Karu says duty of journalists is to provide truthful information to the public

• Former Speaker underscores importance of media freedom and for journalists to work without fear or favour
• Says journalists today have to submit to the orders of certain newspaper chiefs and fabricate stories 
• Salutes journalists who carry out their media mission in accordance with their conscience

National Movement for Social Justice (NMSJ) Chairman and former Speaker Karu Jayasuriya yesterday underscored the importance of media freedom for the protection of democracy in the country and the need for journalists to operate without fear or favour.

“Journalism is a dignified service. It is the duty of an impartial journalist to provide truthful information to the public. But today journalists have to submit to the orders of certain newspaper chiefs. They are forced to fabricate stories or to create lies out of the truth,” Jayasuriya said at an event to commemorate media personnel who laid down their lives for media freedom.

Here is the full text of his speech:

Today we are fulfilling a national duty. The eminent journalists we remember today have sacrificed their lives for us. According to reports, at least 117 journalists have been killed or have disappeared since 1981. An innumerable number have been subjected to great repression. Remembering these incidents causes us great mental anguish. Is it possible that such cruel and inhuman acts could take place in a civilised country? 

Today, you and I are gathered here to pay our respects to those great people. Or in other words to pay off our debts we owe them. 

The last such commemoration ceremony was held five years ago in 2015.The then Convener of the Free Media Movement, Mr. Sunil Jayasekara is here today. Also, the late Mr. Saman Wagaarachchi also greatly supported this endeavour. 

The National Movement for Social Justice would like to thank the team of journalists who proposed and organised this event today. 

They worked hard and made many sacrifices for it. I would also like to thank the Journalists’ Association for a Just Society for proposing and organising this event. Convener Priyantha Srilal and his team made many commitments and worked hard to make it a reality. You will face many challenges in the future to protect media freedom. I will remain with you and continue to support you on that journey. 

We are well aware of the plight of our journalists in the past. We recall how we sprung into action when journalists were shot at, when their homes and officers were bombed and when they were brutally assaulted. We have met some of the senior journalists here at some of those places. We are glad to see them here again. 

Today, we were able to meet Dharmasiri Bandaranaike and several members of the group who were hospitalised after being assaulted at Kumbukgete, Kurunegala and artists who came under severe repression in Nittambuwa. They shed blood for a free and clean media.

In recent times, we see a different media culture. Instead of attacking today, journalists are arrested after forcibly entering their homes, taking away their computers and harassing them. They are forced to make false statements. Some fabricate blatant lies to ensure the win of their favoured politicians. Character assassination has become common.

 They create racial and religious divisions. Religion has been made a commodity. As a result, we as a country are facing an unprecedented challenge. 

It is the next generation that will have to face the repercussions.

Journalism is a dignified service. It is the duty of an impartial journalist to provide truthful information to the public. But today journalists have to submit to the orders of certain newspaper chiefs. They are forced to fabricate stories or to create lies out of the truth. 

They are used to assassinate the characters of certain individuals and to magnify the characters of others. 

This is the media culture of some of our institutions. Recently, we saw that new newspapers were launched. We congratulate all those institutions. I wish you the strength to move forward while defending the noble ethics of the media. Despite all this, it is fortunate that still there are respectable journalists in our country who carry out their media mission in accordance with their conscience. We salute them. 

We must change this hypocritical culture. It is the duty of those here to lead that fight. Knowing true and correct information is a basic human right. We did not win these rights easily. We do not know to which extent that right will be protected under the 20th Amendment. But we will continue to stand for these rights. 

Finally I wish to make one important explanation before you. We continue to move forward in accordance with the vision put forward by Ven. Sobhitha 

Thera for justice, truth, and fairness. We are an independent, impartial civil society organisation. We do not have an ambition to create kings, presidents, or prime ministers. But we have to protect the fundamental rights of the people of this country which were destroyed by the 20th Amendment. It is that dangerous.

 We kindly ask the authorities to not deprive the people of their right as we already see concerning signs. We will stand up and fully commit ourselves to protect these rights for our future generation.