Denying press freedom is killing liberal democracy
By Sydney Knight
[Rajagiriya]
The alleged ‘interference’ with the work of the Editor of a daily to my mind is an infringement of the freedom of the press. For me, it is not the persons involved but the office that they hold -one the Editor; the other the Defence Secretary.
This case is not the first incident of the State denying the freedom of the press. The sky is the limit for examples.
However, one cannot allow this to happen, for we in Sri Lanka celebrate the freedom of the press. Editors may come and go. Secretaries will come and go. But the freedom of the press is a vital tool for liberal democracy.
That group of newspapers, the daily and the Sunday edition, to my mind symbolize the freedom of the press and are the tools in a liberal democracy to create good public opinion. That is what the Editor and her group of newspapers are doing so well. Not only with the medium of words but also their cartoons so well done: very topical, contemporary and critical. Their cartoons have displayed great courage.
We in Sri Lanka, to use a hackneyed phrase, want to eat the cake and also want to have it. In the global village, we pontificate about the freedom of the press. We want to have it, but we want the press to fall in line. That will not do.
In the UK, in the context of the fiasco of the Iran Crisis, and the permission given to the fifteen UK Naval captives to sell their stories, the Defence Ministry had to face a lot of criticism. The BBC gave time to allow the Deputy Editor of the Daily Telegraph to criticise the establishment. The Minister himself had to face the Labour backbenchers on their return to the Commons after the Easter vacation. That speaks volumes for the UK and the freedom of the press.
All of us in Sri Lanka will not agree with all that is said, but we must together fight for the freedom to say that.
As a regular writer to the columns of the press, I plead that we in Sri Lanka do not lose that freedom.
I hope and pray that our President on his return from the Vatican will look into this.
Of course I must confess that the Vatican is not the best place to learn about the freedom of the press!
