The blurred line between ratings and ethical reporting

In fact, the golden rule in any criminal procedure is that a suspect remains innocent until proven guilty

It has now become a norm to have extremely sensitive videos, either of fatal road accidents, CCTV footage of robberies, murders and various other crimes aired on mainstream media. What is even more disturbing is that these videos can now be uploaded to social media platforms, and users have the chance to watch them on repeat. 
The recent saga over the arrest of the main suspect who gunned down the Weligama Pradeshiya Sabha Chairman speaks volumes about the danger associated with revealing faces of suspects and members of the general public who assist the police in such instances. 
Immediately after this incident, Former President of the Bar Association and  Sri Lanka President’s Counsel Saliya Pieris  emphasised in a social media post that arrests and criminal investigations must be carried out strictly in accordance with the procedure established by law. He stated that parading suspects before the media, obtaining voice cuts from them, and circulating those clips on media and social media platforms may thrill certain sections of the public, but will not help the prosecution once the trial begins. 
He said that such ‘childish acts’ fail to enhance the image of the Police and are ultimately counterproductive. Further criticising these actions, legal experts have highlighted that suspects who are to be produced before an identification parade under Section 124 of the Code of Criminal Procedure Act should not be publicly exposed. 
If one observes closely, several individuals are questioning the captive individual about his intentions to shoot  the victim, how he obtained the weapon and so on. By now, the police have released every minute detail pertaining to the arrest of the main suspect. But one might wonder whether there is too much information involved in these details. A similar situation unfolded following Ishara Sewwandi’s arrest in connection to the murder of Ganemulla Sanjeewa. The media’s narration of her response at the time of arrest eventually turned into a meme! 
Whenever suspects are being taken in for questioning, their faces are usually covered.  Legal experts opine that a suspect’s face should remain covered until the identification parade is completed to ensure that the evidential value of the process is not compromised. Premature exposure could undermine the integrity of the identification process. 
On the other hand, by exposing the face of suspects,  it does a great deal of damage to the privacy of his or her loved ones who may be innocent. In fact, the golden rule in any criminal procedure is that a suspect remains innocent until proven guilty. The least the media channels could have done was to blur the face of the suspect and people around him. But it is too late now.  The trend of releasing sensitive footage to media has certainly done more damage to the psychology of the audience. The overwhelming number of crimes and violence reported during prime time news bulletins have made people immune to such incidents. Recently, a mother in Batapola committed suicide after murdering her own three-year old child. Whoever it was that  captured this video had insensitively released it on TikTok and other social media and it went viral in seconds, highlighting people’s insensitivity towards such horrific crimes. 
Sri Lanka needs to draw lessons from foreign media channels, particularly with regards to reporting crimes. When a Sri Lankan family was murdered in Canada in 2024, the media didn’t go to the extent of revealing intimate footage of the crime scene. In fact,  the police covered the crime scene in such a way that the media that gathered at the scene of crime couldn’t capture any graphic footage to be released to media. 
So, more than the ratings and hits, privacy of victims and people is paramount and the media seems to have a long way to go in terms of ethical reporting.

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