SAFMA Exco meets

Just after the Executive Committee meeting of South Asian Free Media Association (SAFMA) Sri Lanka Chapter held on July 10, 2018 at SLPI Board Room. In picture:- Lakshman Gunasekara, Thaha Muzammil, Sharmini Boyle, NM Ameen, Hana Ibrahim, Shan Wijetunga and Dilrukshi Handunnetty. Pix by S.L. Azeez

SAFMA-SL condemns targeting of Lankan journalists

The Sri Lanka chapter of the South Asian Free Media Association is very concerned about the targeting by politicians of two Sri Lankan journalists involved in internationally reporting on Sri Lankan issues published recently in the New York Times newspaper of the USA. We are concerned that, due to this individual targeting, the professional sights of these journalists have been violated. We are also concerned that the targeting is being done by senior leaders of a political group that, when it was last in governmental power, presided over a regime that saw the collective intimidation and repression of the news media industry of by extreme violence.

Singling out and publicly targeting individual professionals for the work they perform for an employer, in this case, an internationally published newspaper, is only valid if those individuals at least appeared to have seriously violated the country’s laws in any manner. In the case of the detailed news report published by the ‘New York Times’ newspaper of the USA, headlined ‘How China got Sri Lanka to cough up a port’ on June 25, 2018, the two Sri Lankan journalists concerned were the local support reporters for the American journalist team belonging to the ‘New York Times’.

As an organisation of socially concerned journalists, SAFMA-SL upholds the right of anyone to respond to any news publication in terms of public criticism of the published item or even its publisher. In terms of the law as well as professional practice, both locally and internationally, the responsibility for publication of any news product is held by the publisher and not the employee professionals concerned.

Individual professionals are singly targeted for investigation only if there is a violation of law by the publisher that is formally considered by the authorities as serious enough to investigate and prosecute all the personnel seen as complicit. In the case of the said news report, so far, no legal authorities, either Sri Lankan or American, have thought fit to raise issues of wrong-doing, certainly not of an urgent nature that has immediate social repercussions.

The public naming of these two journalists last week remarkably echoed that period of repression and the behaviour of politicians that heralded such massive rights violations and violence. The fact that this political criticism has sparked off a wave of similar or even worse criticism of these two individual professionals via internet social media is indicative of an attempt to intimidate Sri Lanka’s news professional community as a whole.

News 1st attack harms media freedom

Statement by South Asian Free Media Association – Sri Lanka Chapter 

The South Asian Free Media Association Sri Lanka Chapter condemns the attack on the Head Office  of Sirasa News First in Colombo on Wednesday April 4^th night as an alarming and shameful attack on the news media freedom in the country.

We are reliably informed that an unruly mob exploded large amounts of fire crackers outside the gates of the News First head office complex in Colombo and threw exploding fireworks at the closed gates and boundary walls of the news group premises. Given past experience of even more destructive attacks including firing of weapons by armed men, the staff of News 1^st were reportedly severely traumatised by the Wednesday night incident which clearly directly targeted their news organisation. 

SAFMA-Sri Lanka considers such attacks, from whatever quarter, to be an act of intimidation and terrorising of people, in this case a news media organisation. It is a violation of the right of freedom of expression at a time when the nation had presumed that such freedoms had been restored after a decade of violent political repression.

SAFMA demands that the law and order authorities immediately investigate this incident and prosecute the perpetrators. Only quick and firm remedial action will convince the public that democratic freedoms have genuinely been restored in this country. 

Let industry self-regulate social media

Statement by South Asian Free Media Association – Sri Lanka Chapter 

Let industry self-regulate social media      

                                                                             -- SAFMA Sri Lanka

The Sri Lanka Chapter of the South Asian Free Media Association welcomes moves to curb abuse of internet social media but warns that State interference may only open new ways to suppress freedom of expression. We say: let the industry self-regulate social media.

SAFMA Sri Lanka is alarmed at the continued use of internet social media networks to spread ethnic hatred. The recent anti-Muslim violence in the country was accompanied by the rampant use of such social media sites as Face Book, What’s App and Instagram to spread anti-Muslim suspicions and hatred. Social media are similarly used to spread hatred and suspicion of other ethnic groups as well. Internet social media are also used to spread false information to mislead and incite the public to commit acts of violence against targeted social groups. 

This racist propaganda often espouses social attitudes of ethnic dominance and elite ethnic privilege that subvert the nation’s assurance of equality and justice to all its citizens.

The continued use of social media sites to spread ethnic hatred, supremacist attitudes and, incite communal violence urgently requires redress in the form of regulation of such internet sites to prevent future such socially destabilisation communication usage. SAFMA-SL supports action for such regulation and calls on the internet industry and web professionals to take responsibility for such regulation, with government facilitation.

SAFMA Sri Lanka points out the poor record of governments in attempting to control communication content by means of sustained censorship of content either through Emergency powers or through such mechanisms as the Censor Board and Press Council. These powers and mechanisms have been flagrantly and repeatedly abused by successive regimes in the past to suppress dissent and illegitimately sustain their tenure in power. 

While welcoming current moves to swiftly introduce regulation of social media content, SAFMA Sri Lanka insists that the government should only perform a facilitating role in enabling the stakeholders of the internet industry, both service providers and content producers, in establishing mechanisms of industry self-regulation. 

While the regulating cyber architecture may require support by the Telecommunications Regulatory Commission, we urge that the oversight body for the regulatory mechanisms provides for adequate industry and professional representation to ensure that this architecture is not manipulated by government or other political interests.

SAFMA Sri Lanka reminds the government and the general public of the continued burning need for all such controls over freedom of expression to be placed under a publicly appointed body that is autonomous of government control. 

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