Donate NowThere is a two front war in Sri Lanka. One against the Tamil Tigers, and another against those trying to cover the human toll. Denied access by a government and rebel movement that tolerate no version of events but their own, journalists are scared into submission. Those who dare ask the important questions themselves become targets.
Today Sri Lanka is among the four worst places in the world to be a journalist. According to the Free Media Movement, a Colombo-based advocacy group, 16 journalists and media workers were killed between 2006 and the middle of this year. Nearly 40 were threatened with death or physical harm; another 15 were abducted. Last year the tiny island nation ranked alongside perennial cellar-dweller Pakistan. Only Iraq and Somalia were more dangerous.
Most of those killed over the years hail from the northern Jaffna Peninsula, a Tamil-majority area that has experienced sporadic violence for the past several decades. There are now over 400,000 people living in Jaffna -- and no working field media. Nearly all have fled, or ceased to work. The three remaining staff of the Tamil Uthayan, a once-thriving newspaper, still manage to put out a scant product but won't leave their bullet-pocked concrete office fearing for their lives.
Those who write about defense issues -- the government's war strategy, civilian casualties, weapons procurement, etc. -- are especially vulnerable. Editorials posted on the Ministry of Defense website have stated that journalists critical of the military jeopardize national security, amounting to support for terrorism. The term "traitor" is often used.
In the capital, Colombo, a climate of fear and suspicion prevails. Phones are tapped, communications monitored. Several media workers told me they have been threatened in person, issued death threats over the phone, and followed by unidentified people linked to security agencies. A few have changed their addresses.
They have reason to be cautious.
In May, Keith Noyahr, a defense columnist for the English weekly The Nation was abducted on his way home from work. An outraged response by local and international press freedom groups secured his release, but only after he was held for many hours during which he was thoroughly beaten.
On June 30th, veteran journalist Namal Perera and Mahendra Ratnaweera, a Sri Lankan national employed by the British High Commission, were physically assaulted in broad daylight on a busy downtown road within eyeshot of police and government authorities.
Mr. Noyahr and Mr. Perera have since fled the country.
The most high profile case is that of J.S. "Tissa" Tissainayagam, a senior Tamil defense columnist who has been detained by the government since March 7th 2008 on vague allegations of helping the Tamil Tigers. No formal charges were brought against him until late last month, when Colombo's high court indicted him on terrorism charges for articles he published two years ago. One of his final columns before his arrest was titled, "Child soldiers: What the govt. report did not report."
The government says the articles in question had incited communal disharmony, a criminal offense under its Prevention of Terrorism Act. Critics counter the act is broad and draconian, an attempt to muzzle criticism of any kind.
Reporters Without Borders, The Committee to Protect Journalists and a host of other media rights groups have condemned Tissainayagam's detention and called for his immediate release. He has pled not guilty to all charges, and will go to trial on Sept. 18.
A wide degree of self-censorship has resulted from the crackdown on independent media in Sri Lanka, one that undermines the people's right to know in a democracy. But even those careful to avoid sensitive security issues have come into harm's way.
Last December, Sri Lanka's labor minister stormed into the offices of a state-controlled TV broadcaster and assaulted the director of news programming for failing to cover a speech he had given a day earlier.
