Column

A  tourist or casual visitor to Sri Lanka may be impressed by the number of newspapers and magazines available in the news stands and the multiplicity of electronic media channels, as by the appearance of post-war normalcy. If by chance they pick up a copy of the Sunday Leader or The Island newspaper, or watch MTV’s News First programme, they will be reassured that a free media is alive and healthy in the country. Going by the election results, the government continues to enjoy a substantial majority support, and the journalist community is a part of that support.

However, there is also a less visible side of journalism in Sri Lanka, known best to more opposition-minded journalists. There is a fear that gives rise to caution and self censorship that is most visible to those in the field. International media watchdogs have been placing Sri Lanka at the top of the danger list for journalists. The most infamous case is that of Lasantha Wickrematunge, the founder editor of the Sunday Leader. He was shot dead by a motorbike squad in 2009. As he was a leading critic of the government, his assassination in a high security zone made it inevitable where the finger of suspicion would be pointed. More than two years later, his assassins remain at large.

Today more than two dozen Sri Lankan journalists are living abroad in exile. The list also includes former editors of mainstream newspapers.

The impunity with which journalists have been threatened, killed or disappeared has left them with no option after they either received threatening phone calls or were attacked in some way. Similarly, media institutions that take on a strongly oppositional stance have also been attacked. MTV was partially burnt down by an armed group in 2008. Lanka E News has suffered several attacks; one of its journalists disappeared in 2010 and was burnt down this year. In this case there were arrests, but trials or convictions.

One long term target has been Uthayan newspaper in Jaffna. Almost all of media houses and publications in Sri Lanka are  based in Colombo, with Jaffna being the only real exception. The Uthayan has been supportive of the demands of Tamil nationalism. On May 28, 2011, one of its journalist S Kavitharan was attacked and injured by an armed group. This incident took place despite tight military control over Jaffna. Over the past five years several of its management staff and journalists have also been killed. But till date no trials or convictions have taken place.

Such cases of violence and repeated threats that have affected journalists who take up critical stances against the government has led to a culture of self-censorship. This is especially true for the Sinhala language-based media, which caters to the government’s main electoral support base and which it seeks to protect. However, the elite English language press enjoys more freedom but they know their limits too. They all yearn for government advertisements as the government continues to play a dominant role in the economy of the nation. There is also an element  of unpredictability and few of the journalists and media owners are willing to test the limits.