By Noor Nizam. Sri Lankan Peace activist and freelance journalist, Canada.

July 5th., 2009.
The layman analytic statement about the media in Sri Lankan need much consideration by the citizens. Gotabhaya Rajapaksa a citizen and a government servant of Sri Lanka has a point when he said to the Daily Mirror financial timeƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢s journalist Ms. Cheranka Mendis:

ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ…-The media is often thought of being over critical of the actions of government officials, politicians and even the private sectorƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”š‚. ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ…-The media always likes to point out and harp on things we havenƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢t done, things we cannot do, our mistakes and our weaknesses; but they should also remember what has already been achieved, that we have a lot more to do, and we are trying to work accordingly,ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”š‚.

ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ The Secretary of Defence is not a communication specialist or a reporting journalist. He is a defence and military strategist who has shown the world the art of winning an armed confrontation with the worldƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢s most brutal and well equipped terrorist organization with a blend of humanitarian reach out and sophisticated military hardware. The LTTE is today proven to have deployed military hardware and indigenously manufactured weaponry and artillery, including under seawater logistic and assault crafts similar to small submarines, which has been lethargic, and beyond the imagination of even sovereign nations as small as the Maldives to own. However, the media never published what the armed forces captured from the LTTE while winning the war in Sri Lanka in May, or the stories told correctly. Not even the international media who had access to picking up news in Sri Lanka failed to publish such reports. They only published news items that were fully deceptive and totally lies. Only the Sri Lankan state media, that too, those, which had access to the news items, like the international press did publish some news stories. Nevertheless, patriotic Sri Lankan freelance journalists and writers never failed to counter the deceptions of the International media, with their stories and datelines that were true and respective of all norms of journalism.

ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ What was Gotabhaya then really saying about the media in Sri Lanka ?

ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ Did Gotabhaya mean that the media in Sri Lankan violated the Society of Professional Journalists (SPJ), Code of Ethics, which requires that journalists “clarify and explain news coverage and invite dialogue with the public over journalistic conduct”.ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ The SPJ code requires inter alia that headlines must not misrepresent, nor oversimplify, nor highlight incidents out of context.

ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ Did he mean that the local media along with the International media too belonged to the category of violators of such code of ethics.

ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ The Ethics Codes of many International and National Journalists Organizations clearly state that journalist should:

1. Write the facts as you see them.
2. A story without a source is a source of trouble.
3. A source is not a source when the story is based on rumour.
4. When in doubt, cut it out.
5. Prejudge no one.
6. Be objective.
7. Divorce comment from news and label it as such.
8. Commentators are not exempt from the duty to be accurate.
9. Never incite racial or religious division.
10. Enlighten, lest we fail to understand one another.

Members of the Society of Professional Journalists believe that public enlightenment is the forerunner of justice and the foundation of democracy. The duty of the journalist is to further those ends by seeking truth and providing a fair and comprehensive account of events and issues. Conscientious journalists from all media and specialties strive to serve the public with thoroughness and honesty. Professional integrity is the cornerstone of a journalist’s credibility. Members of the Society share a dedication to ethical behavior and adopt this code to declare the Society’s principles and standards of practice.

ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ The SPJ Code of Ethics is voluntarily embraced by thousands of writers, editors and other news professionals. The present version of the code was adopted by the 1996 SPJ National Convention, after months of study and debate among the Society’s members.

ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ In the absence of the media failing to respect its own code of conduct or ethics in Sri Lanka, there is a need for “check and balanceƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”š‚ to make clear that the media is also not above the “rule of law” in Sri Lanka. The media in Sri Lankan has to do a lot more andƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ how can they be helped to do so. Was it clear in what Gotabaya Rajapaksa said to the media itself ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ – that “We can do a lot more” and if the media is to do more, then the media has to be purged of journalistic professionalism that harms the media overall. The media needs a discipline of respecting its own professional code of conduct and ethics. It needs true professionalism of the journalist’s commitment to democracy. It does not need “deception” or “deceptive journalismƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”š‚. Will Sri Lanka ever be understood that the need to revoke the 1973 Press Council law once again is the need to legally safeguard the democratic image of journalism against the vultures of the noble profession who wish to continue to thrive by violating the cardinal rules of good journalism?

ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ The media has to learn to discipline itself far more than it is today. The Press Council law will indeed help a lot for good media journalism in Sri Lanka. If the media can believe in the words of a true Sri Lankan that “We can do a lot more, then the media can listen to Gotabaya Rajapaksa , a true Sri Lankan.