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The Island newspaper promotes pedophilia, sex and fellatio for children

May 16, 2008 at 9:36 am · Categories: Colombo, Media and Communications | by Groundviews

The Island newspaper in Sri Lanka is already known for its Editorial blunders. Yesterday however, it sunk to a new low when it published the following in the children’s section of its daily edition (Page 2, The Happy Island). 

Click here for a larger image that places this section in the context of the page. 

Clearly The Island has a very different idea to most parents on nursery rhymes for children. 

What do you think?

UPDATED 17 May 2008

Ravana says that The Island claims someone hacked into their computer and replaced what was originally supposed to go up, an explanation as outrageous and incredible as the “nursery rhymes” they published. 

Also see some of the other hilarious comments on the posts made here, here and here. You can also see this blogger’s post on how the Editor of The Island is dealing with this issue and the Press Complaints Commission (PCC).

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JJ said,

May 16, 2008 @ 9:50 am

How embarrassing this might be for them. Makes me wonder if they just go on a search site and type in “nursery rhymes” and copies and pastes from the first link they find. In fact, that’s the only explanation to this.

JJ said,

May 16, 2008 @ 10:19 am

Hacked you say?!?! Sounds, smells and tastes like B.S.

Kanishke said,

May 16, 2008 @ 10:35 am

Guys, let’s not go too far with our headlines (I’m referring to Groundviews). “The Island promotes pedophilia, sex and fellatio for children”? Please! That sounds like more b.s. than the excuse Island’s MD gave for this.

This is exactly the kind of sensationalism that makes somebody not take a media organisation seriously.

Sashini E said,

May 16, 2008 @ 10:39 am

in your respnose to what must be a mistake careless or otherwise, but definately a mistake, I note a complacent hint of the US-THEM-DIVIDE as I call it .
The Island could not have intended to promote this lurid text among its young readers, (if for no other reason than the effect to its sale of being blackmarked as shoddy) and now Im sure at least one or two poeple will lose jobs as a result of this mistake and the resulting publicity.
However your posting title itself smacks of an amount of unsportsmanly glee at the misfortune of fellow writers.
Im not defending what the Island did as right, but neither am I particularly thrilled by your response to it which really does not solve anything.
However lets hope other people who write and layout pages and edit will learn from this that certainly some double checking is necessary

groundviews said,

May 16, 2008 @ 10:46 am

The degree to which we are vaunt to tolerate the failings of traditional media seem to be far more than with new media. Traditional media spares no effort to defile new media for its lack of ethics and professional standards, yet is often suspect in practicising what it preaches. We’ve seen this in the past with the plagiarism of blogs in the worst possible manner and the exceptional response of one traditional print media Editor to that which was published on this site.

This case is also an instance in which someone should be held accountable for what was printed, given that this is a newspaper that usually does not tire of holding others accountable in its columns. Groundviews did not ask anyone to be fired – that’s immaterial really. What’s more important is for the newspaper to ask why this happened.

As someone who called me up this morning asked me “Don’t they read the first editions of the papers they published anymore?”

groundviews said,

May 16, 2008 @ 10:56 am

Kanishke,

I didn’t see any disclaimer from The Island that qualified the printing of these “nursery rhymes”. Did you? Sure, it’s sheer carelessness in this case, but what’s published in a newspaper (and on any media site) is the responsibility of the publisher unless otherwise clearly indicated. Ergo, The Island promotes this content. Kapish?

Nadie said,

May 16, 2008 @ 11:16 am

Sure, this must have been done by somebody who wanted to punish a fellow journalist. I don’t think that anybody did this deliberately. Anyhow this is a vey good lesson for all the editor…..Island must say sorry to the whole nation. Yesterday, many parents must have faced really uncomfortable situations when their kids asked for explanations for these nursary rhymes!!!!

Hope the Island administration will inquire what happened and take immediate measures…But please take a fare dicision…don’t sack the poor victims..

JJ said,

May 16, 2008 @ 11:37 am

I’m guessing all of you are journalists in one way or the other, considering your concern for the people who might be sacked and your daunty feelings with the media. This is a good thing. Now can one of you guys explain to me why on earth the island would say that they have been targeted by “net terrorism”? This worries me. The fact that they are ready to make something up that might have not happened.

groundviews said,

May 16, 2008 @ 11:45 am

JJ,

There’s a letter ostensibly written by the Editor of the Island in response to a query on this matter reproduced on Indi’s blog post on this same incident here – http://www.indi.ca/2008/05/happy-island/ (scroll down and its under Nilaksha).

A trojan or worm that’s able to meticulously change page layout and content in a document after proof reading? This means that the trojan / worm has to figure out what content it wants to replace, where, figure out its length, position the text, do the appropriate formatting of the article in Quark, InDesign or Pagemaker (one of which I suspect they use for page layout) and then send the final colour separated output to the printer.

Wow. That would be a first, but I doubt it.

Sanjana

JJ said,

May 16, 2008 @ 11:57 am

Well the trojan horse wouldn’t have to do it. It might be possible, that the hacker got a copy of the pagemaker or whatever file and opened it using the same software and then changed it and replaced the copy on the island computers with his new one. But none of that matters, because don’t these papers get proof read after they’ve printed a few copies?!?!?

Credibility, going, going, gone!

aljuhara said,

May 16, 2008 @ 12:28 pm

Interestingly, although I too first assumed this was just a stupid mistake by some poor plebe who cant read English , pasting stuff from the web, this isnt the case as a quick search would reveal that none of these verses are available on the http://www..So it would seem perhaps the work of a malicious hack within the Island with access to its computers as stated.

Placing this in the Childrens section a is particularly carefully thought of strike.
This possibly means there is a fairly creative but admittedly sick person with access to your network, who can also actually string together somewhat coherent English. (and Im guessing that narrows it down…)
And this is probably not the worst this person could do, so maybe its time to start investigating. But how? Lightreaders?

JJ said,

May 16, 2008 @ 1:19 pm

aljuhara,

What are you talking about. I found exactly what they have printed on the net and in the same order right here:
http://curtisvc.tripod.com/kiddies/nursery_rhymes.htm

There goes your hacker conspiracy.

Acromantula said,

May 16, 2008 @ 2:09 pm

JJ

U seem to have a pretty good idea about where the rhymes are from?

Very suspicious if u ask me

JJ said,

May 16, 2008 @ 2:18 pm

Acromantula,

Just type in any line you see in the newspaper exactly the way it is within double quotes on google. Anyone can find it.

Jack Point said,

May 16, 2008 @ 2:42 pm

Very sloppy or the work of a hack.

There was something that was written about the British period in Ceylon on an independence day issue and EVERY governors name was spelled wrong, someimes hideously so.

Acromantula said,

May 16, 2008 @ 3:26 pm

Jack Point and they say Sri Lankans dont hv a sense of humor….

JJ how many different combinations did u try before u got the desired result?… or did it came off the first phrase u tried.. a pretty big coincidence if u ask me..

Groundviews u cant seriously think tht this was done intentionally can u?? Looks like some thing done just so ppl who want to gloat over them hv an opportunity to do so..

V said,

May 16, 2008 @ 3:42 pm

The Island’s been going down for a while. It used to be a very independent newspaper, but of late it just reprints government propaganda–sometimes I think I’m reading the Daily News. Perhaps an irate journalist within the Island got sick of the pandering and decided to screw the bosses with a prank. If that was the case, whoever you are, NICE JOB!

Tina Edward Gunawardhana said,

May 16, 2008 @ 3:48 pm

Today’s internet Island carries an apology saying that hackers had done this

Glow said,

May 16, 2008 @ 3:50 pm

The failing on the part of the Island is quite horrendous, apart from this article being in the children’s section…

Re the first response by groundviews, I fail to understand how this turned out to be a contention between ‘traditional’ and ‘new’ media. Sashini’s point is that the title is quite excessive and she is not calling upon anyone to be tolerant of the (grave) failings of the ‘traditional media’. The tendency of the traditional media to criticize new media is no excuse for unprofessional excesses on the part of the ‘new media’.

And please… not the ‘plagiarism of blogs’ episode again. This can’t be the case in point for ‘everything’. Many of us realize that bloging is a relatively new thing, and whether in fact an act of plagiarism occurs is a moot point… and hence difficult to judge ‘professionalism’ on this point (quite apart from the editor’s response).

It is sad that neither the traditional media nor the new media is able to admit to lurid lapses in professional behaviour… and insist on by the way responses (and sometimes absolutely way out theories) to justify any criticism whatsoever. The real problem seems that professional journalism has run into some serious difficulties, if today’s events are any indication. Let’s all address this sorry fact… shall we?

groundviews said,

May 16, 2008 @ 4:30 pm

“Groundviews u cant seriously think tht this was done intentionally can u?”

No.

groundviews said,

May 16, 2008 @ 4:35 pm

“Perhaps an irate journalist within the Island got sick of the pandering and decided to screw the bosses with a prank. If that was the case, whoever you are, NICE JOB!”

If this is indeed the case, though one may never know, it is sick and wrong. This is not a prank and no doubt if this was the US, The Island would been sued out of existence by irate parents.

JJ said,

May 16, 2008 @ 4:50 pm

Acromantula,

Now I’m not sure if you’re joking or not, but a little glimpse into your blog makes me unsure. If you want to accuse me go ahead, call the authorities. I have nothing to hide.

Glow,

“It is sad that neither the traditional media nor the new media is able to admit to lurid lapses in professional behaviour… and insist on by the way responses (and sometimes absolutely way out theories) to justify any criticism whatsoever.”

Ha ha you read my mind there. A couple of years ago for one of my school assemblies a journalist was invited and she rambled about how important journalism is and all that jazz. Ever since that day I just thought, boy these journalists are just a small group of privileged people who get the opportunity to let the world know their opinions. Now I may have come to that realisation as a kid in haste. But isn’t this exactly what is happening today? Whether it be on the blogsphere or traditional media. Just a bunch of people with relatively good command of language bashing each other and making baseless accusations without regard to the mayhem they cause. The reason journalists are losing respect and the world losing those neutral observers is partly due to restrictions put in place by the powers that be that don’t allow journalists to do their job right *cough* “no independent observers allowed” *cough*. The other prominent reason I see is what Glow has mentioned, “a lurid lapse in professional behaviour”, just like our politicians eh? Don’t get me wrong I don’t hate all journalists, they are a very important and necessary part of the modern world, it’s just that I’ve lost hope in them like I have lost hope in our politicians.

JJ said,

May 16, 2008 @ 4:52 pm

Make that lost hope in most of them. There are a few, alas. :(

groundviews said,

May 16, 2008 @ 4:54 pm

Glow,

Whether or not plagiarism occurs is certainly not a moot point. That it did occur blatantly and despite the repeated complaints made by numerous bloggers is proof enough that it does matter to many of us and quite deeply. Professionalism is easy – for starters, you don’t copy others text without their permission and when it is pointed out, you don’t keep on doing it. Same form with this incident – you are responsible for what you publish. Even if you buy the hacker story (I don’t) why didn’t anyone in the Editorial Department check the first editions? Or is that really not a practice in the print media today (and not just The Island)?

Sanjana

aljuhara said,

May 16, 2008 @ 5:54 pm

well I guess my search was too quick. …
but then its certainly not the first thing you get when you search for Nursery Rhymes, is it ? You have to pretty much dig through tens of pages to reach this particular configuration of sleeze…so it really cant be an innocent mistake ,whatever else it is.
I tend to agree with V that it may be someone inside doing it to teach people a lesson, but I dont think it is “nice” at all.
you probably have supreme authority, disgruntled elements resorting to unfair attacks resulting in traumatised children at the end of this – all the ingredients that define terrorism, the story of Sri Lanka…

Don Camillo said,

May 17, 2008 @ 4:52 am

The Island has become such a tragic comedy (and I’m not just referring to the newspaper).

The media in Sri Lanka has been taking a beating for so long now, it seems as if the journalists have finally abandon all hope and taken a running leap off World’s End. Of course I exaggerate – there are a couple of good eggs left – but really the majority aren’t even fit to be scrambled.

As far as this particular incident is concerned (instead of offering ‘dog ate my homework’ type excuses) the Island should ‘at least now’, act a little professionally and be accountable for what occurred. Yes, anywhere else in the world the Editor would resign or be fired – but in Sri Lanka it’s not demanded of him; it’s not expected of him; it’s not even blamed on him.

To the Editor of The Island newspaper: Please give us all a pleasant surprise and show the world you are a true media professional – RESIGN! ;)

Hem Goon said,

April 1, 2009 @ 12:02 pm

The Island is the only patriotic English newspaper in the country that is helping President Mahinda Rajapaksha to rebuild the nation ruined by 500 years of colonial misrule, 1505 – 2005. All other English newspapers are dominated and controlled by non-Buddhists who are working overtime to undermine the Sinhala Buddhist nation. It is likely that one of these anti-Sinhala, anti-Buddhist conspirators funded and supported by western intelligence agencies and foreign-funded NGOs infiltrated the production rooms of The Island and carried out this dastardly attack to discredit the only patriotic English newspaper. If you are a Sinhala Buddhist, please don’t criticise The Island; encourage them in their noble nation building, and better still, join them. If you are not Sinhala and Buddhist, hold your tongue and fall in line. This is not your island to do as you please.

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