CLASSIFIED | POLITICS | TERRORISM | OPINION | VIEWS

MEDIA IN SRI LANKA SHOULD TRY TO UNDERSTAND THE REALITY. CLASSIFYING INFORMATION IS NOT THE OPPRESSION OF EXPRESSION.

Noor Nizam. Lecturer in Communication Science Hamilton . Canada .

The agony of the Media Freedom and Freedom of Expression advocacy groups of being afraid of the anti-draconian Media Freedom laws these advocacy groups are imagining that the Secretary Defense in Sri Lanka may suggest the President to enact in parliament is very well understood.

Forces respecting Democracy and who are engaged in Media Freedom (Freedom of the Press) and the Freedom of Expression, will stand-up to oppose such moves by any governments. As an academic of the discipline of Communication Science, my analysis of the reality is that the Secretary of Defense of the Government of Sri Lanka is only suggesting that there is an immediate need to "CLASSIFY INFORMATION". You have to be "REAL" and the reality is - there is NO such draconian laws that the Secretary Defense Mr. Gotabhaya Rajapaksha is suggesting.

I am certain that the press pundits will accept and agree on this please. But the Media Companies thrive on speculative and sensitive news and publication Editors and News Room Editors are fully controlled when it comes to the “headlines” and the "content" of the news that has to be written. No journalist can deny this cardinal rule in the Media business. Not only are journalist subjected to this in small media companies in developing countries, but also CNN, CanWest Global, FOX, BBC, CBC REUTERS - you name them, and they apply this cardinal rule on journalists all over the world. They even tend to publish untrue stories, made-up stories or nearly speculative false news items.These guys are only controlled by a regulation/law called "CLASSIFIED INFORMATION" which when applied/decided by the authorities, prohibits them to publish such sensitive news.

What the Secretary Defense in Sri Lanka is suggesting is that, Sri Lankan needs laws to control the publication of certain sensitive military and official security information that can be detrimental to the interest of the State and it's Citizens. Well, the punishment for such violations is the need for "a criminal defamation law". It will only be a legal tool/instrument to maintain a check and balance of the violations. That is what the Secretary of Defense has very sincerely clarified in his statement to the Media itself. Talking about an ounce of the tendency of this government to abuse it's constitutionally-mandated privileges, there is no problem of any violations of such constitutionally-mandated privileges because, the Executive Presidency allows such actions in the governance of the country. If the constitution gives that powers/has vested that powers in the Executive Office of the Presidency, then why we bother now.

This was the situation of all Presidents since the establishment of the Executive Presidency in Sri Lanka - the greatest political murder of "DEMOCRACY" in Sri Lanka . But what the Secretary of Defense is attempting is to strengthen the underlying rationale of the work of the Civil and Political Rights Programme and to ensure that rights, formally established in existing national and international law, are respected in fact and able to be enjoyed by average citizens - the right to withhold "CLASSIFIED INFORMATION" and if required to induce "PRIVACY" Rights to the citizens in the interest of every citizen of the country, be it Tamils, Sinhalese, Muslims, Up-country Tamils and other communities.

The freedom of the Pen is as equal and serene as the Universal franchise - both "Constitutionally-mandated privileges", which the people in Sri Lanka enjoy even today. The action of the government to enable local elections in the East shows the governments respect and interest in exercising the "constitutionally-mandated privilege" of the people of the East and North East.

The overwhelming desire of all Tamils, Sinhalese, Muslims, Up-country Tamils and other communities to find a PEACEFUL RESOLUTION to the ethnic conflict with honour to the Tamil community and due consideration of the Muslim Factor underlines the strong existence for the respect of the "constitutionally-mandated privileges" in Sri Lanka. The Government of Sri Lanka has pledged the International Community to preserve and safeguard this Right of the people. But the freedom of the Pen cannot threaten the "SECURITY" of the country, just because journalists use it to write/express their thoughts, instincts and publish information via Media Companies under the pretext of "MEDIA/PRESS FREEDOM or FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION". They also cannot MISGUIDE the militants blindly towards violence as the ONLY resolution to the conflict.

The metaphors created by "NEWS" (messages) must have some parameters and mandatory governance of such journalistic action. The journalists should be responsible for what they write/publish. They cannot be governed by the market forces of news publication and the statistics of the sale figures of their publications or popularity of their Radio or TV programes/news programmes. They cannot be allowed to "castigate a government" for the sake of "hot news" and be allowed to "misguide" the militants with false hopes and allow the Diaspora of Sri Lankan to "go astray" from REALITY".

The Media Freedom, Press Freedom and Freedom of Expression advocacy groups should become "REAL", real to help bring PEACE to the ethnic conflict in Sri Lanka, not to get to sides, like in a "cock fight" and create "metaphors" or "encode message" in their content, (as more clearly explained in communication and media studies) that can be detrimental to PEACE in Sri Lanka.

The art of PEACE JOURNALISM is something that Sri Lankan Journalist should consider practicing in this scenario. The reality of the Secretary Defense of the Government of Sri Lanka in making the statement to the press is telling the media that "parameters" are needed in their code of journalism. Those parameters are called "CLASSIFIED INFORMATION". This is what the Secretary Defense suggests should be in place - not the "oppression of expression".

Noor Nizam.
Lecturer in Communication Science
Hamilton . Canada .
29.1.2008

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