Nalaka Gunawardene is a science writer and media watcher. He writes a blog on media and society. This article is adapted and expanded from the author’s panel remarks made during the OUR Media 6 international conference held in Sydney, Australia, from 9 to 13 April 2007 and was first published on Media Helping Media.

On May 3, the annual World Press Freedom Day will once again be observed worldwide, focusing public attention on a multitude of threats to freedom of expression through the mass media.

But amidst the extremely relevant and necessary slogans, we are unlikely to hear this slogan: Hands off our spectrum. Yet saving our spectrum is critical for ensuring media freedom.

The electro-magnetic spectrum has been …

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A.Vaitheeswaran

In 1984 (remember George Orwell’s Animal Farm?), in an interview given to Anita Pratap of India Today (popular monthly news magazine published in New Delhi), Veluppillai Pirapakaran admitted that he was a flaming fan of Clint Eastwood and watches his films to get clues for daring guerilla attacks against political opponents and Sri Lankan security forces. Thus, Pirapakaran confessed that his role model was not M.G.Ramachandran (a popular film idol turned politician of Tamilnadu state in India), but Clint Eastwood (a heroic villain of Hollywood fame). In cinema M.G.Ramachandran portrayed himself as a do-gooder whereas Clint Eastwood portrayed himself as a violent heroic villain. Therefore, true to his confession, Pirapakaran, in real life, has emulated Clint Eastwood and always …

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The plight of the Sri Lankan tea plantation worker is a well known issue in the country, and even though the law now grants them with full citizenship rights, the real story is that these rights are very often not realised.

Plantation workers are mainly Tamils of Indian origin who were brought to the island in the late 19th century by the British. Being largely confined to the tea estates on which they earned their pitiful living, workers formed their own communities. Being so heavily dependent on the tea estate owners for most of their basic needs such as healthcare, housing and water access, these communities have almost always existed socially and economically isolated from the rest of the country. As …

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In this article I explore two issues. One, the murder of Don Bolles in America and the other, the recent virulent verbal attack by the Defense Secretary against Champika Liyanaarachchi, Editor of the Daily Mirror, on the 17th of April.

The first section is in essence a paean for investigative journalism that’s instructive for those in the media field in Sri Lanka. The second section explores some of the recent disturbing trends that colour media freedom in Sri Lanka, and increasingly, the lack thereof. I note that it’s two years since Sivaram was brutally killed, with no investigations active to bring the culprits to book. I end on a solemn note, lamenting the strangulation of free media …

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Reproduced with the kind permission of the author, and first published in the Hindustan Times.

The flipside of Islamic fundamentalism in Sri Lanka

PK Balachandran
Kattankudy (Eastern Sri Lanka), April 24, 2007

Islamic fundamentalism in Kattankudy in the Eastern Sri Lankan district of Batticaloa, is multifaceted.

It has both regressive and progressive aspects, though to the naked eye of the fleeting visitor, only the former is visible.

Fundamentalism has united previously disparate entities while creating new barriers. It has infused intolerance of some types, but at the same time, liberated sections of society from the thraldom of traditional practices and ideas described as “outdated”, “un-Islamic” or “superstitious”.

Strange though it may seem to outsiders fed on Afghanistan’s medieval Talibani fundamentalism, the rise of Islamic fundamentalism …

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The infamous telephone call by the Defence Secretary to the Editor of the Daily Mirror and its fall out is most revealing of the times we live in and the regime we live under.  Whilst the defenders of the Defence Secretary’s actions contest the abusive and threatening nature of the call, they leave unanswered the question of as to why the call had to be made in the first instance.   Given the government /media relations in recent times, it is difficult to imagine how even a polite telephone call from the defence establishment can be construed as not carrying with it a hint of menace, a trace of threat.  Just as important though is the propriety of the action of …

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Bob Rae, former Premier of Ontario, Canada, submitted this article to Groundviews. It was first published in the Globe and Mail on 4th April 2007.

To honour the memory of Kethesh Loganathan and others assassinated before him, we can’t allow the world’s indifference to continue

Kethesh Loganathan was my friend. The last meeting I had with him was a memorable one: He provided me with information about a colleague whose life was at risk, he believed. Thanks to his intervention, his friend was able to take refuge away from Sri Lanka.

I knew Kethesh as an intense man, a thoughtful man ready to speak ironically of his Marxist path, of the twists and turns of his life. A …

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වර්ෂ1996ෙය්දි ඔස්ෙටුිලියාවට එෙරහිව ශුි ලංකාව ලද ෙලා්ක කුසලාන ජයගුහණය දැන් දැන් අපෙග් මතකය අඑත් කරනවා ෙනාඅනුමානයි.ෙමි දිනවල බටහිර ඉන්දිය ෙකාෙදවි දුපත්හි පැවැත්ෙවන 9 වන ෙලා්ක කුසලාන තරගාවලිෙය් අර්ධ අවසන් තරගය සදහා ෙමම මස 24 ෙවනිදා ශුි ලංකාව සහභාගිවන තරගය පැවැත්ෙවන ෙහයිනි.
තත්වය ෙමෙස් තිබියදි සුපුරැදු පරිදි ශුිලංකානු කුිකටි කණ්ඩායමට එෙරහිව ෙකරිෙගන යන උද්ෙඝා්ෂණයන් සහ මඩ පුහාරයන් අාරමිභවි තුිබිම අප කවිරැත් පුදුමයට පත් ෙනාවන බව මාෙග් අදහසයි.1995 වර්ෂෙය්දි ඔස්ෙටුිලියාෙවිදි පැවැත්වු ෙබන්සන් ෙහජස් තරගාවලිෙය්දි ඔස්ෙටුිලියානු විනිසුරැ ඩැරල් ෙහයාර් විසින් මුත්තයියා මුරලිදරන් පන්දුව දමා ගසන්ෙනක් බව පුකාශ කරන ලදි. අවසානෙය්දි කුිකටි කවුන්සිලය පැවැත්වු පරික්ෂණයකින්්් පසුව මුරලිදරන් නිෙදාස්කරන ලදි.1999 වර්ෂෙය්දි එංගලන්තය ෙටස්ටි තරගයකින් පරාජය කිරිෙමන්පසුව එංගලන්ත පුවත් පත් වලට සහ කුිකටි ෙලා්ලින්ට පින්සිදු වන්නට ශුි ලංකානු …

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An article sent to Groundviews by Rajan Philips, that is slightly revised from an earlier version published in the media in Sri Lanka recently.

Newspaper reports have given prominence to the latest Peace Confidence Index (PCI) survey carried out in February 2007, by the Centre for Policy Alternatives (CPA). The media reports have highlighted that 59% of Sinhalese agree with the proposition that “the government should expand its military action including all out war in order to weaken the LTTE.” There is also an apparent weakening of support among the Sinhalese for the ‘peace process’ evidenced by the drop in support for it from 57% in the PCI survey of November 2006 to 46% in the February survey. During the same …

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While meditation may appear to be irrelevant in times of political and social unrest, there are some who believe that this ancient practice could contribute towards transforming violent conflicts, such as the one that has been burdening the people of Sri Lanka for decades. By changing the individual consciousness, those who participate in meditative exercises are able to look at a situation in a different light, from multiple perspectives and with increased empathy and tolerance, and it is believed that the collective consciousness of an entire community or nation can also be transformed in this way.

Meditation has long been practiced in Sri Lanka by those in pursuit of physical, mental and spiritual health and has always been central to Buddhist …

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