Archive for the ‘Media and Communications’

Dallas – Are you listening? Part II

පුරවැසි සටහන්: ඩලස් ඔබට ඇහෙනවාද? My first post on public transport in Sri Lanka (see Dallas – Are you listening?) ended with a challenge to the Minister of Transport to do something about the dilapidated public transport mechanisms. Part 2 brings out more examples of a dysfunctional system that subjects thousands of citizens to hellish commutes every single day. I point to the existence of mafias of private bus owners as well as political ineptitude that has led to the dramatic decline in transport services. No amount of complaints by the general public seem to alleviate their suffering. All promises to reform the system have failed. Once again I appeal to the current Minister of Public Transport – try to make a difference. Transforming one route, one bus, one journey can be a start. Please read my article in full, written in Sinhala, here. Repost This Article

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“Our people are at your mercy” – Tamils flee Sri Lanka conflict

“I have a moral duty to pacify wherever there is irritation given to the Sinhalese. I have a duty to pacify them and tell them our people are at your mercy. They are running away from the LTTE’s atrocities – you have a duty to protect them” says Anandasangaree in this Al Jazeera video that has sparked some interesting commentary on its channel on YouTube. Repost This Article

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  • 14 Jul, 2007
  • 0 Comment
  • Colombo,
    Media and Communications

Scent of the Lotus Pond: Censoring art or protecting culture?

Groundviews was able to obtain footage of a scene the Public Performance Board of Sri Lanka seeks to completely remove from Sathyajith Maitipe’s film Scent of the Lotus Pond. In a review of the film on Groundviews recently, Prassana Ratnayake (Protecting Culture or Fishing in Troubled Waters?) avers: The Sri Lankan Public Performance Board operates under the Ministry of Defence. Their brief is to keep an eye on anything they considered might damage Culture or interfere with National Security. It strikes me as ironically amusing that this authority thinks it can protect national culture and security by banning several sex scenes from a film. Whose culture are they trying to protect? Who’s security? The fantasy that the Public Performance Board is protecting us from insidious influences by banning the creative contribution of an astute filmmaker reveals the macabre contradictions that are destroying our country. With the enormous damage to human beings and to culture in Sri Lanka unfolding daily, the…

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Diaspora ‘Wisdom’ – An interview with Lionel Bopage

Groundviews | VOR Radio podcast Perhaps the word ‘wisdom’ is too strong when describing what the Sri Lankan diaspora can contribute to solving the problems on this small island, but there is a certain experience and understand the diaspora has, and with their unique connection to Sri Lanka, they can help provide useful ideas to repair the fractures and end the violence. The following MP3 podcast is an edited interview conducted in Melbourne with Lionel Bopage in May 2007. Bopage suggests how the diaspora can make a positive contribution to Sri Lanka’s peace process. Lionel Bopage was a former General Secretary of the JVP. He was involved with the JVP since 1968 and resigned in 1984. Click to listen on VOR Radio (approximately 6 minutes) Repost This Article

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Dallas – Are you listening?

My article is based on vignettes of commuting in public transport. The first short story is on a trip down South to see my mother and the travails of a journey from Galle to Ambalangoda. My second story is on my journey to work on Monday, on a bus plying the 101 route. On Tuesday, not only was I short-changed, but I was nearly killed alighting from a bus which did not even offer a ticket in return for my fare. On another journey from Colombo to Ibbagamuwa, I was unfortunately entreated to the choicest Sinhala expletives throughout the journey by those in charge of the bus. I have written many letters to successive Transport Ministers through the media. Since my childhood and to date, I have used public transport in Sri Lanka. Unlike many others working in the non-governmental sector, I am acutely aware of the hardships the public face in their daily commutes and know not of a…

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  • 12 Jul, 2007
  • 60 Comments
  • Colombo,
    Media and Communications

Rajpal Abeynaike, Editor of Lakbima, offers exceptional responses to story on Groundviews

I’m breaking with the established guidelines for this site to reproduce in full the response of Rajpal Abeynaike, Editor of Lakbima, in response to the story this website ran on his practice of publishing content from the Sri Lankan blogosphere without attribution. I do not wish to comment on these responses and believe they speak volumes of an approach to journalism that is as regrettable as it is exceptionable. First response: Sanjana, My friend, (of course you are my friend) I always knew you were a dumb idiot, and so like the dumb idiot you are, you say there was ‘plagiarism’ involved. The definition of plagiarism is you pass of somebody’s stuff as your own. Now you might want to do such a thing with your limited capabilities, but I am sure everybody in Sri Lanka would acknowledge I wouldn’t. (Except one maybe two dumb blogistas like yourself who only want to get their hit counts increased by making a…

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Bloggers and mainstream media: Media ethics in a digital age

The Editor of the new English newspaper Lakbima grievously irked the Sri Lankan blogosphere recently by publishing articles based on blog posts without any acknowledgment of the sources. There are already many posts on Kottu on the issue, from the bloggers themselves whose content was used without attribution to others expressing their opinion on the issue and how one should proceed if mainstream media was to act in such a manner again. As some recall, this is not the first instance in which the incumbent Editor of Lakbima has published blog posts without attribution. This post for example points to a rather sordid history of plagiarism by this Editor. The issue seems to be on the one hand significant pressure to source content to a new newspaper given the paucity of good writing and writers. The Editor of Lakbima must surely face the unenviable task of filling his pages at a time when most (good) columnists already publish in other…

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Rapping Peace: Lions and Tigers

An SMS exchange with a friend recently on creating new communications strategies to promote peace prompted me to upload Brown Boogie Nation’s Lions and Tigers to Youtube. Can one make an argument for a rap video on federalism? Repost This Article

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Rizana’s future: what WE CAN DO.

The beheading of Rizana, a Sri Lankan migrant worker in Saudi Arabia feels unstoppable. I first heard about this issue late last week ago, but only found out yesterday that her execution is scheduled for the 16th July – in a few days time. Why didn’t I know earlier? She was arrested in May 2005 and was sentenced to death on 16 June 2007. But, rather than analysing my poor information flows and the lack of publicity this case has received, it’s better to concentrate on what can be done to delay the execution of someone who has not received proper legal representation, and from all accounts, appears to have been wrongly convicted. According to her certified birth certificate, Rizana was born in February 1988. She’s currently 19 years old. Today’s Daily Mirror describes the chain of events that lead to Rizana’s arrest. The girl Rizana Nasik went to work at the house of her Saudi employer whose wife had…

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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. Repost This Article

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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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War, abductions, killings, human rights violations and evictions

War, Abductions, killings, human rights violations, and evictions are synonyms widely used to describe the current situation in Sri Lanka especially in the international area. Are we facing the gravest period of Sri Lanka history? One would say the accusations lodged against country are accurate and the situation demands immediate intervention and another would argue that the situation in Sri Lanka is over played by Diplomats, NGO’s and the so called civil society activists who fill their coffers with dollars and euros showcasing a dire situation in the county. As a Sri Lankan, then a Sinhalese and a Buddhist what ideology should I represent is a question that has been tormenting me for a while. To clarify my stand I referred to the defence secretaries statement made few months ago “Do you know of any one in your village who has been abducted or killed, can you name a person who has been abducted from the UNP, JVP or other…

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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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