The truth slaughtered for Mammon

THE deep concern expressed by this country?s tourism and apparel industries over biased reporting by sections of the Western media, reopens the decades - old debate on how fairly and accurately the affairs of countries, such as Sri Lanka, are projected to the world by these media organisations.

It is no secret that in their agitated pursuit of ?good? stories which would sell, very many Western, transnational news agencies insensitively violate the time-honoured principles of journalism, such as accuracy, impartiality and a sense of balance in news coverages.

Such brazen infringements were quite common in the early years of our conflict and during subsequent crisis situations in the battlefield, to cite just one example.

We seem to be revisiting this debate with charges by the local tourism and apparel industries that developments in Sri Lanka, coming in the wake of the current wave of violence by the LTTE, are being misrepresented by some Western news organisations, resulting in business losses and a clouding of the country?s economic prospects.

The BBC in particular is accused of misrepresenting the situation in Sri Lanka to Western audiences. It goes without saying that these journalistic lapses would have a dampening effect on the travel trade besides hampering business orders from abroad.

We call on these news organisations to refrain from falling for old journalistic vices, such as exaggeration, over-dramatization, misrepresentation and even deliberately churning-out concoctions, which make short work of the truth, which, after all, is what the reader or viewer is mostly interested in.

Whereas these news organisations would think twice before projecting falsehoods and misrepresentations about their own societies and governments, nothing seems to be preventing them from giving a distorted image of societies such as our?s.

This is a measure of how unjust and lacking in balance, the world information order is continuing to be.

Putting things right in this sphere is a responsibility of the more progressive-minded sections of the Third World, but this challenge is still to be addressed sufficiently. Is it not time something was done about it?

Meanwhile, we wish to remind these erring news agencies and electronic media organisations that they are more than willing to sacrifice the truth on the altar of Mammon.

Biased, inaccurate coverages which would earn for them a few dollars more would spell conflict, war and suffering for countries such as our?s.

Would not the ?news? that 40,000 persons have fled some areas of Eastern Sri Lanka, on account of Air Force operations - for instance - provoke communal passions and bloodshed?

Is life in poor countries so cheap that these Western media organisations would not think twice about flouting every conceivable, time-honoured norm in journalism?

We urge that the fight be taken to these rumour mills of the West by our Foreign Ministry and its missions abroad. Enough is enough, we say.

Not only must concoctions about Sri Lanka be exposed and the news agencies concerned taken to task, but the truth about this country, actively and vibrantly disseminated abroad.