MARKING the World Press Freedom Day, local and international rights groups appealed to the warring parties to refrain from hurting media workers and comply with their obligations under international law.
Free Media Movement (FMM), a Sri Lankan based media rights organisation, in a press release said ‘never before has it been so dangerous to be a journalist in Sri Lanka as now’.
Referring to the World Press Freedom Day FMM said: "This day is almost a cruel joke in a country farther away from meaningful press freedom than it has ever been in living memory.
The “significant deterioration of media freedom and the freedom of expression is a marker of an inexorable erosion of democratic governance” so much so that “free media is under unprecedented siege”, the statement added.
“Accurate, impartial and responsible reporting is almost impossible in Sri Lanka today in relation to the war, corruption or matters related to the regime and its constituent members”.
"The arbitrary actions against media by paramilitary groups sheltered by the Government, the shocking complicity of the Police in schemes to adduct senior journalists is a situation that media is placed in Sri Lanka today that beggars belief."
Since the beginning of 2006 at least 10 media workers have been unlawfully killed in Sri Lanka. Many more have been arbitrarily detained, tortured and allegedly disappeared while in the custody of security forces.
The FMM documented more than 10 violations of freedom of expression, 63 incidents in which media and journalists were threatened; 15 journalists and media workers were arrested and more than 25 have had to leave their home and some even the country.
Listing state censorship and interference in media, FMM said three state media officials were removed from their posts without explanations; a website was blocked and another was forced to shut down without any obvious reason; and five radio stations were forced to interrupt their broadcast.
The FMM declared that the government should reverse action already undertaken that restricts press freedom and freedom of expression and refrain from any moves to introduce any form of direct or indirect censorship.
It also called on the government and the LTTE to “Immediately halt all threats, harassment, abductions and attacks against media practitioners and outlets currently being perpetrated by all parties to the conflict; undertake complete, transparent and timely investigations into the murder of media practitioners and death threats issued against media practitioners and their families; halt the dangerous and irresponsible practice of publicly vilifying media practitioners.”
Amnesty International in a statement, also, urged both the parties to the conflict to stop targeting journalists.
The international rights group specifically called upon the Sri Lankan government "to respect media workers and publicly announce that killings, threats, or other attacks will not be tolerated and to investigate all cases of attacks, disappearances and killings of media workers promptly, independently, impartially and effectively, irrespective of the identity of perpetrators or victims."
AI also urged the LTTE to issue instructions to all its members against all killings, threats or other attacks on media workers.
“The importance of the media in conflict situations cannot be overstated, without reports, pictures and film of the fighting and the violence, no-one knows enough to put the pressure on the participants to ensure human rights are respected”, the statement read, adding “this need is particularly strong in Sri Lanka”
Amnesty also referred to its February report Silencing Dissent, and repeated its accusations that Sri Lanka is a country where media coverage of war has effectively been silenced – through threats, restrictions and violence.
International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) in its statement said: “The relationship between the State, civil society and the media has deteriorated rapidly. Weakening democratic commitments on the part of the authorities are leading in turn to an environment of impunity for corruption and human rights violations”.
The IFJ said that with few willing to publicly condemn such excesses, the ground was laid for more serious threats to the safety and security of journalists and media workers across Sri Lanka.
“Physical attacks, harassment, restrictions on movement and death threats have become a part of the working lives of journalists, photographers and all those engaged in the gathering, publication and dissemination of information in Sri Lanka,” the IFJ statement added.
Free Media Movement (FMM), a Sri Lankan based media rights organisation, in a press release said ‘never before has it been so dangerous to be a journalist in Sri Lanka as now’.
Referring to the World Press Freedom Day FMM said: "This day is almost a cruel joke in a country farther away from meaningful press freedom than it has ever been in living memory.
The “significant deterioration of media freedom and the freedom of expression is a marker of an inexorable erosion of democratic governance” so much so that “free media is under unprecedented siege”, the statement added.
“Accurate, impartial and responsible reporting is almost impossible in Sri Lanka today in relation to the war, corruption or matters related to the regime and its constituent members”.
"The arbitrary actions against media by paramilitary groups sheltered by the Government, the shocking complicity of the Police in schemes to adduct senior journalists is a situation that media is placed in Sri Lanka today that beggars belief."
Since the beginning of 2006 at least 10 media workers have been unlawfully killed in Sri Lanka. Many more have been arbitrarily detained, tortured and allegedly disappeared while in the custody of security forces.
The FMM documented more than 10 violations of freedom of expression, 63 incidents in which media and journalists were threatened; 15 journalists and media workers were arrested and more than 25 have had to leave their home and some even the country.
Listing state censorship and interference in media, FMM said three state media officials were removed from their posts without explanations; a website was blocked and another was forced to shut down without any obvious reason; and five radio stations were forced to interrupt their broadcast.
The FMM declared that the government should reverse action already undertaken that restricts press freedom and freedom of expression and refrain from any moves to introduce any form of direct or indirect censorship.
It also called on the government and the LTTE to “Immediately halt all threats, harassment, abductions and attacks against media practitioners and outlets currently being perpetrated by all parties to the conflict; undertake complete, transparent and timely investigations into the murder of media practitioners and death threats issued against media practitioners and their families; halt the dangerous and irresponsible practice of publicly vilifying media practitioners.”
Amnesty International in a statement, also, urged both the parties to the conflict to stop targeting journalists.
The international rights group specifically called upon the Sri Lankan government "to respect media workers and publicly announce that killings, threats, or other attacks will not be tolerated and to investigate all cases of attacks, disappearances and killings of media workers promptly, independently, impartially and effectively, irrespective of the identity of perpetrators or victims."
AI also urged the LTTE to issue instructions to all its members against all killings, threats or other attacks on media workers.
“The importance of the media in conflict situations cannot be overstated, without reports, pictures and film of the fighting and the violence, no-one knows enough to put the pressure on the participants to ensure human rights are respected”, the statement read, adding “this need is particularly strong in Sri Lanka”
Amnesty also referred to its February report Silencing Dissent, and repeated its accusations that Sri Lanka is a country where media coverage of war has effectively been silenced – through threats, restrictions and violence.
International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) in its statement said: “The relationship between the State, civil society and the media has deteriorated rapidly. Weakening democratic commitments on the part of the authorities are leading in turn to an environment of impunity for corruption and human rights violations”.
The IFJ said that with few willing to publicly condemn such excesses, the ground was laid for more serious threats to the safety and security of journalists and media workers across Sri Lanka.
“Physical attacks, harassment, restrictions on movement and death threats have become a part of the working lives of journalists, photographers and all those engaged in the gathering, publication and dissemination of information in Sri Lanka,” the IFJ statement added.
