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| Saturday, 21 August 2004 |
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Features | |
| News Business Features Editorial Security Politics World Letters Sports Obituaries
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Newton Seneviratne : the closing of a colourful life
Newton Seneviratne began his public life in the Youth League of the Sri Lanka Communist Party and remained a Communist to the last rising to the party's Central Committee. He was also a local politician having for long been a member of his local Village Committee and in 1994 a member of the Western Provincial Council. But as a newspaperman he did not allow his politics to dilute his journalism. This was no easy task for he was for long the news editor of the 'Aththa' during its celebrated heyday under the editorship of the late legendary B.A. Siriwardena when its enemies feared it but were compelled to read it with respect. As news editor leading a talented team of reporters which included Bennet Rupasinghe, Stanley Samarasinghe, Chulawansa Sirilal and many others, Newton was responsible for many sensational scoops and exposes. But that team of reporters was able to accomplish this because under Newton's tutelage they treated news as it has to be treated, that is on its merits and not as a commodity which could be manipulated for party political purposes. Newton came to journalism late after having been politically victimised while he was in the General Clerical Service but took to it with a skill and a dexterity which marked him out not merely as a gifted news editor but also an authority on newspaper law. In this second persona he appeared regularly for the 'Aththa' before the now defunct Press Council chaired by such legal luminaries as A.K. Premadasa and J.W. Subasinghe where he was pitted against eminent lawyers appearing for the complaints. But more often than not the layman Newton, self-educated in the law, won the day. Newton Seneviratne was the first General Secretary of the Sri Lanka Working Journalists' Association and behind his election was the story of a sensational coup. At the inaugural meeting presided over by the then Minister of State Anandatissa de Alwis it had been decided behind the scenes to have the officials elected uncontested. In keeping with this pact D.F. Kariyakarawana was elected uncontested as President and the understanding was that the late E.S.T. Fernando, the then news editor of the Sri Lanka Broadcasting Corporation, would be similarly elected General Secretary. But there was dark horse Newton cantering under the 'Aththa' colours, who pipped the peaceable E.S.T. at the post. As the first General Secretary of the SLWJA Newton made a tremendous contribution to place the fledgling association on a firm foundation. After the closure of the 'Aththa' Newton joined the 'Ravaya' as news editor and contributed immensely to strengthening the news side of a journal which had initially made its mark more as an organ of opinion. He was also the author of several books on journalist practices and ethics. Newton Seneviratne made many sacrifices for his political cause but never deserted the good fight. His house was burnt down during the 1987-89 period when anybody or party who had supported the Indo-Sri Lanka Agreement was fair game to the killers and the arsonists. Newton qualified squarely since the Communist Party had not only supported the agreement but Newton himself had contested the Provincial Council elections. He was in hiding for several months and his family scattered until sanity returned. Newton was a loving husband and father and lived to see his grand children. He died with his boots on and his death closes a colourful life and robs the impoverished journalistic profession not merely of one of its most senior members but also the newspaper community of one of its most courageous leaders. Ajith Samaranayaka |
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Produced by Lake House |
The death of Newton Seneviratne at the relatively early age of 64
deprives Sinhala journalism of one of its most versatile practitioners.
Newton who excelled as a news editor and foreign affairs analyst was also
one of the principal leaders of the Sri Lanka Working Journalists'
Association, the largest and most representative body of the country's
professional journalists.
