Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa has already very clearly stated that the Government has no intention whatsoever to close down or ban social media. I think what we need to do is engage in social media as much as possible. What we are trying to do is engage in it positively as much as possible. So the Government of Sri Lanka is completely engaging with the entire front. We do not have anything to hide. We are fully open and we are a futuristic Government.
We want this country to be developed as much as other developed countries in the world. This is my President’s expectation and we are here to achieve this expectation. President Mahinda Rajapaksa has already developed the plan which is called Mahinda Chinthanaya – Vision for the future and it is mandated by the people of this country. We are here to achieve that goal, Mass Media and Information Ministry Secretary Dr. Charitha Herath told the Daily News during a recent interview.
Here are excerpts:
Q: There are many foreign media outlets that present a distorted picture of Sri Lanka and also about the war. How is the Government countering such campaigns especially in view of the Geneva Human Rights meeting?
A: There were many attempts to tarnish the image of Sri Lanka after we defeated terrorism and completed the humanitarian operation. What we won was not the war but peace. We won independence from Britain in 1948 and for the last 30 years we suffered from terrorism. This means 50 per cent of our time spent as a free nation was spent on the war. During those 30 years Sri Lankan citizens did not think about their future and only focused on protecting their lives during their day-to-day activities. They were hiding to protect themselves. Our war was a lifelong struggle/experience for us but for others, it is only another set of data, another ‘incident’ and a set of visuals.
We came out of this horrible lifelong nightmare with the leadership of our President Mahinda Rajapaksa. Many analysts, experts on war say that the Sri Lankan experience/ model is unique; it had not been practiced in any other country in the world before and this would be a sort of lesson for the developed countries which are still trying their best to settle this kind of issue and wasting many human lives.
This is the feedback we got once we ended the war defeating the most brutal terror group in the world. Some top world leaders are jealous of what we have achieved. Some other world leaders are jealous of where we are heading which is developed status. Another set of world leaders are influenced by dislocated Tamil Diaspora members living in foreign countries and dominating small vote bases. The International Non Governmental Organizations (INGOs) which were working with local NGOs who lost a very good income generating avenue which was the North East war, are angry because they and their local partners lost funding after the ending of the war.
These elements are spreading a fabricated, inaccurate and distorted picture of Sri Lanka in the world.
We are now engaged in many ways to counter this situation. Our Foreign Ministry is working hard along with all our foreign missions abroad. Our Government’s machinery works with many foreign Governments, using our trade, cultural, religious, social and educational relationships in order to communicate the correct picture to them. There is a special mission we created in order to disseminate knowledge on the 3D principle applying to the Northern Province. Three Ds stand for De-militarization, Development and Democratization. We have already de-militarized the LTTE, other para-military groups etc., and de-mined the province. We have commenced the development process and already done a significant amount of development work.
In the beginning, all argued that we cannot eradicate terrorism and demilitarize armed groups but the Government did it. Then they argued that we cannot de-mine and resettle IDPs but we completed de-mining and resettled IDPs. Our very successful resettlement and rehabilitation process is a model to the rest of the world. The next argument they brought was that we cannot develop the provinces but we have already completed a significant amount of development projects including infrastructure facilities etc. Then the pro-LTTE international elements started to say we can do everything but not democratization. We held the Northern Provincial Council poll and even the TNA accepted it was a fair election. Various elements stated that it would be a biased and rigged election but their predictions were wrong.
Now the Tamil nationalists like Ananda Sangari says “we have been given the power of the Northern Provincial Council and let us look forward to the future”. This is the most possible and valid nationalistic point of view on the issue which was taken up by some other nationalist leaders too. But the Diaspora story is completely different from this. They have given up the hope of returning to this country for some of their own reasons and earlier they thought they can achieve their vicious aim (separate country) through terrorism. But it failed and they left the country. Now what they want is to attack and punish the Government for defeating terrorism and establishing permanent peace.
The interaction of the Government with the international community is aimed at clearly showing them what we have done, and getting them involved in the development process the Government commenced and share with them the Sri Lankan model of 3D policy. We are now working with many in the world to achieve our targets.
Q: What exactly stands behind the negative publicity given to Sri Lanka by certain foreign media outlets since we defeated terrorism?
A: This is also a part of the issue. Some established media outlets were saying many different stories about Sri Lanka from the beginning and they were expecting the war to last for a long time and they were also expecting that we will not be able to de-militarize, de-mine and resettle IDPs etc.
When we did all that one by one, they shifted their argument to different topic. During the northern Provincial Council Election, some media establishments went to the North and set up temporary stations there to show the world ‘poll rigging, violence, violation of law etc’ but there was nothing for them to report. Now they are hanging on to the ‘last 14 days of the war’. They have forgotten everything such as ‘federal state’, 13th amendment, LLRC report etc. This is something silly. Established international media outlets are trying their best to tell the world that their ‘stories’ are true. But it is not so and the ground reality is not what they report. Media should have ethics.
Q: Channel 4 is also classed as ‘foreign media’. Recently Callum Macrae supported the pro LTTE elements openly when he took part in Skype exchange after his film “No Fire Zone” was broadcast on the internet, something sponsored by ‘The Youths and Students Federation’, Tamil Nadu. Please comment.
A: We were very open to Channel 4 journalists and accepted visa requests by them to visit Sri Lanka. But they were trying to create a lot of ‘issues’ during their stay here. They went everywhere they wanted and got everything they wanted such as photographs and information. The problem is, reporting is not what they want and do. Their intention is involving themselves in the issue and become a part of the issue. But the responsibility of media is reporting and presenting their point of view, not being part of an issue.
Channel 4 took it up as their personal battle against Sri Lanka.
From the beginning I presented our side of the story but the Channel 4 journalists were not willing to listen to us. They stuck to the ready-made story they had with them. This is not accurate journalism. Real journalism is unbiased and amounts to reporting all sides of the story. A real journalist does not fabricate a story or report one side.
Q: How did the recent CHOGM Summit help Sri Lanka to improve its standing and image on the world stage? Explain how the “branding” of Sri Lanka with catchy slogans like a World Within helped this process.
A: CHOGM was totally successful and Sri Lanka received the expected publicity. This is the biggest ever event organized in Sri Lanka after 1976. I am really happy that we were able to provide facilities for the media. These days, a large number of media outlets exist and a large amount of facilities were required. While we were preparing for the event, some Ambassadors asked us whether we are able to provide advance facilities such as satellite support etc. They were reluctant to believe our capability but we did a superb job by facilitating all media.
Branding Sri Lanka was one of our main targets and we have done that very successfully in all fields such as tourism, trade etc. Even the worst enemies of our country will recognize that we have done a really good job when it comes to holding CHOGM in Colombo.
Q: Recently a documentary on Sri Lanka was aired during prime time by NBC in the US. Some have said this was a colossal waste of money. What is your view and will there be more such programs to educate foreign viewers on Sri Lanka?
A: I have seen that program in NBC and it was really good. I think any channel could do their own promotion and any channel can engage in promoting a country. Only the persons who stay in Sri Lanka but hate our development and progress say that it is waste of money and useless. I cannot understand why they think like this and are not interested in their own motherland. We are not supposed to take their view seriously because clearly they act against their own motherland to please somebody else.
Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa has already very clearly stated that the Government has no intention whatsoever to close down or ban social media. I think what we need to do is engage in social media as much as possible. What we are trying to do is engage in it positively as much as possible. So the Government of Sri Lanka is completely engaging with the entire front. We do not have anything to hide. We are fully open and we are a futuristic Government.
We want this country to be developed as other developed countries in the world. This is my President’s expectation and we are here to achieve this expectation. President Mahinda Rajapaksa has already developed the plan which is called Mahinda Chinthanaya – Vision for the future and it is mandated by the people of this country. We are here to achieve that goal. We need to do a lot of campaigning on Sri Lanka in the coming days and months because we need to develop our cultural tourism, agro tourism, sports tourism etc. We need to do campaigns to develop many other areas and we will do lot of campaigns in the future.
Q: The opposition is alleging that the government is misusing state print and electronic media for the Provincial Council elections campaign depriving the opposition of any coverage in these media. What is your opinion on this?
A: I have to be very clear about this. In this country, the private sector has already taken over 70 per cent of the media space. For example, the state media has only two television channels and private sector has eight channels. Radio and print media is same. As a developing nation, we need a platform to share information on development with the public.
That is why we are using state media to communicate the accurate development information to the people. The other factor is education. Actually, the television service began in Sri Lanka for the first time aiming at educational purposes. This is a part of the development process. The state media is for development. What we are trying to do is communicate the information on development to the people of this country in order to get them engaged in the development process. I do not see anything wrong in doing this.
The political involvement in state media is another topic. The Government has been brought into power by the people using their universal franchise and therefore the Government belongs to the people. This is why the Government should have a mechanism to communicate its point of view to the people. The Government should have a media space to share its views, positions etc., with the people. Therefore there is no issue here.
Q: Some websites and commentators have criticized the Government’s granting of laptops and car loans to journalists saying the Government intended to bribe them. What is your comment and what kind of welfare measures for journalists are planned in the future?
A: The Ministry of Media and Information is here to facilitate the media space in this country. So what we are doing is licensing private and public media stations, facilitating them with the Government data, helping the industry by developing the technical side. This is why we provide journalists voice recorders, cameras, laptops, etc. We have also given scholarships for journalists for training. We have given interest free loans to them to buy vehicles. This facilitation can be done by any legitimate Government that came into power. But the issue here is only this Government has done all this.
There are three ways in engaging with media in any democratic society. One is to regulate. Regulation needs some rules and regulation is done according to the relevant rules. The second engagement is ethical intervention. The third engagement is training. We have been involved in all three legitimate engagements. So there is no issue here.
The social media is important. We have come to an era where social media intervention has become a day-to-day activity of the people. What we need to do is get a proper understanding about this social media and the benefits and negative impacts of the same. We have to understand how social media can be used in a positive, productive and futuristic way. This is the idea we need to share. As the Government, there is no intention to ban or close down any social media. But we want parents, teachers, adults and responsible citizens to take this challenge for all of us not only for the Government or for the kids. We need to educate society to make use of these powerful platforms.
Social media is similar to highways. If you do not follow the rules and drive safely, you will end up in disaster. If the driver, the person who is going to be on that platform does not act carefully following the rules and regulations, he or she will be in trouble. He or she will be end up in disaster. Therefore we are not going to close down the roads (social media). We are going to educate the people how to drive (use social media) safely without falling into trouble. We, the Ministry of Mass Media and Information will commence a National Campaign to educate people on how to use social media for positive, productive and futuristic outcomes.
The role of media in a functioning democratic state like Sri Lanka is based on two main principles. One is direct democracy which is the procedural part of the democracy. The Parliament, elections, Government., etc are included in this part. This is the technical part of the democracy. The second part is associational democracy which includes the people’s engagement, empowerment, participation, discussion etc. At the end of the day real democracy is governing by discussion. Enabling the people to take part in the discussion comes in the associational part of the democracy. Here comes the role of media. So what we are trying here is developing and enhancing discussion through media.
As a county we can be proud of how we have done this. By every evening, at every week end anybody can see thousands of positions aired through many media stations. This is the richness of our democracy which we need to protect. As the Ministry of Mass Media and Information, we know what we are doing and the role we have to play and we believe that free space is a must for democracy and development. Innovations and new thinking comes into the development only through free space. Under the leadership of President Mahinda Rajapaksa, this Government protects free space for democracy and for development.