Newswire Services Exposed
Sinhalese Reporters Aid War Effort
The predominantly
Sinhalese Sri Lankan government is manipulating information about the war in the Tamil
homelands by banning reporters from the area and issuing false reports about events there.
This effort is assisted by the international news agency reporters who are Colombo based,
and most of whom are Sinhalese nationals. The major news agencies, including the international giants, Reuters, Agence France Press and the Associated Press, are based in Colombo, a few hundred miles and a world away from the the Tamil homelands. The government has banned them from visiting the 'war zones' of the island for over two years. While the Colombo newspapers cater to the Sinhalese population of the island, and in the rush to sell copies write articles that appeal to the local anti-Tamil sentiment, the agency reporters work for international agencies, with a different audience. Whilst it is understandable that journalists (being human) cannot be entirely free of bias, they are generally perceived by the international community as being impartial in their reporting. However, the Sinhalese reporters based in Colombo, instead of challenging the ban on their access to the war zones, work to promote the government's misinformation as news, and support this version of events even when there are conflicting reports. Even Tamil areas that are relatively accessible are not visited by the agency reporters. Some of them have staff in Vavuniya, from where they monitor the Tamil Tigers' Voice of Tigers radio service, there is little effort made to ascertain the truth by visiting the affected areas. In fact, the very ban itself, is cited as justification for not highlighting the reports of wide scale destruction of Tamil villages, the choking off of food and medical supplies to Tamil areas and the civilian casualties caused by deliberate bombing and shelling of population centres by Sri Lankan security forces. This is not merely due to a lack of enthusiasm. The Sinhalese reporters are writing about a war between the Tamils and Sinhalese. This is comparable to US reporters covering the war against the Viet Cong, particularly in the early stages, when less thought was given to the fundamentals of that conflict. The simple fact is that, being Sinhalese, they deeply believe in what their government is doing in the Tamil areas, and passionately want their (Sinhalese) nation to win the war against the Tamils. They even consider it their duty to support their government by reporting the 'truth' (which their government tells them) about events in the Tamil areas. They feel they need to do this so that international observers understand the 'real' reasons for the conflict, and make the 'correct' decision to support the Sinhalese government in its war. Put simply, the Sinhalese reporters regard this conflict as their war, too. In any case, if any reporter was open-minded enough to question the ban on the press, the persistent reports of civilian casualties, and to evaluate the fundamentals of the conflict from the Tamil view point, he or she would probably be arrested or harassed by the Sinhalese government for being a 'traitor.' The reporters' inherent loyalties mean they trust their government is right in its aims and objectives and the methods it employs to pursue those goals. Their loyalty to the Sinhala-Buddhist cause makes them reluctant to highlight information that would damage the government's image abroad. Since early last year, there have been persistent reports of 'disappearances' in Jaffna, the Tamil cultural capital with a population of 250,000 Tamils currently under occupation by approximately 40,000 Sinhalese troops. Details have appeared regularly in press releases by the LTTE, listing names and places and in Tamil newspapers in Colombo. None of these reports have ever been carried by the agency reporters. Even when Amnesty International published reports and urgent action appeals with details of the disappearances (from their own sources), only fleeting coverage was given. However, government reports of LTTE atrocities against Sinhalese civilians get prompt and widespread coverage. The 'news' is based on government press releases, and very little effort is made to verify these. Often these incidents 'occur' when foreign dignitaries visit the island. For example, when British diplomats were taken on a tour of Jaffna by the Sinhalese military in January 1997, the LTTE was alleged to have killed several (Tamil) civilians and a couple of soldiers on a Jaffna causeway. It later emerged (from sources within a Tamil militia opposed to the LTTE), that the civilians had been mown down by other soldiers as a reprisal. However, whilst the former report was carried by the agency reporters, the second was not. With much of the world's press relying on the international agencies to report accurately on events in the island, the Sri Lankan government's propaganda has exceptional reach. The handful of loyal journalists ensure that the government's preferred image is publicised, and information that might damage it is carefully screened out. The only sure way for the world to see if the Tamil people on the island are being wiped out or being liberated by the Sri Lankan government is for the international press to be allowed in freely, to witness for itself the true nature of events in the Tamil homelands. Until then, the truth will continue to be a casualty of this war, as it is being deliberately manipulated by those who should be its champions. Some examples where agency reporters have supported the Sri Lankan government Below, we list a few of the instances where reporters working for international news agencies have actively sided with the Sri Lankan government in manipulating the coverage of events on the island so as to promote the government and discredit the LTTE.
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Adapted from an article written by Suryen [TamilNet, July 04, 1997] |