Aloy in cuckoo-land

Mr. Aloy Ratnayake, the fourth Chairman of Lake House, in the four years that the Chandrika Kumaratunga government has controlled the establishment, vented his thoughts on Freedom of the Media and Freedom of the Press at British Council sponsored lecture.

Those of us who have been in the press for over three decades had not heard of Mr. Aloy Ratnayake, a provincial lawyer, till he entered the holy-of-holies of the once mighty press bastion that was Lake House. Mr. Ratnayake cannot be considered a journalist or a press baron of any variety because of his scant one year and six months experience in Lake House.He is entitled to his own views as an ordinary citizen and as a lawyer but when he attempts to hector the media, particularly the press, it has to be pointed out that he is rushing in where angels fear to tread.

Despite his brief foray into journalism, he should have realised by now that there are two schools of journalism in existence in this country: Watchdog journalism and Lapdog journalism. Watchdog journalism is what was practised in Lake House before it went under the heel of ruling party politicians and their political panjandrums and what is being practiced by the independent privately owned media, particularly the press. Lapdog journalism is what is being practised in the state controlled media. From Mr. Ratnayake’s reported speech in his Daily News, it is apparent that Mr. Ratnayake is a follower of the Lapdog School.

The report of his speech is headlined: ‘Magnanimity, the policy of the PA Government’s free media policy’ . He laments: ‘The press got its freedom, but sadly, displayed no gratitude or even a sense , or responsibility in its use of the new found unbridled freedom after the PA came to power’. The attitude of the present government, towards media freedom, especially that of President Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga is seen in little acts of tolerance and magnanimity allowing maliciously motivated satires about her such as ‘Always Breakdown’ over TNL which would never have been allowed by either Messrs. J.R. Jayewardene and R. Premadasa, he has claimed

In singing such hosannas or ‘ Bakthi Gee’ on behalf of the PA government and its leader, Mr. Ratnayake is not only displaying his ignorance about what a free press should be but also displays a woeful lack of knowledge of elementary constitutional law. The freedom of journalists to express their opinion, he should realise, is not a dowry bestowed on any one person which can be dispensed as that person wishes. The freedom of the press and other media are freedoms embodied in the Constitution of Sri Lanka as fundamental rights of all citizens. Journalists are not lapdogs waiting at the master’s/ mistress’s table for crumbs of freedom to be thrown at them with magnanimity. It is their fundamental right. If any one person denies them such rights, they are violating the fundamental law of this country. Independent journalism had gone through many vicissitudes in this country but journalists have fought for their rights and won them back.

Mr. Ratnayake also displays his colossal ignorance about the history of the contemporary press when he referring to UNP times says: ‘No journalist dared to write and no editor dared to publish anything that would raise the ire of the rulers’.

He would have been in some cloud- cuckoo - land when UNP governments consistently branded The Island and its sister paper the Divaina as ‘SLFP papers’ and brought immense pressure on Upali newspapers. Some of his own editors who were with us, now recruited to Lake House as the faithful SLFPers, could tell him how President J.R. Jayewardene threatened to freeze bank accounts of Upali Newspapers and forced one of his own bureaucrats as an editorial director into the board when our newspapers opposed the Indo - Lanka Agreement. They could tell Mr. Ratnayake how journalists fought tooth and nail, resisted pressure and made the bureaucrat appear quite foolish. They could tell how the present editor of The Island was summoned to the Fourth Floor of the CID and grilled for hours for ‘ consorting with the enemy’ when we published an on- the- spot report by D.B.S. Jeyaraj on street fighting in Jaffna between the LTTE and IPKF. He can read the Hansard all about the abuse heaped on the founder of this paper Upali Wijewardene by President Premadasa and later on other directors because our papers were critical of them. During the JVP times, our newspapers were accused by the armed forces and the UNP government for supporting the JVP, while the JVP accused us of supporting the government and the UNP controlled Lake House papers accused of us of setting Lake House vans of fire. Be informed Mr. Ratnayake that without any protection from the police and armed forces which the UNP controlled Lake House had, our newspapers continued publication without a break while Lake House despite being under army protection could not do so. The last speech made by Mr. Ranjan Wijeratne in parliament before his assassination was to hurl abuse by innuendo at the present editor of The Island when we wrote an editorial titled ‘ Demo- No- Crazy’ when the UNP banned the Mothers Front March in the South. You may not know it but some of our journalists sent their families abroad for their safety. No, Mr. Ratnayake, we dared criticise the UNP in those days at tremendous risk

Read the PA manifesto Mr. Chairman and read the grand promises given to the media when your leader was careering around the electorate with the free media boys. She owes gratitude towards the media and not vice versa, as you say.

We are however thankful to Mr. Ratnayake for comic relief when he says that President Kumaratunga had never given him orders carry any news item. Yes, Mr. Ratnayake she doesn’t have to do that. What’s the Media Minister there for ? Your own Administrative Report for 1997 states: ’The management wishes to thank, above all others, the Minister of Posts and Media Mr. Mangala Samaraweera whose expert advice and guidance contributed to a great measure the improvement, especially in the lay- out of our papers.What has a former textile designer got to do about newspaper lay out when there are so many well paid professional lay out artistes in your establishment ?