Open letter to President

Visual arts, commercialism and electronic media

Time is ripe for standardization of programs on music and drama on electronic media:

by Kolitha Bhanu Dissanayake - Dean, Faculty of Music, University of the Visual and Performing Arts

Let me thank you first, for the regulations imposed for the protection and benefit of generation of children as a result of your direct intervention. Restricting access for children to pornographic websites, anti-drug campaign under `Mathata Thitha' (full stop to liquor) and banning advertisements on electronic media promoting liquor and cigarette were prominent among them.

Undoubtedly these measures would help discipline the future generations. I believe it is important that your attention be focused on another area which, as drug and liquor, creates an atmosphere leading younger generation to wilderness. This affects the country, which is a common subject of discussion among learned and intellectuals. Since the subject is confined to discussions and debated and no practical action has been taken, this issue has, now, become an intractable issue. Therefore, with all due respect to you, I seek your direct intervention in this regard.

Art and social values

In terms of the content and marketing of programs allied to performing arts broadcast over audio-visual media institutions during their air time, it is obvious that the adverse effect created by them is not minuscule. Our attention should be focused on it as it has become so powerful even to crack the very foundation of our system of values. Major damage is caused to music and dancing. Attention of electronic media on other fine arts is paid as a face saving effort. The sustenance of art and instill discipline in children goes hand in hand. There should be a future generation for the sustenance of art. A well disciplined child can be built by teaching classical art. If there is no social value asserted to art that taught by the teacher, the students who have already selected the subject would abandon it considering classical art as something which is old, anachronistic and something to be discarded away.

Thereafter, they would subconsciously draw towards embracing so called popular art. Considering art as a dream, discarding depth of art, they entertain synthetic concepts. I firmly state that some audio-visual media institutions are responsible for this situation. This is a disgrace to the country and a crime. This is a sociological issue which hampers the advancement and sense of pride of a generation. Younger generation becomes victims of this situation. Little understanding of art and attitude on the part of most of the officials in media institutions and their frenzy for competition among media is socialised in terms of series of cheap programs. It is the innocent art which is shamelessly being prostitutionalised in this process. As a result of this, hapless generation of children painted a wrong picture of art. Stealthily cheap meaningless popular concepts are deposited in the tender minds of children. As a result of action on the part of some media, realistic and humane art is suppressed in the society. I believe time is ripe to get our society rid of these tendencies. With all the respect to you, I urge you to use your executive powers to enact laws and regulations to regulate programs that diminish public taste and makes public mind tasteless, comic,. I believe that such course of action would be welcomed by the clergy led by the Maha Sangha, teachers as well as learned and concerned citizens. They would all be grateful to you.

Diversity

Next to religion, it is art that can instill discipline in man. This is because as religion, art can also make inner-development in man. Inner development is a major factor that directly affects human behaviour. The diversity of human behaviour is determined on the degree, nature and amount of inner development. However, inner development is two fold, mundane and supra mundane. The religion guides man on a path that gradually creates conditions conducive for man to liberate from mundane world and leads to a supra mundane plain and also to create atmosphere and knowledge to achieve that end. Art is a medium of expression which is based on mundane and supra mundane conditions. It is an enchanting meditation.

The meaningful and well disciplined art addresses the soul in a very subtle manner. Therefore, it is an inalienable responsibility to use art for the betterment of the mankind and for the advancement of future generation. The above mentioned media's applications that are against this objective, should, somehow, be controlled. I suggest that a code of ethics on entertainment programs and their content, air time and advertisement and trailers that are now being transmitted by audio visual media, should be introduced. Although telecasting a Dharmadeshana (Buddhist sermon) on full moon day (Poya Day)from Temple Trees, the official residence of the President, is commendable, no media institution can wash its hands off as they stand for the protection and propagation of religion and culture. I appreciate President's decision to telecast the Poya Day sermon via different media institutions. However, Your Excellency, I am also not reluctant to point out that it is the height of chicanery if to be religious only on Poya Day and shamelessly and brazenly violate tenets of socio-cultural values enunciated on the Poya Day sermon for the next twenty nine or thirty days. What most of the electronic media institution do is a farce, deception and to extract taste nourished by humanity and good behaviour from the society.

Meaningful entertainment

The variety entertainment programs offered by all media institutions should promote meaningful entertainment, appreciation, enhance knowledge, attitude and social harmony. The content of most of the programmes should be designed to enhance the stone pillars of social concepts upholding our socio-cultural system of values. If it is not so, it is inevitable that a rootless generation is created with no sense of the country and its culture and has a confused idea of our socio-cultural background. Even now, there is a large number of such persons in society. This would also result in the creation of new prisons and rehabilitation camps. The officials of the electronic media should take this fact into consideration as electronic media has become the most popular and fastest media in communication. That popularity and fastness should be utilised towards fortification of societal values with the objective of diverting the subtle expression of the soul of art to the right direction, providing audience with entertainment, appreciation, knowledge and concepts to achieve that end.

The police and the Forces are imposing emergency laws as and when necessary. It is to protect the masses and those who violate these regulations, are immediately brought to book according to the laws of the land.

Letter and Spirit

It is because we feel the immediate effects of these acts. The masses also expect authorities to implement the law to the letter and spirit of it because of this fact. The long term damage caused by brazen abuse of art and propagating that abuse to the society if calculated, should include punishable offences such as

1. To kill the very soul of man (masses)

2. Psychological distortion

3. Setting of erroneous precedence

It is appropriate to place a mechanism either to control or to stop damages caused in this nature. There should be a legally empowered impartial officer to study and re-orient some of the programs transmitted by some media institutions. If the preset programs aired by some media institutions would continue in their present format for years, country facing a socio-cultural crisis is inevitable. I believe that immediate action should be taken to rectify this process. What is needed is only the Government's intervention. As citizens responsible for education we are fulfilling our obligations. On available opportunities, we educate the schoolchildren, visiting schools, on right form of art, appreciation. However, the issue is when schoolchildren try to apply the knowledge, they are confronted with harsh reality. What some of the electronic media institutions do is to indoctrinate cheap programs with the employment of subtle tactics.

As it is easy to acquire bad habits, children will embrace them and confuse with them. It is with the commercial objectives in mind that children's creativity, child nature, innocence and curiosity have been exploited.

This is done against the backdrop of crazy competitive environment with the prime motive of profit rather than service. This situation is not common to all the electronic media, but is observed in lesser and greater degree in some media while in majority of the electronic media, the situation is worse. This is a dangerous situation which demands prime attention. Therefore, I offer you a list of acts that some of the electronic media engaged with which are impermissible.

Impermissible acts

1. To air cheap entertainment programs and teledramas that are not suitable for children either to listen to or watch during inappropriate air time or to include their trailer in children's and cartoon programs.

2. Use of inappropriate Sinhala language and its usage which are not in circulation and are not suitable for children in foreign cartoon programs which are dubbed into Sinhala.

3. Allocation of prime portion of air time to cheap Western programs that will hamper children's taste, knowledge and creativity while airing a few programs reflecting country's socio-cultural values to justify their action.

4. To conceal the unique properties in each form of art by spreading false views on performing arts and thereby keeping away the audience from realistic art, disciplined art and expression of the soul.

5. Setting aside the performing properties of indigenous songs, traditions of dancing as well as playing of drums, folk theatre and folk music in ritualistic incantations that have been preserved during the past 2500 years, directing audience to arts of comical nature and spread misinformation.

6. To create bogus aura around out of the hat characters and thereby mislead the public while totally neglecting internationally renowned artists, senior and respected Sri Lankan artists.

You might think that self-censorship is better in this regard than imposing restrictions.

Since the stage for self-censorship or imposing blanket censorship is over, I believe, it is my view that these media should be brought under a legal framework responsible to the Government. Considering my experience in the field, I suggest following measures can be implemented as a prior-set up to the enactment of such laws and regulations on the part of the Government.

Urgent measures

1. To utilise complete potentials in the State media for the advancement of the society. (Convince the staff that making an advanced society a reality, is dependent on the manner in which masses identifies the refined art)

2. To enhance transmission strength and coverage of the State media by constructing additional transmission towers.

3. Instructing State entities with financial clout to consider the quality of programs when sponsoring them (Banks/National Lotteries Board etc.)

4. Request the business community, convincing them of the situation, to sponsor only programs that respect social norms.

5. Partially or completely cutting off advertising in media which violates social values, giving priority to media institutions that subscribes to social norms.

6. To convince the officials in all electronic media of the moral obligation of selling and propagating right ideas and perceptions.

Most of the media institutions should keep away from the frenzied competition that we (our media institution) should be the number one despite the plight of the country and experience the real warmth of the land.

The relevant media officials should be convinced that by actively contributing to the common good is a national task. I believe, as a person who consumes national resources, I have a duty to remind them of the obligations and responsibilities of the media officials to work towards that objective.

It is unfortunate that some media officials do not possess intelligence to recognise the future danger of aiding and abetting this process, thinking that it would not affect them, their families or their children and that it would haunt their grandchildren.

The war on terrorism to protect the sovereignty of the country from the clutches of terrorists, humane operation to salvage the masses that are suffering from conflict and political process for those who have understood the value of democracy are carrying out to secure a bright future for the country and for the younger generation.

Therefore, they should be a proud nation that respect ethnic diversity, help one another and moan for one another, not fight against one another. They should be a sensitive generation of children with inner development. If you anticipate handing over the nation to an intelligent, well-disciplined generation of children who understood the soul of arts I urge with all the respect, that you may take appropriate action considering the points raised by this letter. As the President, by implementing the measures set out in the letter, I would like to state, again with respect, that you could become an ideal Father to the nation.