MEDIA AND THE LTTE
DR ASELA KARUNANAYAKE
A war without declaration is the best description that could be given
to the situation in Sri Lanka. The LTTE is doing its utmost to create
chaos and terror with its brutal murderous tactics in the country with
the idea of dividing it, yet pretend to be the one taking the Gandhian
pathway! The world is made to believe this lie and they do it very successfully.
The victim is made to look like the predator and is also blamed for
all the events to follow. The massive and effective media net work of
the LTTE terrorists has made a wonderful impact on the whole world and
are covering up what ever dirty work they are up to. The terrorists
who continue to make use of suicide bombers and show no regard to human
life are being uplifted to position of a recognizable group and the
world leaders are deceived to negotiate with them. A legitimate government
is forced to bow down to the demands of the terrorists by these bias
international powers. This is the result of the good work of the terrorist
media units and the weak non focused and ineffective methods of the
others. The terrorist media has been manipulating and influencing the
local and world opinion to their advantage.
Media plays a key role in any conflict situation. It has the major task
of creating a positive mentality among the people, keeping the friends
happy, make sure the rest of the world stays interested in the conflict
but ensure that they do not bring down a negative impact on the issue
and make sure the moral of the enemy is very low. This was seen in all
the major wars in the world over and it has been proved that the media
played a vital part in the outcome of these wars.
Sri Lanka faces a very delicate situation that can potentially end up
in the division of the country. Few media men seems to understand the
gravity of this and work towards saving the country while some have
become boot licking bone sucking slave dogs to their employers or their
Dollar masters and continue to support the enemy. Others who are fool
hardy try to impress the world by criticizing their own, expecting the
label “Independent journalists”!! This is a trendy fashion
these days which brings immense benefits from the enemy as well as the
organizations who wants conflicts to prevail for their existence.
The psychological impact media can create within a community is huge
and it is the psychology of the people that wins wars. For a country
to win a war or gain advantage over a destructive element, the people
should be motivated and convinced that it is a needy and an achievable
target that is worth fighting for. It is the duty of the media men to
generate patriotism among the masses, motivate and boost the moral of
the military men who would guard the nation from the enemy. We need
to ask ourselves whether we have done our duty. Unfortunately we have
been badly out played by the enemy.
It is sad to note that our media men have swallowed the bait of the
enemy and has played to their tune. They are being manipulated and hypnotized
by the LTTE propaganda units and willingly or unwillingly are being
made to act against their own kind. Take for instance the style of addressing
the tiger terrorist carders- calling a bunch of gun trotting, trigger
happy murderers by ranks of army officers. The use of the names of military
ranks when referring to terrorists as Colonel aaa Major bbb Captain
ccc is never practiced anywhere in the world and amounts to contempt
of military honor. This is just blind copying of the nomenclature of
the terrorist media. It has been so commonly practiced by our media
and has created a situation such that aaa is always referred as Colonel
aaa and bbb always as Major bbb and ccc always as Captain ccc by the
people and the rest of the world.
Strategy of the LTTE media units is commendable. They are never ever
seen calling their breakaway carders by military ranks and they are
referred to as traitors! The LTTE media almost always avoid mentioning
the work of their opponents or breakaway carders so that the world forgets
their existence-(boost up their claim to be the sole representative
of the Tamils). If they really have to mention the break-away groups,
always add a phrase to link up the government with them-(strategy to
discredit the government for use of paramilitary groups). They very
rarely call the proper officers of the SL army by their ranks and even
the President of Sri Lanka is hardly ever called President Mahinda Rajapaksa.
The LTTE media just ignore the news pertaining to the government or
southern part of the island which is often referred to as the enemy
and only publish their mistakes and lies fabricated to discredit it.
They maintain absolute silence on the crimes committed by the LTTE and
even deny such incidences. This strategy is very effective and has even
made the world sympathetic towards the LTTE.
There are so many words that we “copy” or ‘borrow “
from the LTTE media which are designed to glorify their men and cause.
“Elite Commandos of LTTE”, “LTTE Political Commission”,
LTTE Police Commissioner or Division, “Border districts” are
a few among a many more. By continuing to copy and use these LTTE made
words we let them use our media to boost up the image and the moral
of the enemy and also create a inflated picture of the LTTE among the
general public. The world is made to believe that the LTTE has functionally
and officially got a administrative and a defense structure that is
recognized by the government and the people.
Recently a key media personal had walked away from a official function
when a government minister walked in, in protest of the killing of Uthayan
staff. This probably was done to gain cheap popularity and recognition
to boost up his and his followers personal image. He must have been
hoping to be recognized as a “Brave journalist who will stand up
against intimidation”. At a time when the real culprits of that
crime are not yet known, such coward acts could only attribute the responsibility
to the government, and create an embarrassing situation for the image
of Sri Lanka. What he does not know is that the Uthayan attack was most
probably done by the LTTE themselves as a “punishment” for
Uthayan interviewing President Rajapaksa and wanted to make the government
be responsible for that incident in the face of the International Community.
The irony is that spineless cardboard heroes only perform such acts
in and around Colombo and they will not do such an act in the presence
of LTTE men or LTTE sponsored meetings or will not even raise a question
in a press conference called by the LTTE. Such “brave men”
have not uttered a word about the massacres done by the terrorists or
protested against the child recruitments or voiced concern over suicide
bombings!
Time has come for all media men of Sri Lanka to think seriously of their
strategy. Please shed away your personal gains, loyalties to Dollars
and think clear. Your motherland is in need of your help. She is pleading
to you to help her out of the jaws of the terrorists and you may never
get another chance. Please use your pen to save Sri Lanka. Make your
pen talk to the children to love their country. Tell your brothers and
sisters about the need to protect their country, tell your mothers and
fathers to support you in saving the motherland and show the nation
the way to emerge victorious in this battle against the curse of terrorism
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