Archive for July, 2007

Protecting Culture or Fishing in Troubled Waters?

“What a Life, What a Time, What a Country!” An email arrives from my friend Sathyajith Maitipe. He has just received instructions from the Censorship Board to remove the sexual scenes from his film, even if he expects to get an Adults Only certificate. This is no surprise; similar demands have been made of other filmmakers: Ashoka Handagama (Aksharaya / Letter from the Fire) and Prasanna Vithanage (Purahada Kaluwara / Darkness of the Full Moon) in the past. In this small response to Sathyajith’s situation I shall not write about film criticism or censorship, but I do want to share some of my first reactions. Image courtesy Scent of the Lotus Pond website I saw Bora Diya Pokuna (Scent of the Lotus Pond) at a private preview at the Russian Culture Centre in Colombo. There are many levels at which one can read this film, particularly in the context of modern Sri Lankan cinema. Using the style and forms of…

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All the President’s media

Taken from Al Jazeera Transforming State media Recent reports in the State media loudly proclaimed the President’s desire to depoliticise State media and his instructions to this effect. As pointed out in the Free Media Movement statement in response to the President’s comments, President Rajapakse had ‘pointed out that the government owned media should play a pivotal role in portraying the government’s development work’ and the need ‘for an effective role by the media to project the country’s situation to the international community at a time where various people were trying to tarnish the country’s image by engaging in a slanderous campaign abroad.’ I am deeply skeptical of the President’s avowed desire to reform State media. Our responsibility as journalists is to citizens, not to politicians or the Executive. The degeneracy and deeply partisan nature of State media is clearly brought out in every single report and analysis on media in Sri Lanka. We recall with disgust that the Editor…

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Voices of Reconciliation Radio – New Content

Tune in and turn up the volume! VOR Radio aims to enhance social, political and cultural cohesion in Sri Lanka through podcasts in Sinhala, Tamil and English with a special focus on civil society initiatives and perspectives on peace, reconciliation and democracy. Some of the latest additions to our growing collection of podcasts from Sri Lanka are: Coastal Rising Young Asia Television (YATV) has brought together district-based teams of journalists and civil society activists in the East and South of Sri Lanka to highlight tsunami recovery from the community perspective. The series draws attention to how citizens, local government, relief agencies and the donor community have risen to the challenge of rebuilding livelihoods and infrastructure along the devastated coast. Click here or search for Coastal Rising on the VOR Radio site to get a wealth of podcasts and content over the past 10 weeks. Mobile talking: Cellphones, Conflict Resolution and Human Rights A podcast with Radio New Internationalist, Australia on…

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Perspectives on Peace and Culture

In my first article to Groundviews I examine the decline of polity and society and the sheer wastefulness of war. In examining the role of the media, I bemoan the fact that many do not address them to explore the root causes of terrorism in Sri Lanka. Looking back at the history of ethnic discrimination and the marginalisation of communities through parochial language legislation, I end my article with the submission that we will not be able to create a plural and diverse society in Sri Lanka if we don’t first address ourselves to the task of imagining peace. Read my article in full, written in Sinhala, here.

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  • 1 Jul, 2007
  • 8 Comments
  • Colombo,
    Media and Communications

The pretense of professionalism – the flipside of media freedom in Sri Lanka

In calling the media “feral beasts” caught in a vicious cycle of unravelling standards Tony Blair, in his last days of office, may have captured the approach to journalism by some of the media institutions in Sri Lanka. While a recent article to Groundviews points to the abject degeneracy of State media in Sri Lanka today, it’s also private media that shares the blame for shoddy reporting. Through a case that flags a clear example of the degeneracy of professional journalism, we question whether the strident calls for media freedom in Sri Lanka neglect with the same vigour to hold media institutions accountable to local and international standards and ethics of professional journalism. Importantly, this case also calls to question the efficacy of the Press Complaints Commission. The PCC is an institutional mechanism that few in Sri Lanka know about and if this case is anything to go by displays a depressingly somnambulant approach to the protection of the rights…

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About Groundviews

Located at the Centre for Policy Alternatives in Colombo, Sri Lanka, Groundviews is a citizen journalism website that uses a range of genres and media to highlight critical perspectives on governance, reconciliation, human rights, the arts and literature, democracy and other issues. The site has won two international awards, including the prestigious Manthan Award South Asia in 2009. The grand jury's evaluation of the site noted, "What no media dares to report, Groundviews publicly exposes. It's a new age media for a new Sri Lanka... Free media at it's very best!"

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