It is with revulsion that I turned off the television last Thursday in the middle of what was touted to be question time with the President. The powdered faces of those who took part and the supine questioning lent it a grotesque theatricality, which of course, what is essentially was.
What was the idea of this media event? Was it really to answer the questions posed by the public? Or was it blatant propaganda, to further spread the “chintanaya” amongst a hapless population?
I go on in my article to lament the demise of politicians (who have crossed over to the government) who at one time were vociferously articulate on issues such as federalism and human rights and yet are today the servile lap dogs of the President. I also lament the fate of media in Sri Lanka that is so docile that it not just grovels in front of the President but neglects its fundamental responsibility to the public to question those in power and their actions. As I note:
ජනාධිපතිවරයා තමන්ට රට හමුවේ වැදගත් යමක් කීමට ඇත්නම් ඔහු තොරා ගන්නේ වෙනත් මාදිලියකි. ජනමාධ්යවේදීන්ට දේශපාලඥයින් ප්රශ්න කිරිමට අවශ්ය නම් ඔවුන් තොරා ගන්නේ ද වෙනත් මාදිලියකි. මේ වැඩසටහනට පෙනෙන විදියට ඇත්තේ වෙනත් ප්රායෝගික අරමුණකි.
එනම් වෙනත් පක්ෂවලින් අමැතිකම් ගැනීම පැමිණි දේශපාලනඥයිනයින් තමන්ට කොතරම් හීලෑද යන්න පෙන්වීම ය. එහිම අනෙත් පැත්ත වශයෙන් ජනමාධ්ය ප්රධානීන් දේශපාලනඥයන් හමුවේ සිය කොන්ද කඩා ගන්නා හැටි මහා ජනයාට පෙන්වීම ය.
Read my article in full on Vikalpa here.
685 have read this this article so far. You may also find these articles interesting:
- Which comes first - Human Rights, Media or Terrorism? Judging by his own standards and those laid down in public by his government, our incumbent President is Sri Lanka’s No. 1 “traitor”. In branding those who champion human rights in Sri Lanka to be partial to the LTTE, we tend to forget that the President himself was an fervent champion of the very human rights... Sunanda Deshapriya, April 4, 2007
- Hypocrisy defined: Mahinda Chintanaya and Ranil in the 90’s and today I am variously labeled in the media and was most recently called a traitor. Not the first time I’ve heard it and won’t be the last, but this time, it was because it was noted by some in the State media that those who made representations at the UN’s Human Rights Council in March were... Sunanda Deshapriya, March 30, 2007
