of the people as opposed to media men and media moguls.
The task of mass media is to inform the public of the happenings, etc.
as it is while respecting the law, customs, ethics and guidelines.
Why media should follow the law?
As mentioned above, media freedom is a right of the people. Therefore
all media are duty bound to honor the law enacted by the people through
their representatives. Unfortunately, some Sri Lankan media men/women
and media moguls consider them above the law. This has deteriorated
to such an extent that some of them target law enforcing authorities
in order to pressurize them not to do their duty as expected of them!
Some other media support causes that are against the law. This is not
at all acceptable in a civilized society. Differing political ideologies
is one thing, violating the law is another. Therefore, promoting a different
election system or a federal system is okay, but promoting Tamil Elam
is not. Since, most Sri Lankan private media are controlled by politicians
and their henchmen, they follow the politician who in most cases has
no regard for the law.
All media institutions and media men must be compelled to follow the
law; they should be reminded that they can never be ranked above the
law. Alternative political views may only be expressed to the extent
that they do not contravene the law, customs and Sri Lankan values.
All news items, programmes and conduct must be in line with these. Contravention
of the law, belittling the provisions of the law and destructive criticism
of the country’s justice resolution system should be punished at
all times.
Media should not be the trumpets of the government; neither should they
be the trumpets of the main opposition! The task of the state media
is a completely different function and in almost all democratic countries
there are state media that provides a media outlet for the government.
All state media around the world support the government cause to different
degrees. Therefore, the problem lies not in the government controlled
media, but, rather in the private controlled media.
In addition some journos openly carryout the public terrorising campaign
of the LTTE. What would have happened to them had they been in the US,
UK or any other country with media freedom? Surely they would have ended
up in jail. Their situation in Singapore, Malaysia or Dubai would have
been worse.
Wickremasinghes’ media
DR Wijewardena was not a politician, but a media mogul. Of course he
had his political affiliations. When the Wickremasinghes married into
that family, their media institutions became subtle but strong political
tools. Today the Wicremasinghes run at least four (4) national newspapers,
at least three (3) radio stations and a TV station. This is all together
eight (8) media devices! These have been the backbone of Ranil Wicremasinghe’s
perpetual existence in politics in spite of his monumentally unsuccessful
record. This has spelt doom for the UNP; its capable leaders are humiliated
by the Wickremasinghe media and as a result a political loser continues
to hold on to power in the party leading it to political brevity. Ownership
of these institutions must be broad-based disallowing any family or
group of individuals to keep their stranglehold in the media.
De Facto UNP leader’s media
The de facto UNP leader runs at least three (3) national newspapers.
These are completely biased towards the UNP and supports the longest
standing Opposition Leader. They also glorify the LTTE leader as a matter
of bounded duty. These media were used to carry out most scathing and
uncivilized attacks on political opponents of the UNP. Their conduct
warrants a strict media guidance mechanism.
Raja’s media
A completely unpatriotic and sometimes illegal conduct is displayed
by these media that consist of at least seven (7) electronic media.
This is a huge media empire that openly supports the LTTE’s separatist
cause. There is no need whatsoever for Sri Lanka to set an example to
other countries in tolerating enemy-terrorist media; Sri Lanka is the
only country that harbours an enemy media empire within the state itself
and this deterioration of national interests must stop now. Given the
widespread popularity of the media owing to popular programs and catchy
themes, it is more productive to divert the ownership to a large number
of shareholders.
Soma’s media
Another set of media run by unscrupulous business tycoons. They have
at least seven (7) electronic media outlets and also in support of the
UNP to varying degrees. In an extreme case of abuse, they banned the
JVP from participating in debates in their media. The owners had multiple
criminal charges over the years. The time when brothels were running
behind jeweler shops is gone, but the culprits are now hiding behind
the searchlight so that no one can see them. Ownership should be broad-based
so that no political henchman could dictate what people see and hear
on their TVs and radios.
Other UNP activists’ media
There are many other electronic and print media run by UNP activists
who also have many criminal charges against them. The recently banned
ABC network had Duminda Silva - a UNP political organizer - in effect
as their patron! This type of media scavenging must come to an end.
That is more than 27 media institutions trumpeting for one big unpatriotic
political loser with no fatherly love for the nation’s children
nor any concern for the fatherland!
In addition, there is a handful of more or less free media that do not
do the dirty work of the UNP, SLFP or any other political group.
It is clear from the above that our media industry needs a complete
overhaul. The national public opinion should not be formulated by these
crooks! It is acceptable a political party running a media institution,
but the number per each political group should be restricted and the
fact that they are aligned to one party must be stated clearly.
The need for a free media
The need for a free mass media is felt as never before. In order to
bring about that we need guidelines that control the ownership of media
institutions, control the conduct of such media and journalists and
sever political affiliations.
Media ownership must be broad based
No family, individual or a group of individuals should be allowed to
own media institutions. Instead their ownership must be broad based.
This will eliminate the family domination of the public opinion.
Media should support national development
This is something that lacks most in the local media. All government,
private sector, NGO development work should be promoted by the media
provided they are in the national interests and not in sectarian interests.
Media monitoring
A regulator should be appointed to look into the conduct of each media
institution, especially their independence. Where it is in doubt, corrective
action should be taken by the regulator which also includes punishing
the perpetrators. Sri Lankan media policy should align to that of other
Asian countries and not European/American/African countries. Religious
leaders, especially national Buddhist leaders must be consulted from
time to time on their views on each media and corrective action must
be taken by the regulator. In all industries there are different regulations
and media industry in Sri Lanka badly needs one.
State media
Guidelines on the use of the state media should be made; state media
should only be used to air the views of the government and not the governing
political party. Disproportionate canvassing for the governing political
party must be banned on state media.
Free media is a right of the people and not a right of media men, media
moguls and media institutions. Media guidelines should emphasise this
very clearly. Any robbery of this right belonging to the people must
be punished severely. Media industry should not be seen as any other
business due to its ability to shape the public opinion. If a particular
media institution has become a dreaded enemy of the state, the law and
national interests, there is no justification for their existence just
because they have a base of listeners, readers or viewers. The ‘money
can buy everything’ should not apply to public opinion which should
never be allowed to be bought by the money power of media moguls and
politicians.
|
