I commend this letter drawing attention of the public to the situation of our media in the coverage of tragedies.

As a journalist of considerable experience, I am wholly of the view that our media, especially the electronic media ( but not excluding print) need a good understanding of the ethics of journalism and media practice; and that both the State and Media institutions do not pay the least attention to this.

I have been campaigning for such action from my days in the Free Media Movement, and in official reports that I have helped produce on Media Rights and Freedoms, but none of the recommendations made have been implemented, or even seriously discussed. The situation is more serious today with the presence of Social Media. I believe that Media Ethics should be an essential part of the training of journalists today, and the policy of media institutions.

I hope this message is taken further, through more writing and discussion, to achieve the necessary remedies, and assure all support for correct action to establish a good Code of Media Ethics in this country.

Keep up the good work

Ethics Eye
When you move beyond this story please consider the ethics of not reporting in the South what various state arms of the successive governments have been doing in the North and the East.

Thank you Subha. We focus only on the Sinhala press. We had thought of looking at English, Tamil and Sinhala newspapers on this particular incident. If we get to do it, will share it here on this platform.

Thanks Ethics Eye, for your comment. Also your analysis is great and informative. Well conceived as an effective info graphic, too. However, why is it that only the Sinhala language papers are mentioned there? Is there a way to create a more comprehensive analysis, looking across all languages, as I’m sure there were others who were also responsible for that kind of smearing. The three points you take them up on are really well thought out, so is there a way to search through the papers of other languages too for the same thing?

Universally accepted media ethics specify how tragedies of this kind must be reported. However, a state-run Sinhala newspaper carried an article criticising parents for having “allowed the girls to go to parties at night without their supervision”. The same article blamed the girls of having “wasted” parents’ money which is not at all relevant to the story.

The health history of the victim and/or his/her families should not be reported unless it is relevant to the story. Two Sinhala newspapers revealed the condition of one of the victim’s father which is again irrelevant to the incident.

Further, it is important to carry information after verifying it. The Sinhala state press mentioned that the two victims were wearing earphones at the time of crossing the railway tracks. However, this was later denied. Even so, there were opinion pieces which focused on the “dangers” that could arise from using such devices which were published when the accident was reported.

Ethics Eye carried an analysis of the weekend Sinhala newspapers to observe how they covered the incident (Please see below). It is high time both electronic and print media adhere to media ethics.

-Nethmi Gunatilake-
Classmate and lifelong friend.