Photo credit: Video Image, Sri Lanka
Media Helping Media features a poignant submission by Nalaka Gunawardene on the murder of Thillainayagam Theeban. As noted in the article:
Theeban, 16 at the time of his death, was one of eight survivor children in four Asian countries that TVE Asia Pacific tracked for one year under the Children of Tsunami regional media project.
Theeban’s life story, as framed by Nalaka is deeply moving and bespeaks of the plight of many other children in the North and East after the tsunami, and caught up in violent conflict. It also calls to question the effectiveness of aid to the tsunami affected communities (read the Lessons We Never Learn, written for the 2nd commemoration of the tsunami, that asks some searing questions on similar lines).
Nalaka’s article is important for another reason. Questioning the oft stated goal of journalism – to be “objective”, Nalaka avers that:
Journalism with empathy was far preferable to the cold detachment that textbooks recommended.
Nalaka ends with a grim reminder of the continuing human toll of Sri Lanka’s on-going conflict.
Thillainayagam Theeban has become another statistic in a ‘low-intensity conflict’ (as some researchers call it). And while this war lasts, it will continue to consume thousands of other young lives — a grim roll call of Sri Lanka’s Lost Generation.
The article in full is available on the Media Helping Media website here. This article published on Groundviews with the author’s permission.