As a public servant I was badly dealt with by the media. Normally it is the other way around; the media are badly dealt with by the public servants and the state. I was harassed by the media for no reason, except for the fact that I was handling the famiy planning programme of the country. I took upon myself, as Secretary Plan Implementation to implement, what I thought was a good family planning programme, because I thought we had to control our population and in that process, one newspaper, not the Buddhist leaders, not the Catholic leaders, but one newspaper took me on and said ‘may Weerasooriya Mahattaya Kalisama Andinne Oluwen’ –that Dr. Weerasooriya wears the trousers from his head, not from his legs- and caricatured me and blasted me to pieces.
So I went and met my boss who was the President of the country and said sir this newspaper is attacking me. He said ‘leave them alone, you will lose- don’t fight newspapers, because they will win. So you just get on with your work’. With that advice, although I was emotionally upset, I carried on. Then there was another reporter, a very good friend of mine, I must relate these stories, I am very happy that members of foreign embassies are here – from United States, Germany, Pakistan and Police officers are here, not for surveillance, but for the helping process of the media. I am also happy so many journalists from the rural and provincial areas are here. You are the guts of the media in my view. When I was the Secretary Plan Implementation we did not have mobile phones, I am talking of the 1970s. They used to contact me and when things were going wrong like when an irrigation canal was not done, not the public servants, they hide the fact till they are caught for inaction, but the rural and provincial media. They were the strength of my work in the districts.
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| Dr. Wickrama Weerasooriya delivering the keynote address at the National Conference. Pix by M.A. Pushpa Kumara |
So when Mr Kumar Nadesan asked me, as the Chairman of the Press Complaints Commission to come and address all of you today I heartily accepted, because it was Waruna Karunatillake who was in the Free Media Movement who first telephoned me and asked whether I could give a talk. I said ok.
The country has had enough of criminal defamation, one of the oldest provisions in our Penal Code written in the 1880’s and introduced to Sri Lanka.
The Penal Code is one of the best criminal enactments we have, not only we, India, and other countries. Section 479 I believe and 480 give a punishment of two years simple imprisonment and fine or both . When Ranil Wickremesinghe was Prime Minister, the Free Media Movement went to him and said please abolish this and it was happily taken out of the Statue book, once again thanks to the Free Media Movement we do not have that draconian piece of legislation in our statue book anymore. In 1976 I was charged for Criminal Defamation. I was taken into custody for having published a cartoon book called the family tree and I was hauled up. It was the same section – 479.
I still have a copy of the indictment served on me by the police, by Chandrika’s mother, Sirimavo Bandaranaike. But by fairness to that lady, she knew nothing about that charge, it was done by the ministers around her – teach this rotter Weerasooriya a lesson , he is trying to be smart, drawing cartoons about the Prime Minister at that time, bring the fellow before the criminal Court, my passport was impounded. Fortunately the government changed and six or seven months thereafter the charges were withdrawn, the passport was given back and this is history.
Mr. Nadesan asked me to come here as the Insurance Ombudsman, there are lot of common features about all the Ombudsman’s schemes and the Press Complaints Commission. We all handle subjects that concern the general public. We are all part of the dispute resolution system. Litigation is just out of the question today. I am not saying the judges are corrupt, not for one moment. But our justice system is delayed. And justice delayed is justice denied. There is no compromise in that phrase. In our system you will be lucky if a case is over in 15 to 20 years.
The Ombudsman schemes are supported by codes of conduct . There is an excellent code of the Editors Guild. All Codes must be updated from time to time. Like in the case of financial and insurance ombudsman you first go to the institute against which you complain , and say we have a complaint, and only if they cannot settle you come to the Press Complaints Commission and there is Mr Sam Wijesinha with his arbitration panel, dispute resolution panel. They appoint at least three members to hear each complaint and they have done a wonderful job. There has been many decisions where the Court of Appeal or the Supreme Court will set aside any type of mediation for what is called procedural infirmity . So I say arbitration will never be done, it will never succeed.
I have not seen one arbitration done by the Press Complaints Commission which has succeeded. Then if the newspaper declines to accept your award , there are many editors around here, can any one get up and say, I joined this scheme but I refuse to abide by its award, then you should walk out of it. With all respect if there are any recalcitrant editors who are having second ideas that the Press Complaints Commission has given an order against us, I am not going to publish an apology, I am not going to publish a correction, then that editor should be found fault with, he should be named and found fault with. That is my view. In your publications you say your decision is final and conclusive and cannot be questioned in a court of law. You can’t say that. Only Parliament can say our decision is final and conclusive.
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| Sam Wijesinha and Kumar Nadesan at the National Conference |
Then why should they complain against the press, my view is that the press should not be regulated whether it is self-regulated or state regulated, by the Press Council it should not be regulated. You are happy sir, you come from the United States, Article 1 of the Constitution guarantees not only the freedom of expression but also the freedom of the press, no one in the United States can touch the media, because it is guaranteed in the Constitution. Our Article 12, for some reason J.R (Jayewardene) somehow forgot to put this in. He could have put it, freedom of expression and freedom of the press. So we do not have the guarantee like what we see in the United States.
All you got to do is to change the Press Complaints Commission into media ombudsman of Sri Lanka. Under the guarantee of Registrar of Company all you got to do is pass a Resolution at your next board meeting that we have resolved to change the name of the Press Complaints Commission to Media Ombudsman of Sri Lanka. Then you inform the Registrar of companies about the name change and publish it in the newspapers. Put it one of the cheapest newspaper, we do not go to the expensive newspaper. That is a statutory requirement. You go to the paper which is cheap for advertising.
I also respect the Colombo Declaration. I have read through it, it is a beautiful document, so well drafted, it is a treasure not only for our country but for any country and it is acknowledged that the Press Complaints Commission is perhaps the only one in whole of Asia. Another matter is that, the entire matter of press freedom, don’t think it came from the Colombo Declaration. In my view it came from 1937 from a Supreme Court judgement, called the Bracegurdle case where an Englishman, a trade unionist was arrested by the British government and put into prison for trade union activities in the plantation area in the Nuwara Eliya area.
In my view the Free Media Movement should take a cue from the Writs of Habeas-Corpus in Sri Lanka from 1937 and include it in the next edition in the book the Other War’ and say that is the beginning of the freedom. I will catalogue some of the regulations which have occurred in this country. You are talking of self-regulations, it is a very sad state of affairs. I have catalogued this from this book, I don’t want to be picked up from a white van. Now I turn to what the Press Complaint Commission is doing in that direction. Without any hesitation I am of the view that the media should be free as George Orwell said that media should even tell us what we do not want to hear.
In that sense the media should not be regulated. Having said that I want to outline a part of the sad history of our country where the print media has been viciously interfered with by successive governments since the 1970s. An excellent text that documents the incidents is the 300 page book by Rajiva Weerasundara who is a doctor, a psychiatric now living in Australia. He says, relying on the book I can state that regrettably in Sri Lanka we have witnessed the following vicious ways. The banning, closing down of newspapers, or creating a situation which forces the closures of the newspaper . I site the Dawasa group.
The killing of popular journalist Richard Zoysa, a very close personal friend of mine and the founder editor of the Satana, Rohana Kumara and Lasantha Wickrematunga of the Sunday Leader. Four people got round his car and took blunt weapons, they did not shoot him, they broke his skull with blunt weapons., I don’t know how four people can keep a secret. Burning of presses, the Sunday Leader was burnt, the TV station Sirasa was burnt, seeing to it that Editors and journalists disappear where no body or corps is found so no Habeas Corpus. Surprisingly the Police investigations are never completed. Intimidation of journalists which make them flee the country. A very good example is Iqbal Athas, correct me if I am wrong, there may be others, The white van syndrome where journalists are picked up and unmercifully beaten and dropped off. Keith Noyhar comes to my mind. The muzzling of journalists . Death threats and intimidation of journalists which makes them write differently. Journalists are coaxed to be loyal to the political elite, to avoid critical investigative journalism.
Restriction or increasing the duty of newsprint which is 60 per cent of the paper’s cost of production; restriction and control of advertisements; censorship of news by Competent Authorities. Imposing or keeping of Emergency Regulations. Emergency has been going on for so long, many of us have forgotten it. But not the press, the press is always reminded that there is an Emergency on , because the Editor can be taken to task or the newspaper itself can be taken to task. Now I believe they have decided to abolish it, here again it has not been done technically and correctly.
I have stated what I thought is important. I want to close with this worry that people have about the re activation of the Press Council. I believe the best person in this audience who can speak to the President and say something in his ear is Mr. Sam Wijesinha as he is a person who the President warmly embraces wherever he is. He has been a mentor to the President when he was a young Member in Parliament and in his path of progress Mr Mahinda Rajapaksa achieved in life outside politics has been largely due to Mr. Sam Wijesinha. Sir, you could advise him correctly rather than getting wrong advice, and make an effort. I know that you have not asked personal favours .
This is on behalf of the country, for journalists you should try and tell him we have enough problems on our hand, Channel 4, the Moon whatever you call it, we have resolutions, Indian signals, Human Rights issues. In all that context we want a free media in this country. A Free media can help our nation to rebuild after the war.
I am very happy that this conference is held and the leadership that Mr Kumar Nadesan and others are giving. As regards the Press Council let me say this, it was enacted in 1973 so you can’t blame the current government for it. Mr. Ranil Wickremesinghe when abolishing criminal defamation could have abolished the Press Council. But he did not do it. Very few people in authority or power want to abolish laws which are already there. These are issues we should live with. But I feel the working journalists quite rightly and proudly have nominated a member to the seven member Press Council committee. The Press Council has to have seven members. The Working Journalists and the trade unions have refused to nominate their people, so seven becomes five,and no decision of five people become valid. It can be set aside by the Writ Application or the Fundamental Rights application. The Press Council came in 1973, the Constitution came in 1978. After the Constitution we have Fundamental Rights Article 14 and 12. So if the Press Council is not properly constituted as required by law its decisions can be set aside by Writ Jurisdictions , by certiorari, or a Fundamental Rights application. That is my view. There is a lot of material, case law, judicial decisions related to criminal defamation, contempt of court which should be put together . Before I walked in I asked Mr Nadesan to please publish the media handbook which gives the past law of the country. It has a very rich tradition even if it is not going be useful it is going be valuable for future generations to read for young journalists. I am speaking only of the print media, the social media, cannot be regulated, you cannot regulate Twitter, Face book which may overtake. Mr Nadesan said the print media will remain, I agree with him. The reading habit continues, That type of media cannot be regulated. Today when you look at the Daily Mirror, a large chunk of it is going on the web.
I end with this statement of Thomas Jefferson, who said if the people had to decide for a government without newspapers or newspapers without governments, I would ask them to vote for the latter – newspapers without a government. That was his view. These are the kinds of hard decisions that our leaders have to look at. As Lord Buddha said he can only show the way it is up to you to make the best of it. Similarly my request to the editors, journalists, and those associated with the media is you should strive to ensure a free and socially responsible media . The code of professional conduct and the Press Complaints Commission which I think should be renamed the Media Ombudsman is doing all that it can and it can only show the way.
Finally I must pay tremendous complement to the Press Complaints Commission . I have read every document which you have published to prepare myself for this talk. I don’t do this. But once I got interested, I went document after document .I have learnt so much and it was fascinating reading. All your publications are in prefect English. Journalistically well done. A tremendous complement to you Mr. Wijesinha for having led the Arbitral tribunal and giving your strength in an honorary capacity to our country. In recognition of that, my father had written seven books Mr Wijesinha knows him, he respected my father as a junior. He was also a journalist . He used to write quite a lot for Mr. D.R.Wijewardene. I wanted to present to him the seven books which I promised him every time I met him, but I never honoured my promise.
The press has a big role in working for democracy - Sam Wijesinha
“The Press Complaints Commission never adopts a confrontational attitude. We ask the complainant and the party against who the complaint is made to settle it without confrontation. Very often you find the complaints against the press are very trivial matters.
The man concerned who complains thinks everyone reads it but what he does not know is very few read and within two days there is another one. So it does not last. When we tell them this they make a big fuss and kindle public attention, then they realize it. The Press has a tremendous duty to ensure a lot of things.
Today the press has a great influence on elections. This was realized in 1960 by (John F) Kennedy who realized it and marshalled the media to win the election and become the first Catholic President of the USA.
The press has a great influence in working for democracy. To say that the press is independent, I don’t believe that. It is also dependent. The Washington Post that exposed Nixon and the Pentagon papers survived due to pressure because the people wanted it. The press being muzzled in any country results in a lot of damage and that is what we try to prevent it even here.
It is up to us to ensure that the politicians don’t make a monopoly of the press. I know how politicians are manipulated by external factors .In Washington there are 388 lobbies which are very powerful. They contribute to election expenses which in other words is a bribe. We have an important function to perform to see that justice is done and that can be done only by consultation and compromise and not confrontation.” |
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