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| Saturday, 20 March 2004 |
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A blood-stained media campaign by Lucien Rajakarunanayake The more this election gets closer it appears that the media is fast becoming the message, more so in the private "independent" media. There is increasing anger among viewers about a political advertisement telecast by Maharaja's "Sirasa" seeking to depict the President's decision to form an alliance with the JVP, the supposed but unproved assassin of her late husband Vijaya Kumaratunga, as an act of betrayal of her children. The message in the advertisement is whether the country could be handed over to one who betrayed her own children. Having seen this advertisement, that has already raised the ire among large sections of the Sinhala viewers of Sirasa, one can only have contempt for those who fund, make and finally telecast such advertisements that can only degrade the advertising industry itself. Coming so soon after the SLIM ad awards one cannot help feeling contempt for the entire advertising industry that is unable to establish some standards in its work. The sacred principle that the privacy of an individual, even a politician, should not be invaded without good reason is completely ignored. Worse still is invading the privacy of the children of a slain father. There is scant respect for all the pain, agony and trauma of the children of Vijaya Kumaratunga, in using them as material for this advertisement, ignoring accepted practice that no one's photograph could be used for any advertising without permission of the individual concerned. Political history has enough examples of former enemies coming together against a common enemy, whatever the reasons for the enmities of the past. There is also an added aspect of forgiveness that is completely ignored by those who produced this TV advertisement, in their determination to turn the current election campaign in its final stages, into a media bloodbath. The real assassins of Vijaya Kumaratunga are still unproven. Whatever suspicions anybody had about its involvement, there is nothing against the JVP being forgiven for any perceived offence and coming together with it in the interest of a larger national cause. This is forgiveness given not without cause, but having observed their entry and commitment to democracy since 1994. Forgiveness is the essence of humanity, yet the purveyors of this profane advertisement completely discard this essentially humanistic aspect of the SLFP-JVP alliance, depicting it as a betrayal by the widow of the deceased. Media violence While there are so many hundred election monitors here, all trying to ensure a free and fair election, as they see it, not one of them seem interested in monitoring the new emergence of violence into the media, with special relation to this election campaign. It is so to record the number complaints of election related violence made at police stations or brought to the notice of unknown monitors. But, none of these monitors seem to be concerned with the use of violence through the media to impact on voters, worse than violence on the streets because this is violence directed at the mind of the voter. All these monitors and champions of transparency are interested is, in the role of the State media, which they believe should play the role of a media eunuch and none other, at a decisive moment in the contemporary history of this country. For them media monitoring is in terms of column/centimeters given to one party or another, and a strange of balance of reporting and comment, again based on space and time, with regard to the print and electronic media, respectively. They do not have any interest in the newsworthiness of a statement or event, but would be happy to see the green side of any story given more space and time. They base their arguments on restricting the State media, on space and time considerations, on an election law that is outdated to the extent that it was passed when there was only a State media in radio and TV, and did not even anticipate the current abundance of private radio and TV. It is possible the more noise they make about the alleged partisanship of the State media, the more dollars they will get from countries who believe these are the true defenders of democracy. One wonders whether the USA in particular, that has given US$ 400,000 to two local election monitors, will consider taking some of them to monitor the polls at the forthcoming Presidential Polls, especially in the State of Florida. They will teach the Republicans much more about fixing a poll, than the kith and kin of President George W Bush can do, and did in the election of 2000, when Al Gore was defeated by sheer electoral fraud, and Bush Jr. virtually declared President by the Courts and not the votes of the people. The Vijaya factor Had he been alive, Vijaya Kumaratunga would have been shocked with contempt, for the manner in which the UNP is using him today. In all this recall of his bloody killing and his criticism of the JVP, and even SLFP at that time, there is nothing shown of the very strong criticisms he made of the UNP. Let's get the facts straight. Vijaya was opposed both to the SLFP and JVP as they opposed the 13th Amendment to the Constitution, which provided for Provincial Councils. And so was Chandrika Kumaratunga at that time. His support of the 13th Amendment did not make him a supporter or apologist for the UNP. That was a time of political significance, and Vijaya played his proper role at the time. One must realize it was a time when Vijaya Kumaratunga, leading the Mahajana Pakshaya, was emerging as a future leader, who posed a challenge to both the JVP and President Ranasinghe Premadasa. All one need consider is what happened to anyone who posed a challenge to Premadasa at that time, and not only to the JVP. But Vijaya Kumaratunga is the theme of the UNP today, especially his bloody killing. The UNP's private media (the Prime Minister made his address to the nation only on private media) is using every aspect of Vijaya, from the fatal wound on his chest to his speeches critical of the JVP and SLFP, in what can only appear to be a defeatist approach to campaigning. No doubt in the preparation of that profane advertisement involving the President, their children and the body of Vijaya, they must have taken a page off the campaign of George W Bush, in his run for a second term; its use of images of the tragedy of September 11, 2001, to bolster his campaign. Obviously the deep feelings of loss and sorrow of those who lost their loved ones on 9/11 don't bother the Bush campaign at all; just as the feelings of those who lost Vijaya in their intimate personal lives is of no concern to the Ranil Wickremesinghe campaign. There is no good taste and decency in these people. It is only a case of winning, even with blood stained hands, through the media. The bloody boomerang What was a very much a clean election all this time has been suddenly bloodied by all these advertisements that one sees on TV and in print. There was one of a JVP attack on the Dalada Maligawa, highly enlarged, and the inevitable dripping blood. One press ad showed a blood stained hand of a person killed, and the names of several persons allegedly killed by the JVP. Similar ads have followed and must be in the making. What these great creative people, whether of the Irwin-Ogilvy kind or not, seem to forget is what other images and memories these ads can evoke. The two previous general elections were full of posters and stories of Batalanda. That was so far not a feature this time. There are other more current issues to attack the UNP about, on matters of policy. For one comparatively insignificant attack by the JVP on the Dalada Maligawa, there are many images of the vast damage done to the Maligawa by the LTTE. There is also the LTTE killing of devotees at the Sri Maha Bodhi. Images of the Arantalawa massacre of Buddhist monks; the massacre of Muslims at prayer in their mosques; and the terrible attack on Tamils in July 1983 by the UNP, and all of those elected Tamil leaders and other Tamil democrats killed by the LTTE, are all recalled. It is with those ruthless killers that the UNP hopes to form a government, as it plans to do so with the help of the TNA. Talking of other betrayals, is that not a betrayal of the extreme kind? One can now find justification is asking how that lawyer Wijedasa Liyanarachchi was tortured to death, and who ordered his transfer to Sapugaskanda from Boossa. These are specters that will haunt the UNP forever, as much as the killing of Richard de Zoysa, who was responsible stopping the judicial inquiry into his murder, and also refused a Commission of Inquiry into his killing. It is best that this election campaign gets away from this aberration of blood on the media, and becomes a clean election, in the best manner possible given the realities of campaigning, and the hopefully subdued violence so far. It appears that we have been able to get rid of the election posters to a large extent. The poster, as much as we dislike its ubiquitous presence, is the means by which candidates who have less campaign funds can at least get their name and number across to the voters. What has happened now is that the benign posters of ever willing servants of the people have gone off the walls. Instead they come to newspapers, with blood lust and not the promise of service. It is only the rich parties and candidates who can carry out this bloody media campaign. The less we have of such people the better. |
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