The third day of May
is World Press Freedom Day. It is a time for reflection about the status of
these freedoms or their absence in Sri Lanka.
In this Age of
Information, Sri Lankan journalists do not have the privilege of Freedom of
Information legislation that would give access to information on important
issues and mega projects. The manifest reluctance to open the doors
to scrutiny implies that there are things to hide. There are other
more tangible obstacles. There is threat and its execution. There’s
gagging, direct and subtle. There is self-censorship wrought by these
things.
Journalists themselves
don't make things easy when they lie and mislead, when media freedom advocates
violate principles of transparency and accountability. Journalists have
suffered rather than benefited from outfits such as the Free Media Movement for
these very reasons. Just the other day, for example, an NGO called
‘Freedom House’ ranked Sri Lanka 167th out of 198 countries with
respect to ‘freedom of the press’. An
outfit called ‘Sri Lanka Campaign for Peace and Justice’ claims that 34 Sri
Lankan journalists were killed. The
former makes calculations based on organizations like the latter. Now if we don’t factor in the credentials of
the relevant information providers then we have reliability compromised.
If someone wears the
journalist hat now and terrorist cap later and happens to be killed in
counter-terrorist operations, we can choose to call the victim ‘journalist’ or
‘terrorist’. Our choice is framed by
ideological and outcome preferences. If
in description and naming the necessary qualifiers are kept hidden we don’t do
justice to our vocation. And when the
unjust champion the just cause of press freedom, it only shows how poor we are. If, moreover, the unjust also happen to be
embezzlers who don’t give a hoot to the transparency and accountability they
demand from governments, it makes matters still worse.
Regardless of the
antics of self-appointed advocates of press freedom, regardless of the fact
that some of them are rogues, they cry they raise remains valid.
We want things
changed. We want protective and enabling legislation. We demand
these things because no oppressor ever voluntarily concedes anything to the
oppressed. That’s what Martin Luther King (jr) said. True. And demands have a better chance of
yielding something tangible if the oppressed stand together. Those numbers count. A single individual, after all, is not a
front.
And yet Rosa Parks, on
December 1, 1955 decided to object to segregation laws in Montgomery. She was an individual. She continued to sit
in a bus when ordered to stand and make way for a white passenger. She sat down for freedom and thereafter
others African Americans stood up for freedom all over the United States of
America. There was advocacy in her act
of defiance. There was also ‘doing’; there was ‘walking the talk’. Even as she sat. There’s a lesson there for all of us.
Journalists do not
have to wait on the largesse of, the powerful. Even as they agitate for
freedoms, it is incumbent upon them to rehearse that freedom and desist from that
which could compromise their cause. There are contractual
boundaries. Journalists must play at the margins and strive to push them
out. Those who say ‘impossible’ probably don’t try hard enough. There is nothing airtight in this world. If anyone entertained illusions that defense
systems are perfect, 9/11 would have been sobering enough to abandon the
notion. It is the same principle that
allows for an obviously non-destructive equivalence in the media world. Sure, there are dangers. Journalists have got killed. No one said it
was going to be delivered on a platter with thank-you note either.
This is why some feel
that there’s safety in numbers. And yet
numbers is just element. Organizations and organizing are useful but not always
necessary when it comes to saying what needs to be said. If what needs to be said is to be said, one
must have courage and skill. One must be
intelligent and creative. There should
be humility and patience. Above all
there has to be professional honesty. Take any one of these out, and no
amount of friendly legislation will get us very far. Freedom is not
given, it is got. It is obtained less by agitation than by practicing
vocation. With honor and dignity.
msenevira@gmail.com
0 comments:
Post a Comment