By Gamini Weerakoon

Ranil Wickremesinghe has pelted stones at Lanka’s demi-gods and the gods have taken to quite an ungodly act: pelting back not only stones but hurling mud, rumours and calumny against Ranil for his sacrilegious act. We feel inclined to raise at least one and a half cheers – instead of the full throated three – at Wickremesinghe’s performance for we do not go all the way with what he said.

We must confess that despite being a professional scribe loyal to the profession for a near half century, we were getting rather bored at the stuff coming out in the print media the whole of last year and quite annoyed at those performing in the Idiot Box.

Media narcissism?

Ever since the January 8 victory last year, we have been reading in the press and observing on TV vigorous chest-thumping and unrestrained self- acclaim about how ‘great we journalists and our institutions’ have been. It reminds of the tale of the ant telling the elephant on crossing the bridge: Boy, didn’t we rock that thing!

‘We toppled the ‘fascist regime’ when others were pulling their punches’, ‘We risked our lives to save democracy’, ‘Our motives were altruistic and in defence of the freedom of the media,’ etc. and were mainly responsible for the victory of the Yahapalanaya government. We have been treated to this media narcissism for the past year over and over again. And the paradox of it is that these mediaveerayas are now attempting to resurrect the buried fascist regime.

Being from a generation of scribes nurtured in a self-effacing tradition where modern day unabashed egoism was just repugnant (even by-lines being reserved for real scoops) we were getting cheesed-off with all this boasting.

Ranil’s attack on these demi-gods – the ‘Brahmin Clan’ spawned by their Maha ‘Brahma’ in Ranil’s words – was refreshing. Whether the real Brahmins, the elite of India for millennia and worshippers of Brahma would be offended at the Wickremesinghe comparison is another matter. But he had been kind to them by concentrating on their conduct of only the past year instead of going back in time for four to five years.

What were these doughty media heroes doing when following the ‘Great Victory of May 18, 2009’ when the LTTE was finally defeated by the armed forces?

Tens of thousands of servicemen perished but when President Mahinda Rajapaksa declared himself as the leader of the historic victory and threw the Commander of the Army, General Sarath Fonseka to jail, showed him in prison jumpers on TV, stripped him of his rank, pension and all military honours and had a military court to sentence him to jail, what did the present day media veerayas do?

What did they say and do when Chief Justice Shirani Bandaranayake was unceremoniously removed by a virtual Kangaroo Court? What were their comments when the Uthayan journalists were killed in cold blood, their office stormed and even set on fire?

There are far too numerous instances when gross acts of injustice were committed by the Pavul Palanaya to be recalled when today’s media heroes, now writing brave and pugnacious editorials against the Yahapalanayagovernment, were eating ‘pattis-cutlis’ at the highest table and guffawing at the jokes of Maha Brahma.

Pavul Palanaya andYahaplanaya

Did they ask: What is this Pavul Palanaya government doing just as much they are now asking: Is this Yasapalanaya?

We are not endorsing all what Ranil Wickremesinghe said in parliament. Some journalists and newspapers in those Pavul Palanaya times did produce reports unusually and extra-ordinarily balanced for the sake of credibility and to save their skins. But few dared to comment adversely under their names and most of them took cover by quoting statements made by opposition politicians. Very few journalists commented openly without fear.

The Sunday Leader was an outstanding exception and paid severe penalties for it including the life of its Chief Editor Lasantha Wickrematunge. Some others were compelled to flee abroad.

Illusive freedom?

In realistic terms it is naïve to expect Sri Lankan journalists to be idealistic freedom fighters uttering inanities such as ‘pen is mightier that the sword’ and taking on the dragons.
In the world of today there are only a few people who enjoy absolute freedom of the press: Those who own one.

In Sri Lanka the degree of press freedom or media freedom enjoyed by journalists is extremely limited even in the so called ‘Independent Media’ which in reality is the privately owned media.

Editors of some journals who now write about the freedom of the press with much eloquence are in fact employees of organisations whose chief executive officers have also been CEOs of part owned government organisations having drawn salaries/income as much as Rs. 10 million a month and their appointments were made by the Maha Brahma!

Were these appointments of inexperienced and unqualified made for the reason they controlled a press or for other reasons?

Others are unabashed torch bearers of the Maha Brahma, having supported pavul palanaya overtly or covertly all the time. Today editorials are querying: Is this Yahapalanaya by those who did not dare ask, is this Pavul Palanaya?

While true press freedom is something elusive to a Sri Lanka journalist, his degree of freedom will be determined on how free his organisation is from the shackles of government control.
Ranil Wickremesinghe also raised a very pertinent query. If journalists can query the conduct of politicians, the latter too has the right to query journalists.

Professional journalists of the press, it will be observed, do not often write under their names and instead we have ‘contributors’ writing in and saying how wonderful the journal is. Shouldn’t the great critics of the present government also express their opinions openly under their names instead of getting their minions and contributors to say how wonderful they are.

To expect Wickremesinghe to crack down on the media as many have claimed is unlikely. He, it will be recalled, was instrumental in abolishing the Criminal Defamation Law under which many Sri Lankan editors faced charges in the Supreme Court.

Wickremesinghe has done a good job in pricking and deflating the self- inflated egos of the media veerayas and ending their narcissism.

Courtesy:The Sunday Leader