Sri Lanka’s Orwellian mediascape

On 7 June, a three-day workshop on investigative journalism organised by Transparency International Sri Lanka ended abruptly when the local police ordered its cancellation. A 'well-organised' mob carrying printed placards (complete with colour photographs of some of the journalists) invaded the venue of the workshop, a hotel in the coastal town of Negombo, accusing the trainers and participants of being 'traitors'. Instead of ordering the protestors out, the police demanded the cancellation of the workshop, for the safety of the participants!

The story did not end there. Fourteen Tamil journalists from the war-torn Northern Province were among the workshop participants. They were to stay the night at a five-star hotel in downtown Colombo. The hotel management reportedly received threats, and the journalists were asked to vacate the hotel soon after midnight. When questioned about these developments, Media Minister Keheliya Rambukwella came up with an explanation which seemed straight out of George Orwell's Nineteen Eighty-Four. If the workshop was attacked, the NGOs would have used the incident to make propaganda against Sri Lanka, the Minister opined. He called the police decision to cancel the workshop, "very good". He insisted that the police were motivated by sheer concern for the safety of the journalists.