{"id":61072,"date":"2016-12-03T01:51:02","date_gmt":"2016-12-03T08:51:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/?p=61072"},"modified":"2016-12-03T01:51:02","modified_gmt":"2016-12-03T08:51:02","slug":"the-anti-buddhist-crusade-of-sri-lankas-media","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/2016\/12\/03\/the-anti-buddhist-crusade-of-sri-lankas-media\/","title":{"rendered":"The anti-Buddhist crusade of Sri Lanka’s media"},"content":{"rendered":"

Senaka Weeraratna<\/strong><\/em><\/span><\/h2>\n

The Lake House Newspaper group was established by a well-known Buddhist, D.R. Wijewardena. But recently under government control, it has been hijacked by anti Buddhist forces. The state owned flagship press Lake House acting as the spokesperson for the Government engages in a well-orchestrated campaign against the dominant religio-cultural base of the society. Buddhists are a clear minority on the editorial staff of both the ‘Daily News’ and ‘Sunday Observer’.<\/p>\n

The Editor in Chief of the ‘Daily News’ – Lalith Alahakone ( Christian)<\/p>\n

The Editor in Chief of the ‘ Sunday Observer’ – Lakshman Gunasekera ( Christian ).<\/p>\n

Lakshman Gunasekera was the Editor of the ‘Sunday Observer’ when it published an article by Asif Husain in the\u00a0Jan. 6\/2002 Edition alleging that the Sacred Tooth Relic was a fake made of ivory and implying that a fraud was being committed on the public by the Dalada Maligawa.<\/p>\n

Following the publication of this highly offensive article to the Buddhists a\u00a0large delegation of Bhikkhus and lay persons representing Buddhist organisations lodged a strong and vehement protest in January 2002 with the then Acting Chairman of Lake House, Kumar Abeysinghe, General Manager B. A. Jinadasa and Editors of the newspapers of the Associated Newspapers of Ceylon, at the anti-Buddhistic and anti-national crusade of the English newspapers of Lake House and their unbridled Christianisation.<\/p>\n

The delegation expressed anguish and sadness at the deliberate denigration of Buddhism and its most revered and sacred relic venerated here and worldwide.<\/p>\n

Though it was stated by the Lake House management that the offending copies were withdrawn from circulation, some copies were found distributed in Ratnapura and Moneragala. In fact, the Ven. Maduluwawe Sobhita Maha Thera who was on the delegation said that he got a copy of this Newspaper from Moneragala.<\/p>\n

The delegation further pointed out to the mystery of the article getting into the Internet.<\/p>\n

Among the 12 bhikkhus present were: Ven. Dr. Bellanwila Wimalaratane Nayake Thero, and Theros Ven. Maduluwawe Sobhitha, Ven. Muruttettuwe Ananda, Ven. Kotapola Amarakirthi Nayake Thero, Ven. Bengamuwe Nalaka Nayake Thero, Ven. Weligamuwe Dhammissara and Hiniyawala Palitha Thero.<\/p>\n

Among the lay persons were Noel Wijenaike (President, YMBA), M. M. P. Senaratne (Secretary, Mahabodhi Society), Mrs. Indrani Devendra and Mrs. Clodagh Fernando (ACWBC), Arjuna Amerasekera (Lanka Bauddha Sanrakshana Sabhawa) and Senaka Weeraratna (Secretary, German Dharmaduta Society).<\/p>\n

The delegation demanded that the Editor of the Sunday Observer, Lakshman Gunasekera, and all those responsible for the publication of the article including Asif Husain, the writer of the article, be removed from their posts.<\/p>\n

The then Chairman of Lake House, Kumar Abeysinghe assured the delegation that an unqualified apology would be published in the following week-end\u2019s Sunday Observer.<\/p>\n

He said that the writer of the article Asif Husain had been interdicted and stern action would be taken against all those responsible after the Committee of Inquiry completed its work. Its findings will be made public in a day or two, the acting Chairman said in responding to a query made by Ven. Palitha.<\/p>\n

The Ven. Bellanwila Wimalaratane and the Ven. Maduluwawe Sobhitha emphasised that this article does not appear to be the work of one person, but it was part of a larger conspiracy to denigrate and devalue Buddhism and bring it to public ridicule.<\/p>\n

It is unacceptable that Lake House built by a Buddhist pioneer, should be transformed into an anti-Buddhist institution, they said.<\/p>\n

A collection of articles denigrating Buddhism was handed over to the acting Chairman.<\/p>\n

Senaka Weeraratna \u00a0said that this was not an isolated incident. It showed a concerted and consistent \u00a0pattern of conduct of the English language newspapers in recent years which pointed to an highly organised campaign to ridicule, mock, bring to disrepute Buddhism, diminish its value and side-track Buddhism related themes in the content of its publications. He drew attention to the Press Commission Report of Mr. K.D.. de Silva ( 1964) which has stated as follows:<\/p>\n

” The Press is an instrument which is primarily meant to serve the real interests of a country. It can also be misused. If we were not satisfied that the newspapers of the Lake House and the Times groups were guilty of anti -national and anti – Buddhist conduct on a large scale, we would not have recommended a drastic change in the ownership of<\/em> the newspapers belonging to these groups. From the evidence placed before us we are satisfied that the existing newspapers did not hesitate to fabricate, suppress, slant or distort news and views whenever it suited them. They have been further guilty of anti \u2014 national and anti – Buddhist activities, which are more serious than the earlier mentioned lapses on their part. Indeed, the most vehement critics of the present activities of the Press were the Buddhists and some of their organisations, and we are satisfied that their grievances are genuine and should be removed.<\/p>\n

Buddhist leaders have been falsely accused of being intolerant. Their hopes and ambitions receive scant consideration, and the rightful place due to their religion has being denied to it by the newspapers. This has been deliberately done in order to help the minorities, in particular, the Christian minorities, to perpetuate the unjust privileges acquired by them during the last four centuries at the expense of the Buddhist Majority. ”<\/p>\n

Paragraph 212, Page 90 Final Report of the Press Commission (1964)<\/p>\n

https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/2014\/05\/04\/the-press-commission-report-1964-some-extracts-and-a-brief-commentary\/<\/a><\/p>\n

The Sunday Observer of Oct. 21, 2001 ( Editor – Lakshman Gunasekera) had carried a letter by B. F. Perera of the M. R. I. which questioned the authenticity of the Tooth relic and had requested a public debate on the subject, he said. Mr. Perera had said that only fanatical Buddhists worship the Tooth Relic.<\/p>\n

Indrani Devendra and Clodagh Fernando said that in the past they found it very difficult to get a Buddhist article published in the Lake House English newspapers. The ACWBC had even gone before the Press Complaints Commission and complained. They said that an article on Marie Museaus Higgins was cut up into five pieces and published in the ‘Daily News’, thereby destroying its impact on the readers.<\/p>\n

Arjuna Amerasekera said that the tolerance of the Sinhala Buddhists has been tested to the maximum by Lake House. Before this, the ‘Sunday Observer’ carried a letter which said that the Tooth Relic was that of an animal and not of human origin. He too pointed to a sustained conspiracy against Buddhism.<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. A. Jinadasa, the General Manager of the Lake House, pointed out that the constitution of the BBC stipulates that the BBC should not challenge or say anything offensive against the British Crown or against Christianity.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    In Sri Lanka, in contrast, ‘Buddhism Bashing’ is a favourite pastime of the Christian controlled press.\u00a0 A content analysis would bring this out very clearly.<\/p>\n

    Members of the delegation demanded that similar standards imposed on the BBC should be established and observed in Sri Lanka.<\/p>\n

    Kumar Abeysinghe said that he would immediately meet all Lake House editors and impress on them the seriousness of refraining from defaming or ridiculing any religion.<\/p>\n

    http:\/\/www.island.lk\/2002\/01\/20\/<\/a><\/p>\n

    Through a content analysis study by informed researchers following this incident, several ways through which the anti – Buddhist campaign by the media was conducted were identified in the study as follows:<\/p>\n

    1) ‘Daily News’ and the ‘Sunday Observer’ do not give any prominence on its main pages on anything highlighting the Buddhist revival movement or Sinhalese nationalism.<\/p>\n

    2) Features on Christianity are given full prominence and even trifling events such as school shows, birth\/death anniversaries of saints, and wonder-workers are lavishly displayed with color pictures for emphasis; in contrast, Buddhist articles on Poya Days – are relegated to supplements. Astonishingly, some of these articles are written by nonBuddhists and are full of innuendo that \u2018true Buddhism\u2019 is non existent in Sri Lanka e.g. writings of one K.K.S. Perera who consistently ridicule Buddhism and Buddhist festivals e.g. Vesak, and Tradition and Rituals such as the Kathina Pinkama, are regularly published in the Lake House Newspapers, Sunday Times, Daily Mirror etc.<\/p>\n

    Indeed the last mentioned theme is monotonously interwoven into the regular political columns published in the center \u2013 pages of the Daily News \u00a0and Sunday Observer. Revered leaders of the Buddhist revival movement in contemporary Sri Lanka are insulted and reviled as \u2018extremists \u2018 who are a disgrace to \u2018true Buddhism\u2019; A strict censorship is in force that makes any patriotic statement by a Sinhala Buddhist or Buddhist organisation unacceptable for publication.<\/p>\n

    3) On the contrary, any inflammatory message promoting the\u00a0exaggerated<\/em>\u00a0and largely unfounded claims and rights of non-Buddhist minorities is given wide prominence; and the views of Christian and Muslim leaders \u2013 representing a mere 7 % and 10% of the population respectively \u2013 regularly make the headlines. This unique situation is contrasted with the mainstream press in predominantly Islamic countries where the Government gains power through Muslim votes, would not consistently denigrate Islamic culture, and in the liberal Christian West with a largely wide ranging free press there is no reported instance of the dominant Christian culture being treated with ridicule, scorn and contempt by newspapers.<\/p>\n

    There is a huge need for the establishment of another Press Commission along the lines of the K.D. de Silva Commission which was set up more than 50 years ( in 1963) by Mrs. Sirima Bandaranaike’s Government to inquire and report on Buddhist grievances, among other things, concerning the manipulation of the media to carry out an anti – Buddhist agenda.<\/p>\n

    See also<\/p>\n

    Anti – Buddhist Media and Myanmar<\/p>\n

    http:\/\/buddhistchannel.tv\/index.php?id=51,13031,0,0,1,0#.WEGCvbnluUk<\/a><\/p>\n

    Senaka Weeraratna<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    Senaka Weeraratna The Lake House Newspaper group was established by a well-known Buddhist, D.R. Wijewardena. But recently under government control, it has been hijacked by anti Buddhist forces. The state owned flagship press Lake House acting as the spokesperson for the Government engages in a well-orchestrated campaign against the dominant religio-cultural base of the society. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-61072","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-buddhism"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/61072","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=61072"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/61072\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=61072"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=61072"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=61072"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}