{"id":194582,"date":"2018-10-22T14:41:23","date_gmt":"2018-10-22T09:11:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/?p=194582"},"modified":"2018-10-27T03:05:06","modified_gmt":"2018-10-26T21:35:06","slug":"the-hindu-mess-n-rams-tweet-on-the-raw-or-raw-matter","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/the-hindu-mess-n-rams-tweet-on-the-raw-or-raw-matter\/","title":{"rendered":"The Hindu Mess & N. Ram\u2019s Tweet On The Raw (Or RAW) Matter? \u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Laksiri Fernando<\/a>\u00a0–<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Dr. Laksiri Fernando<\/p><\/div>\n

A.S. Panneerselvan ran a story this morning in The Hindu<\/i> (00.00am, 22 October 2018) titled \u201cDon\u2019t blame the messenger,\u201d referring to the controversial front page report of the same newspaper five days ago by Meera Sirinivasan on \u201cSri Lankan President Sirisena alleges that RAW is plotting his assassination,\u201d with the pretentious claim \u201cfor a responsible media organisation, telling the truth is imperative even if it means reporting tactless utterances.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The Hindu<\/i> or Meera Sirinivasan is the messenger. What is the message?\u00a0<\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

Reporting a news is perfectly acceptable or even imperative, after reasonable verification that the initial journalist had done. However to claim that report is the absolute truth, or nothing but the truth, is farfetched and unwarranted. Subjectively of course the journalist who reported the news or even the whole newspaper establishment may consider the story is the truth. But that claim is questionable, unless they are Gods, because the information has particularly emerged under questionable circumstances which the newspaper and the journalist\/s are quite privy to. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Questionable Circumstances?\u00a0<\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

What are these questionable circumstances?\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

First, there had been reportedly a heated argument between the President and the Prime Minister of Sri Lanka surrounding proposed development projects with the partnership of India.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Second, there had been reportedly some accusations and exchange between the President and some Ministers belonging to the other party of the coalition, the UNP, on the ongoing CID investigations on the alleged assassination conspiracy against the President and the former Defence Secretary.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

It is well known that the Minister of Finance and Media, Mangala Samaraweera<\/a>, publicly dismissed the conspiracy allegations, whether it has had any impact on the ongoing investigations or not. Therefore, the information coming under such circumstances should be circumspect, not to take the news as the final truth. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Panneerselvan has sufficiently defended the colleague journalist under a separate section of the article (\u201cThe act of verification\u201d) and there is no issue of that defence except his questioning of \u2018the President\u2019s incredible statement,\u2019 as if he not only believes that the President made such a statement, but also implying the accusation is not credible. The second implication is the most questionable.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The following is what the Indian Prime Minister\u2019s office has stated in nutshell after President Sirisena\u2019s telephone call on the matter.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThe Prime Minister appreciated the prompt steps taken by the President and his Government to firmly refute the malicious reports by publicly clarifying the matters. He also reiterated India\u2019s emphasis on \u2018neighbourhood first\u2019 policy and the priority the Government of India and he personally attach to developing even stronger all-round cooperation between the two countries<\/i>.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

It should be noted that the statement names \u201cthe malicious reports\u201d not only referring to The Hindu,<\/i> but also to many other news reports in Sri Lanka, apparently emerging from the same sources. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

What is the Message?\u00a0<\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

It is a mindboggling question why Panneerselvan is appealing in his today\u2019s article \u201cDon\u2019t blame the messenger?\u201d The reason is not clear or ambiguous. There can be two implications.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

First, don\u2019t blame the messenger for exposing the \u2018incredible statement\u2019 of the President.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Second, don\u2019t blame the messenger for exposing a possible RAW involvement in the alleged conspiracy.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Of course the second does not emerge from the initial report of Meera Sirinivasan, but from Panneerselvan\u2019s report today. He says:\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIt has never been easy for reporters covering neighbourhood politics to report on the roles of agencies like the Research and Analysis Wing [RAW] and Pakistan\u2019s Inter-Services Intelligence. As a reporter who has covered most of India\u2019s neighbouring countries for nearly three decades, I can safely say that these agencies are named in most of the covert and overt operations \u2014 sometimes based on facts, sometimes based on pure hypothesis, and sometimes to suit domestic political realities.\u201d <\/i>\u00a0<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

Is the above passage an indication that the President\u2019s \u2018incredible statement\u2019 may be \u2018credible\u2019 under circumstances of, if not fact, but based on hypothesis? Or is it to \u2018suit the domestic political realities\u2019 that the report is made. However, it appears that it is the way at least Panneerselvan is operating or writing, as he says.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Under these circumstances, his initial claim that \u201cresponsible media organisations tell the truth\u201d is questionable. I might be a last person to condemned media freedom, even if they tell lies, knowingly or unknowingly. I am an author of the \u201cLima Declaration of Academic Freedom\u201d acclaimed by UNESCO, and academic freedom is not dissimilar to media freedom.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Therefore, this is a friendly spat to remind the \u2018colleagues\u2019 not to claim for \u2018truth\u2019 instantly, but to find, report and interpret facts and allow the law enforcement and particularly the judiciary to find the reasonable \u2018truth\u2019 in this type of a case. Or allow the truth to emerge through a process, without jumping on a hurried \u2018truth.\u2019 \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

N. Ram\u2019s Tweet\u00a0<\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

I am not a person searching or getting involved in the social media. It appears they have absolute freedom, I mean the social media, even Donald Trump tweeting and tweeting on all matters on earth.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

But I was simply appalled when N. Ram\u2019s quick tweet on this raw matter (reported in Colombo Telegraph, 19 October<\/a>), not only defending The Hindu<\/i> correspondent, but also accusing the government or the President of falsehood. The question is not about the President or the government, but again N. Ram\u2019s claim about the \u2018truth.\u2019 This is what I am particularly questioning. There were two tweets on the same day on the 19th<\/sup>.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

First: \u201cOur Sri Lanka Correspondent verified what she had learnt with multiple independent sources before publishing her report. Let them issue their lame denials, try to wriggle out of what was said \u2014 but we stand by our Correspondent\u2019s meticulously fact-checked story<\/i>.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

This is fairly ok, as I have already stated, defending The Hindu<\/i> correspondent. N. Ram is not only the former Editor in Chief of The Hindu<\/i> but also the Chairman of the Kasturi & Sons Limited, the publisher of The Hindu<\/i>. Therefore, the concern is understandable. However, the second tweet is more questionable about the alleged truth.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Second: \u201cAnother case of saying something wild & bizarre, expecting it to remain within a closed room, and then blaming the media for the furore caused. The Hindu did its job \u2014 truth-telling<\/i>.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

What is this \u2018closed room\u2019? The Cabinet meeting of a friendly neighbouring country which is supposed to have collective responsibility according to the democratic parliamentary norms, both India and Sri Lanka are supposed to follow.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Apart from The Hindu<\/i>\u2019s so quick jumping on \u2018truth-telling,\u2019 there is an apparent defence of RAW of any wrong doing, in Ram\u2019s second tweet, by saying the alleged accusation is \u201cwild and bizarre.\u201d How does he know or so sure? This is not merely about a matter of fact, but of principle. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

*Laksiri Fernando is former Professor of Political Science and Public Policy, University of Colombo\u00a0<\/em>\u00a0<\/em> \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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