Politics seems to become gradually violent again. A seminar held by the National People’s Power (NPP), the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP)-led coalition in Kalagedihena was attacked by a group of thugs with stones and eggs on January 30. Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) Member of the Colombo Municipal Council (CMC), Pradeep Jayewardene who is also the grandson of former President J.R. Jayewardene was attacked with chilli powder and rotten eggs at a committee meeting held on January 31.
The situation showed a trend and becoming more virulent when unidentified group attacked television journalist Chamuditha Samarawickrama’s house in Wewala, Piliyandala with interlock blocks and human excrement on February 14, causing significant damage to his residence.
Politics seems to be involved in all three attacks. The NPP seminar and Mr. Jayewardene were attacked apparently by those who are against their politics while Chamuditha seems to have targeted due to his TV programmes, most of which are political in nature. We at the outset, condemn this trend, no matter who were behind these attacks.
We, in Sri Lanka had a very unpleasant past with politics marred by violence and the journalism having become a very dangerous profession. A number of politicians were killed in the heart of the Capital in broad daylight. Many journalists in the south as well as north were killed, attacked and media houses in the north and south were torched. The main among them however was Lasantha Wickramatunga, the Editor of ‘Sunday Leader’ who was murdered on a main road. Another Editor Upali Tennakoon of ‘Rivira’ was also assaulted and it was later revealed that attackers had attempted to kill him too. Another senior journalist Keith Noyahr was abducted before being brutally assaulted. In the north Nimalarajan, a journalist attached to the BBC was gunned down. These are the most prominent attacks on journalists in the past but there were so many others reported and unreported.
A common feature in these attacks on journalists is the fact that those who planned these attacks have never been identified - let alone being taken to task. In some cases only those who were used to carry out those attacks have been identified. However, this very fact provided a clue about the planners of the attacks. It is after lull period of about 10 years that we have started to witness ghost attacks against politicians and journalists.
Though the investigations into the recent incidents are not over, the same hallmarks of ghostliness of the past are being faintly visible in the recent incidents as well. For instance, those who were captured red-handed and handed over to the police by the NPP supporters during the attack on the NPP meeting, have been simply sent home after being admitted to the Watupitiwala hospital.
Are we heading towards the same situation that prevailed some ten years ago? It is true that Chamuditha is a controversial journalist as his journalistic practices are being criticized even by some of his colleagues. He has been criticized for not being ethical in his interviews and other presentations. His method of questioning interviewees is aggressive and sometimes provocative. However, it does not provide anybody a licence to use violence against him. Everybody has the right to refuse to be interviewed by him or answer his questions, if he or she rejects his way of interviewing.
On the other hand, though we are not going to judge specifically the ethical standards adopted by Chamuditha, ethics is an inseparable quality of a professional journalist. It should be a prime component in his/her career. It is also important for the enhancement of the standard of journalism as a profession. It includes truth and accuracy in his/her writings which ensures credibility of the media and the journalist, fairness to sources and the subject persons, minimizing harm to the sources, subject persons and also to the journalist himself, independence of the journalist and accountability on the part of the journalist and the media. In short, ethics is nothing but discipline of the profession.
This process ultimately serves as a guardian of the standard of the profession and helps journalists to protect themselves from physical attacks – not totally but to some extent. Yet, ethics cannot be equated with cowardice. Media also has the social responsibility to expose corruption, mismanagement in governance and threats against democracy. This endeavour might invite physical threats. Ethics can only minimize it.
Nevertheless, corrupt politicians or any other powerful people and even terrorists can sometimes silence a journalist, but not the journalistic community as a whole. Sri Lankan journalists have proven this since 1980s to-date. The government has an obligation to expose the attackers, especially at a time when media freedom in the country is under scrutiny in Geneva and European Parliament, failing which it would have to take the responsibility for both attacks as well as the outcomes in Geneva and EU.
