Dastardly attacks on journalists are increasing just like the prices of essential goods. There seems to be no end to them. During the past few days, a Rupavahini journalist (Lal Mawalage) and a Lake House journalist (Suhaib Cassim) were set upon by thugs. Both have been hospitalised with cut injuries. Mawalage was involved in a recent protest against Minister Mervyn Silva at the Rupavahini Corporation and speculation is rife that his attack was consequent upon that incident. Two suspects have been taken into custody together with a motorcycle but their involvement in the attack is yet to be established. A probe is on into the assault on Suhaib. In both cases, the government has become the prime suspect and the only way it can clear its name is to bring the culprits to justice.

On Monday, the trade unions of the Rupavahini Corporation had a meeting with representatives of political parties to discuss threats to their members. Why on earth didn’t they realise that politicians were the biggest threat to the media in this country? Involving politicians to protect journalists is as asinine as engaging a fox to guard a poultry farm! There is a Mervyn in every politician.

Yesterday, we front-paged a picture of a political trio—Ravi Karunanayake, Anura Kumara Dissanayake and Dilan Perera—representing the UNP, the JVP and the government (SLFP) respectively. We make no attempt to cast aspersions on those three individual politicians but their presence at that gathering evoked one’s memories of the crimes their parties had committed against the media.

It was an irony that a JVP representative happened to be at a meeting aimed at protecting the Rupavahini staff. Does the JVP think the people have forgotten how its death squads gunned down journalists? Premakeerthi de Alwis, one of the most talented TV personalities in this country died at the hands of JVP gunmen in 1989. Thevis Guruge, another media heavyweight cum TV guru was also murdered for defying JVP orders during the reign of terror (1987-89) in the South. Today, we have the JVP taking up cudgels for journalists’ rights!

What moral right does Minister Dilan Perera or any other government MP or minister have to attend such a meeting, having done precious little by way of a protest against his ministerial colleague Mervyn Silva’s foray into the Rupavahini Corporation? Dilan resigned from the SLFP Central Committee, opposing the crossover of UNP MP Mahinda Ratnathilake, a suspect in the SLFP MP Nalanda Elllawala’s assassination case, to the government last November. Why didn’t he resort to a similar protest when the President refused to take action against Mervyn? Isn’t he running with the Rupavahini staff and hunting with the government?

Dilan was a deputy minister of the Kumaratunga government when Editor of the Satana tabloid Rohana Kumara was shot dead and Editor of The Sunday Leader Lasantha Wickremetunga and his wife were roughed up by the government thugs. Lasantha’s press was also sealed for political reasons at that time. (It was set on fire a few moons ago.) Where were the knights in shining armour crusading for press freedom then? What did they do when government goons forced themselves into popular singer Rukantha’s house, beat him and his wife in the presence of their terrified children and poured petrol on them threatening to cremate them alive? Now, we learn that Rupavahini News Director T. M. G. Chandrasekera, who was assaulted by Mervyn’s thugs, has got a transfer to another division, which is known as Siberia, where those who fall from grace are kept, due to threats. Will Dilan fight against the witch-hunt that is on at Rupavahini?

Whom is the UNP trying to fool by lending its support to a campaign to protect the media? Well-known media personality Richard de Zoysa was abducted and murdered under the UNP’s watch in 1990. Veteran cartoonist Yunoos, who adorned the pages of the Sri Lanka Communist Party organ, the Atta was attacked three times. The UNP goons went to the extent of slashing his mouth with a knife to stop him from drawing anti-government cartoons. An attempt was made to muzzle the Upali Newspaper Ltd. by appointing a competent authority. The late President J. R. Jayewardene personally threatened a banker who defied his order that no banking facilities be provided to us. Journalists of the independent media were attacked on numerous occasions and private television channels were not allowed to telecast local news. The suppression of the media under the UNP regime continued until the assassination of President Ranasinghe Premadasa in 1993. Will anyone in his or her proper senses take the UNP’s campaign for media freedom seriously?

Thus, if we bank on the SLFP, the UNP and the JVP to protect the media, then we might as well solicit the LTTE’s help to safeguard child rights in the Wanni!

The SLMC and other small parties that were present at Monday’s meeting don’t have such a sordid track record. It may be because they have not been in power on their own. However, a party is known by the company it keeps. So, going by the conduct of their coalition partners, it may be assumed that those small parties, too, will treat the media likewise, given an opportunity.

Politicians always do a lot of kerb-crawling for journalists when they are in the Opposition. After their purpose is served, the members of the Fourth Estate get unceremoniously kicked out. That has happened in the past, is happening at present and will happen in the future, regardless of who is at the levers of power. So, it behoves journalists to avoid politicians like the plague if it is the wellbeing of the media they strive for. Those who choose to sleep with dogs, so goes a popular saying in this country, are destined to get up with ticks. The fate of our brethren in the state media is a case in point.

We pledge solidarity with the Rupavahini workers once again but have to say this of their effort to mobilise politicians to ensure their safety and freedom: "Comrades, you are barking up the wrong tree!"