The repercussions for the media in their attempt to report this bloody war and its tragic consequences have been profound. In January 2009, armed goons forced their way into the country’s largest private television station, MTV, and set fire to the transmission equipment after detonating grenades. Ruling politicians had gone on record to say that MTV was a proxy of the LTTE.

Just three days after this attack, Lasantha Wickrematunge, the founder editor of the Sunday Leader and my brother, was shot dead within the high security zone. This was followed by a similar attack on Upali Tennakoon, editor of a newspaper group owned by a friend of President Rajapaksa, though he wasn’t killed. Many were of the view that this attack was an attempt to divert attention away from the killing of Wickrematunge, and perhaps to show that journalists close to the regime were also being targeted. Lasantha’s death is still unsolved, as are the other abductions, assaults and killings of journalists that have taken place. There is no expectation that any of these crimes will lead to successful prosecutions. Many journalists who have been branded as traitors have had to flee the country. Those who remain have resorted to self censorship.

A culture of impunity prevails and the media are constantly under pressure, while the general public, still savouring the victory over the LTTE, seems unconcerned with the attacks on the private media.

During the time Lasantha was editor-in-chief of the Sunday Leader two cases of defamation were filed against him by Gotabaya Rajapaksa, the Sri Lankan secretary of defence, concerning two articles that appeared in May — profiles of Rajapaksa and the late LTTE leader.

With the death of Lasantha, these cases are continuing against the publishers.

Attacks on journalists continue. In June, Poddala Jayantha, a reporter working for a state-owned newspaper who is also an official for the Free Media Movement, a voluntary organisation that promotes freedom of speech, was badly beaten and had his leg broken.

In September, Jayaprakash S Tissainayagam, editor of the now defunct monthly magazine North East Herald, was sentenced to 20 years in prison. He had been arrested in 2008 and held under a detention order only to be charged under the draconian Prevention of Terrorism Act, the first Sri Lankan journalist to be charged under the act. He was accused of writing and publishing articles that caused racial hatred and promoted terrorism. The articles had criticised the government’s treatment of civilian Tamils caught up in the war. He was found guilty largely based on an alleged confession he made to the police while in custody. He has appealed against his sentence.

The war in Sri Lanka generated as much interest internationally as within the country. The government excluded the media from the theatre of war and handed out unverified updates through a state-controlled Media Centre for National Security, which was supported by a dedicated minister with the official status of defence spokesperson.

The pressure against reporting anything considered adverse by the government to its military thrust was not limited to the local media either. Several international journalists were considered persona non grata in Sri Lanka. Others had limited or no access to the north or east of the country. The government also refused entry to overseas politicians considered partial to the Tamil refugee community.

Bob Rae, a Canadian MP, was stopped at Colombo Airport and sent back even though he had an entry permit issued by the Sri Lankan Embassy in Ottawa. Non-governmental organisations have also been chastised for ostensibly helping the LTTE. This is a popular stance with the majority community, which has thrown its support behind President Rajapaksa since the death of Prabhakaran, the LTTE leader, who seemed to be invincible for more than two decades.

In response, the independent media (Sri Lanka has a well-entrenched state-owned and controlled media) reported the highs and lows of the war using clandestine sources. The government was quick to clamp down on alternate views to those disseminated by the state, and senior government officials and military officers named and shamed media personnel by calling them traitors. The now famous quote, ‘Either you are with us or against us’, was used by the defence secretary, who is the brother of the president.

At the end of October, the Sunday Leader’s editor-in-chief Frederica Jansz and news editor Munza Mushtaq received threatening letters.

Written in Sinhala in red ink, they resembled the letter received by Lasantha in January. Even the handwriting was similar. A complaint has been lodged with the local police and also with the Criminal Investigations Department.

The attention of the international community is now focused on the plight of the displaced people still languishing in the camps. The government has made promises in various forums that they would be sent back to their homes within 180 days, but the clearing of mines has delayed progress. The government’s promises have met with much scepticism at home and abroad.
Riding on a wave of popularity, President Rajapaksa is expected to call presidential elections at the beginning of next year, two years before his first term expires. He is expected to win comfortably. This does not augur well for the prospects of a free media.

Lal Wickrematunge is managing editor of the Sunday Leader in Sri Lanka. The newspaper was awarded the Guardian Journalism Award at Index on Censorship’s Freedom of Expression Awards 2009

The guns are now silent in Sri Lanka. No more bayonets. But four newspapers out of 24 remain critical of the government, still trying to push the limits. All other newspapers are either controlled by the Sri Lankan president, Mahinda Rajapaksa, and his relatives, or are exercising self censorship. The president does not want the public to hear a single criticism of his government.

Perhaps that’s why he re-enforced the government-controlled press council on 12 June, despite the fact that the industry-run self-regulatory mechanism, the press complaints commission, is still operating. If that’s not the reason, then the government of Sri Lanka must answer the following questions: why has the government reintroduced the press council after seven years? Has the Sri Lankan press complaints commission failed to protect the victims of the press? If yes, can the government publish any data or research to prove it? Has the press self-regulatory system failed to protect the readers in Sri Lanka?

I don’t think the government will be able to answer any of those questions, but I can answer the last. Yes, we failed. As a press self-regulator we failed. That’s why only four newspapers out of 24 (Sunday Leader, Iruduna, Ravaya and Lanka) are not blindly supporting the government, or self-censoring. That’s why the majority of Sri Lankan people believe what the government says. That’s why the majority of Sri Lankan people are unware of the scale of the casualties of the war. That’s why the majority of the Sri Lankan public are unaware of the situation for internally displaced persons. That’s why the majority of Sri Lankan people are unaware of human rights violations. That’s why the majority of Sri Lankan people are unaware of democratic traditions.

All this has to be looked at in the context of the restrictions of the democratic space in the last three years in Sri Lanka. One issue is the abduction, false arrests and killing of journalists along with the burning of printing presses, withdrawal of the licences of the media institutions, and the changing of the ownership of media institutions. The reality for journalists in Sri Lanka is that they are fortunate to be allowed to live. But they live in fear of abductions and killings.

It’s not so much a matter of what you do write, but what you are told not to write. We are told not to refer to issues, or mention the president in this manner, or the secretary of defence in that manner. An enjoining order has been issued against the publication of any news item “defamatory” of the defence secretary.

Once, when I criticised the president in a live TV discussion, the government stopped the broadcast. Lasantha Wickrematunge, the editor of the Sunday Leader, was killed, and still no one has been arrested. Journalist Tissanayagam has been in prison for over a year on false charges.

Even at election time, almost all the media, both electronic and print, state run and private, support the ruling party. The media engage in a certain amount of self censorship, but this is far beyond the norm. Such is life in Sri Lanka.

The second issue is the breakdown of the institutions; a parliament in which ministers fail to turn up to answer questions, and committees of public enterprises and public accounts that are no longer functioning. These are the committees which are now headed by members of the government, which dictates what should be done. The Constitutional Council, an independent body which is responsible for nominating members of the Independent Commissions, the Police Commission, the Public Service Commission, the Election Commission, and approving nominations for Attorney General, among others, has yet to be appointed. When the normal institutions no longer function, certain MPs and civil servants are above the law.

As I said earlier, the press in Sri Lanka already has its own self-regulatory mechanism. It could improve, of course, but it’s on the right track. The reintroduction of the government press council signifies yet another blow to the system of checks and balances that is crumbling, along with Sri Lankan democracy.