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| Sunday, 23 October 2005 |
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Editorial |  |
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Editor, Sunday Observer. E-mail: [email protected] Snail mail : Sunday Observer, 35, D.R.Wijewardana Mawatha, Colombo, Sri Lanka. Telephone : 94 11 2429239 / 2331181 Fax : 94 11 2429230 Travails of the media Elections are a period of trial for the media. Not only do the media become a necessary adjunct in the modern day electoral campaign it also receives enhanced attention of the public. It has the enviable task of pleasing everybody all the time lest it becomes the object of attack and vilification by interested parties. What makes matters worse is the perception among the politicians and their supporters that only they possess knowledge and truth whereas their rivals are mere villains and fools. Truth hurts. But the first principle of journalism is to be truthful. This poses a problem for the media since those that get hurt attack the media and try to make it a scapegoat for their sins and omissions. We also know that like in war truth is the first casualty in elections. Much that is spoken at election rallies only contains a grain of truth and loads of untruth. To weed truth from untruth is much more difficult than weeding seed from chaff. We who belong to the public service media are often mistakenly identified as state media. This gives rise to two false perceptions. One is that everything that is carried in our newspapers or its opinion columns reflect the views of the government in power. Second that journalists working in the so-called state media are not independent or should not be independent. Always powers that be would take offence at any expression of independent thought while proclaiming their adherence to the cherished ideals of media independence. This is true not only of politicians but also of bureaucrats who also like to use the public service media as a defensive shield to refurbish their sinful souls. Now a new breed of monitors and researchers have arisen who measure newspaper columns by centimetres and weigh their content by their own, often biased standards and proclaim judgment on the media to justify liberal grants from equally biased benefactors. They never bare the methodologies or apriori presumptions that underlie their monitoring or research. The truth is like any other institution, media is also politically not independent. Nor are they economically independent. Major advertisers often dictate terms. These are not phenomena that affect the Sri Lankan media only. A totally independent media is a myth. The best the media could do is to report news as objectively as possible while providing a platform for wide debate. However objective a news report is there is, nevertheless, a train of subjective decisions that go to the cooking of news. Nor should it fear to express its own ideas whether it pleases or displeases interested parties. Abandoning that right to free expression by media professionals would be a disservice to society. The best that could be done by politicians, bureaucrats, friends and well-wishers of the media is to let the media do its job and help enhance the professional status of media personnel. Well done, China People's Republic of China has successfully completed its second manned space program. Astronauts Fei Junlong and Nie Haisheng landed safely at a pre-determined spot in Inner Mongolia after completing a six-day mission in the spacecraft Shenzhou (Divine vehicle). Elated Chinese officials announced future plans for a space walk in 2007 and an unmanned probe on the moon by 2010. Thus China is now well established as a member of the elite space club of nations. As friends of China we could rejoice in their success. China's rocketry program began in the 1950s. Its first satellite encircled the earth in 1970. The manned space program began in 1992. This is rapid development compared to other space powers. What is most important is that China has declared that its conquest of space is purely for peaceful purposes and it wants a weapons free outer space. China is the fastest developing economic power on earth today. Though still a developing country it will likely reach the first place in world economy in three decades, if not earlier. China's development would, no doubt ensure a more stable development and end the superpower hegemony of the United States. Together with the developments in India and Japan, Asia will transform itself into the engine of growth of the world economy by the middle of this century. In the 21st Century Asia is sure to regain its ancient role as the world leader. Certainly the 21st Century belongs to Asia. |
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