{"id":108864,"date":"2013-10-06T00:12:22","date_gmt":"2013-10-05T18:42:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/?p=108864"},"modified":"2013-10-10T13:23:28","modified_gmt":"2013-10-10T07:53:28","slug":"the-deliberate-deceit-of-the-self-proclaimed-independent-english-language-media-in-sri-lanka","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/the-deliberate-deceit-of-the-self-proclaimed-independent-english-language-media-in-sri-lanka\/","title":{"rendered":"The Deliberate Deceit Of The Self-Proclaimed \u201cIndependent\u201d English Language Media In Sri Lanka"},"content":{"rendered":"

By\u00a0Emil van der Poorten<\/a><\/span>\u00a0–<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Emil van der Poorten<\/p><\/div>\n

Another contributor to Colombo Telegraph, Kusal Perera<\/a><\/span>, and I have differed on what we consider to be the \u201cself-censorship\u201d practiced by the Sri Lankan media.\u00a0 I subscribe to the belief that those elements of the media not owned by or absolutely controlled by the government are self-censoring to the point of irrelevance and Kusal interprets the term \u201cself-censorship\u201d differently.<\/p>\n

However, I don\u2019t expect that either he or any writer to the media who is not, literally, bought and paid for by the forces that are running this country with the authority of an iron heel coupled with a mailed fist, will (or CAN) dispute what I am about to document and the fact that it is DELIBERATELY misleading journalism, the motive for which should be obvious to anyone of even limited intelligence.<\/p>\n

The web edition of the Daily Mirror of Saturday, September 28th<\/sup> has an article titled \u201cUNHR Council divided over SL\u201d which I can only assume appeared in its print edition as well.\u00a0 The link is here<\/a><\/span>\u00a0for anyone wishing to verify what I have to say in what follows.<\/p>\n

That item, running in excess of 1300 words<\/a><\/span>, deliberately sets out to deceive any reader who does not check the basic information provided, particularly those who do not believe that a newspaper owned and controlled by the family of the Leader of the Opposition, Ranil Wickremesinghe, would engage in reporting of a nature so deceitful that it might, arguably, put the government\u2019s own Daily News to shame!<\/p>\n

In my last column<\/a><\/span> I referred to the fact that the most recent Columnist of the Year, as selected by The Editors\u2019 Guild of Sri Lanka and the Sri Lanka Press Institute had sought asylum, permanent or temporary asylum _-depending on your source of information – \u201csomewhere in North America.\u201d\u00a0 Canada\u2019s most watched TV network, CTV, reported this on the 19th<\/sup> of September and I don\u2019t know whether even the paper for which Mandana<\/a><\/span> now writes by email, The Sunday Leader, has reported what one might consider news of some importance, up to now.<\/p>\n

I suggested in last week\u2019s piece that the pious souls who awarded Mandana the accolade this year could, appropriately, make a special award to one of their number for this particular display of intestinal fortitude, which might legitimately be billed as \u201cThe Silence of the (Judas) Goats!\u201d<\/p>\n

I would now like to suggest that those same two august bodies, controlled by the Press Barons of Sri Lanka, set up yet another award for deliberately misleading reporting and that it be awarded to the Daily Mirror, the owners of which, I remember, once carried off the premier award at the self-same annual celebration some years ago with an entry that did not even qualify for entry in the category concerned!\u00a0 If that could be arranged, then surely it should be a breeze to arrange for the two awards I suggest not only to be provided but appropriately awarded!\u00a0 An added bonus would be that the newspaper chain concerned would garner some appropriate Brownie Points from our current embodiment of democracy, aka the Mahinda Rajapaksa<\/a><\/span> government, for loyalty beyond the call of duty!<\/p>\n

To return to the article concerned, however, it lists 20 members of what it claims is the current Human Rights Council as being strongly supportive of the Sri Lankan government and goes on to mention the specific actions of the Sri Lankan government, post-Nanthikadal, that every single one of them consider deserving of high praise.<\/p>\n

Given the fact that the total membership of the United Nations Human Rights Council is 47, twenty of that number expressing what can only be described as fulsome praise for Sri Lanka at this point of time, before sittings that could have major implications for Sri Lanka in the matter of accusations of war crimes and crimes against humanity and in the teeth of the broad condemnation of the government by Navi Pillay, any sane reader would arrive at one conclusion and one conclusion only: those twenty would be voting in support of Sri Lanka and, given the timing of their clearly expressed support, the odds of Sri Lanka winning at least four other nations to its cause would appear prohibitively high in the circumstances. This would, obviously, result in \u201cgame, set and match\u201d to Mahinda Rajapaksa and his cronies.<\/p>\n

However, there is one fairly significant fly in this particular ointment: only eight<\/strong> of the twenty countries listed \u2013Brazil, Indonesia, Japan, Kuwait, Pakistan, Philippines, Thailand and Venezuela \u2013 are members of the United Nations Human Rights Council during its current term, ending on December 31st<\/sup> 2013!\u00a0 It would seem that the rest of the twenty \u2013 twelve in number for the arithmetically-challenged – would not be able to put their votes where theire mouths have only recently been, unless, of course, such voting is carried out in the manner preferred in Sri Lanka!<\/p>\n

One hardly needs a Sherlock Holmes to unravel a mystery that isn\u2019t, while the motivation for this kind of deliberate deception hardly needs nervous-breakdown-inducing concentration to deduce.<\/p>\n

For those critical of the shenanigans that pass for governance in this country and thought that there was at least one newspaper chain which, even though it was no \u201cHoratius at the Bridge\u201d of democratic principle, would not deliberately lie and obfuscate, what can I say\u2026\u2026?\u00a0 Would the old chestnut, \u201cWho needs enemies when you have friends like these,\u201d be considered appropriate (substituting \u201cenemas\u201d for \u201cenemies\u201d for obvious reasons) in this case?<\/p>\n

Of course, if one is given to a level of ultra-saintly generosity (or unbelievable naivety or simple deceit), you could trot out the old excuse that the entire 1327 word essay simply constituted a \u201cmistake\u201d or that I have been grossly prejudiced in my description of the tone, content and intent of this particular piece of journalism. Take your choice, my friends!\u00a0 And if you are, by some chance, one of those who will continue to accord any credibility to what Wijeya Newspapers puts on the pages of its publications from now on, I might have a position for you in sales.\u00a0 How does a free plane ticket to Anchorage, Alaska and an overland journey to a location North of the Arctic Circle sound?\u00a0 The grand prize?\u00a0 An opportunity to sell refrigerators to the inhabitants of points north of wherever your overland journey ended in the USA\u2019s largest state!<\/p>\n

In any event, would you be interested in making a donation towards the two prizes I have suggested in this and my previous column: one for \u201cJournalistic Silence While a Premier Journalist Flees the Country\u201d and another for \u201cDeliberate Deceit in Reporting Simple Facts?\u201d<\/p>\n

Post-Script<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Shortly after I\u2019d completed this article, my attention was drawn to an almost identical article in Ceylon Today.\u00a0 Curiously, both it and that in the Daily Mirror have no indication of who might have authored them – either a journalist or a news agency.\u00a0 One can perhaps be forgiven for wondering whether both pieces are releases from the Sri Lanka government\u2019s Media Centre for National Security, known among the cognoscenti as \u201cThe Ministry of Truth,\u201d a term first coined by George Orwell in circumstances that Sri Lankans can now readily relate to!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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