Media-Ethics And Reality Control

By Tisaranee Gunasekara -June 9, 2013 

“Only a free and unrestrained press can effectively expose deception in government” - (US Supreme Court on Pentagon Papers)

If the Rajapaksas succeed in turning their ‘media ethics proposal’ into law,Sri Lanka will have her very own Minitrue (Ministry of Truth). And the role of Lankan media will be redefined, from ‘watchdogs of democracy’ to ‘lapdogs of the Rajapaksas’.

In the consequent Orwellian reality, it will be permissible for Mervyn Silva to tie a public official to a tree andRohitha Rajapaksa to hammer a referee, both in full public view. But it will be impermissible for the media to report/comment on these (and other innumerable crimes and transgressions by power-wielders and their kith and kin) because that would “offend against expectations of the public, morality of the country or tend to lower the standards of public taste and morality”[i].

It will be permissible for Chinato build a power-plant using systems unsuitable to Lankan conditions and outdated technology. But it will be impermissible for the media report/comment on it, because that would be “criticism affecting foreign relations”[ii].

Media-Ethics and Reality Control by nelvely