CPA Media Monitoring in 2009

“Though of the same flesh and blood plates of people have two different types of food” the above is an extract of a song that appeared in the cassette of Voice of the sleepless River made in the 80s on a poem of Betrold Bresht. In a society where we have many people who do not get a plate of food fitting of the poorest of poor, no one has to teach us a fresh about that difference. But in a situation where the avenues for the voice of a group of people who are feeling this difference very badly to reach the rest of the society is blocked badly, the above saying comes to our minds over and over again when we try to assess the efforts being made by the mass media to fulfill that responsibility.

The Wanni children of both Kilinochchi and Mulaitivu dists had to sit for the GCE O/L papers like all others in the country facing not only the difference of food but also many situations that disrupted their way of living. These children were forced to sit for an exam that determines their future in education, getting displaced every day having run from one camp to another. The challenge they faced was further intensified by the incessant rains and resultant floods.

According to Mulaitivu GA’s office the number of registered O/L students in their office is 4,263 and in Kilinochchi this number is 4,786. The authorities were forced to put up fresh examination centers in undisplaced localities instead of the usual ones. By then 2/rd of the area had been displaced. Meanwhile because of attacks some centers had to be shifted while the examination is going on. As an example 10 out of 40 examination centers in Mulaitivu dist was displaced on the 17^th of December when the examinations were on. The authorities were forced to find new locations and take the students there to continue with the paper. Due to incessant shell and aerial attacks on Swamithottam, Mulliyawalai, Watrappalai, Uduppukkulam in Maritiyampattu AGA division, people were displaced not knowing where to go. The children in those areas had to sit for their papers in this terrible mental framework.

Since there was no transport facility for children to go to the examination centers from the refugee camps they were living in, they were forced to answer the papers while living in camps specially created for them near the examination center. The WHO provided food for these camps and the parents were made to do the cooking. The authorities of the areas said that the WHO also provided lanterns and other essentials to provide light, says reports. In Mulaitivu dist alone 1,553 students lived in these temporary camps at the examination centers to sit for the exam.

This is how the children of Wanni people faced the challenge of sitting for the GCE O/L exams that was held from 8^th to 20^th December, running from shell and aerial attacks, displaced from camp to camp and also falling ill to all sorts of diseases. Accordingly the students of Wanni not only had to face the difference of the food plate and all the problems faced by children island wide who sat for the O/Ls this year that was revealed by the media, but also to many others.

When the confusion about the math paper came out, for many days the Newspapers carried special feature articles about it, with the Sinhala and English papers giving it full treatment and the Tamil papers allocating some reports. There was news of question papers being delayed at some centers and where the number of papers sent was less than the required amount. But the Media did not show any serious attention to the reports of the plight of students sitting in areas that has special circumstances. Three articles based on the statement made the Examinations Commissioner about holding a special O/L examination to children held captive by the Tigers, appeared in three Sinhala newspapers under different headlines. In this report it is said that there are about 300 such children. One newspaper also gave focus to a statement made by the Inter University Students Federation alleging that some students in the east sitting for the GCE O/L has not even seen the text books. One of the English newspapers had a photograph of Jaffna students sitting for the exam.

The humanitarian reports that appeared din the newspapers from the 14^th to 19^th Dec. was assessed, where 41,446 sq. centimeters were allocated for it. Out of the 26% allocated by the Sinhala newspapers for this purpose 3% was reserved for O/L students of areas that are facing so many humanitarian crises. Out of the 17% allocation of the English papers, 9% was on GCE O/L students and so was 0.56% of the 56% allocation of the Tamil papers. The Tamil media started reporting about the problems if displaced students two weeks before the exams. The heart beat of each other can be identified not only by the news received, but mainly of news that are kept hidden. The role of the media becomes more important when performing this difficult task.

This is an era where the society is being tormented by man made as well as natural disasters that are alarmingly on the increase. In such situations it is the Mass media that is given the priceless responsibility and the task of applying the necessary pressure to get humanitarian assistance to the devastated by providing the society with the information of such.

Treating the wounded soldiers in the battle field humanely and the use of chemical and banned weapons under the humanitarian laws belong to the theme of humanity, but our observations most of the time are limited to conflicts that only affect the civilian population. In the week of 6^th to 11^th Dec. out of the 72 newspapers monitored much attention was paid by media on such humanitarian issues. Receipt of aid in Wanni area, India aid distribution and articles on the inadequacy of the aid sent along with tragedy of being displaced were standing out. Quantity wise 21.8% out of humanitarian reports were allocated to such news.

The Sinhala newspapers carried six reports/articles on this crisis. Out of it five was reserved for the sending of food to the displaced. Out of the 21% of the full news coverage allocated for this topic, 51.7% was reserved for a lengthy article that alleged of various organizations coming with all sorts of statistics about the displaced with the intention of discrediting the govt. It also said that the govt is providing relief to the displaced in Wanni, questioning the actual number of the Wanni displaced, who are not armed. In the same week Tamil newspapers had 30 reports along with 11 pictures revealing that the food sent to Wanni is not sufficient and as a result they are suffering greatly. Even the photographs they published on distribution of aid and the pictures of the recipients seem to be reflecting the extent of their suffering. Among the 30 reports there was one lead story, 10 front page news and an editorial. The statement made by John Kembal of the WHO to the BBC saying “Wanni situation is worse than Somalia” was given the lead story and some front page news slots. This story was also highlighted in some electronic media and web sites as a main story while one English newspaper had it in the 2^nd page as s news item. The English newspapers had 14% of their total allocation for this title while the Tamil papers had 64%.

According to the Kilinochchi and Mulaitivu GAs the number of the displaced changes constantly. The people coming from war ravaged areas as displaced, are entered in to statistics after the counting reports in this regard are out. However according to Kilinochchi GA Mr. Vedanayagam, by the end of November Kilinochchi had 73,010 displaced people. According to the GA of Mulaitivu the same in Mulaitivu is 202,076. Out of it the number displaced from Mulaitivu dist to other areas s 168,963. However the total number that was displaced is 375,086. A minor portion of these people are living in welfare camps established in public bldgs, while majority lives in temporary shelters put up in the compounds of relatives and friends. As an example on the 11th of Dec. 3,141 families of the Kilinochchi displaced (13,176 members) are living in welfare camps, while 42,700 families (159,834 members) are living in Cajun huts. The total is 173,010.

The GA office information sources state that although the weekly requirement of food for the displaced in Kilinochchi is about 762 tons, due to difficulties and obstacles in sending these to uncleared areas, no supply could be made according to demand. At the same time the requirement of Mulaitivu dist, about 473 metric tons, is also not reaching there. By now even the undisplaced people have no other way of getting essential food items and the food for them to be bought also has to be sent through the same difficult supply routes. This is just one side of the picture. Other than a small portion of govt employees and others who have a permanent income, the majority of the area has also been economically displaced as their livelihood is badly disrupted although they are not forced to leave their homes. Even those who do have a decent income find life very difficult because of the dearth of goods and the high prices they have to pay for them. It is also reported that most of the vegetables like potato and onions that reach these areas are rotten by the time they reach these areas as the Lorries taking them are delayed frequently on the way. As a result other than dry food all other commodities like potatoes and onions have really gone up in price. Since there is no sea travel, they also do not have fish. There was no milk food among the aid sent but now a small amount has been received. It is learnt that the requirement of milk powder in Kilinochchi dist alone is about 132,352 kgs per month. That is why we must not forget the observation of a responsible person who finds the situation in Wanni is worse than Somalia.

It can now be understood why the ICRC requested from those who have the capacity and donor agencies to help, which was reported in Tamil newspapers, because the situation is no longer negligible. The great service done by the media here is to help those who cannot visualize this situation mentally to do so mentally and create the opportunity to help them.

Original article in Sinhala available here.

The news about children is always very sensitive and normally it is the tendency of mass media to pay additional attention to such. In the seven days between the 29^th Nov to Dec. 5^th, out of the humanitarian crises that affected the public life, some incidents of suffering of children within the war zone were highlighted. One such is the news of a five year old child and an adult being killed by a cluster bomb that fell on a refugee camp in Kallaru village in Dharmapuram at 1.45 am on the 29^th of November. About 173,010 of the displaced people in Kilinochchi are now living in refugee camps in this area, which belongs to the Kandavalai AGA division. Since people in 2 out of 4 AGA divisions in the dist and half of another division have been displaced, the dist secretariat that runs all administrative matters of the area has been setup temporarily in Dharmapuram area, which is about 5 kms from the Kallar village which was hit by the cluster bomb.

One Tamil newspaper on Sunday and all three Tamil newspapers other than the govt paper on Monday carried out the news that a child and three others died of a cluster bomb on Saturday early morning, along with pictures. These reports revealed that three people have died out of which two had been identified, and 20 odd others, including seven children and seven women, had been injured. The Tamil net web site also carried pictures of the child’s body along with pictures of the wounded being taken to hospitals and some pieces of the cluster bomb. In addition these newspapers also carried out the news about signing of the Cluster Bomb banning treaty that actually increased the news worthiness of this attack. According to information of GA of Kilinochchi N. Vedanayagam, he has said that he cannot definitely say whether this was a cluster bomb or not as he is not an expert on the subject, but confirmed the death of a child and an adult and 21 others including women and children have been injured. The child thus killed was five year old Sudarshan Sivakumar and adult is Raman Ramasami aged 80. Among the wounded there wars even children below the age of 16. Information from the area also said that since people ran away from the place when the bomb fell, the damage was less.

During this week Tamil, Sinhala and English newspapers as well were monitored and the total was 83. 79,516 centimeters were allocated for humanitarian news. But for this particular story the space allocated was just 2,976 centimeters. In this amount however, the news regarding the signing of the anti-Cluster bomb treaty in Oslo, and agitations held in Oslo and Norway against this cluster bomb attack, were also included. Out of it 2,811 centimeters were used by Tamil newspapers including 13 pictures. Daily Mirror English daily had news in the front page with a graphic presentation of the damage that can be caused by cluster bombs, which took up 165 centimeters. It also had a statement made by Minister Keheliya Rambukwella saying that Sri Lanka does not have to sign the anti-cluster bomb treaty as it is not using such in warfare. But this news however was not carried in the Sinhala newspapers.

Another news that belonged to the humanitarian framework was the demise of a six year old girl named Arulanantham Nirojini in an artillery shell attack. She was caught in this attack on the 1^st of Dec 2008 and 11.45 am while she was coming home from the Vaddakkachchi school in Iranamadu, which was closed early due to the situation. It is said that this happened in an attack made at the kanakapuram area near Kilinochchi. However this tragedy that comes under the category of man made disasters, was given just 298 sq. centimeters and belonged to three Tamil newspapers. The total space given to these two news items was 2976 centimeters.

All thee mediums gave 7,734 sq centimeters for the news relating to the distribution of Indian aid but the non-availability of child milk food in the food package of the Indians, or the packets sent by the govt before, was not noted by the media. Ravaya however wrote a news article of this shortfall. The breast feeding mothers, who are being constantly displaced and also being hit by floods are going through severe mental agony and in such a situation breast feeding cannot even be thought of. Vardhan Prema, a 27 year old mother who managed to get a portion of the Indian aid distributed in Kilinochchi on Dec 5^th, made a statement to Tamilnet clarifying the tragedy of children and breast feeding mothers. The covering up of news in a war torn area happens all the time. In such a situation it is the revelations made by the Media overcoming these challenges that actually helps the lives of people.

Original article in Sinhala available here.

There are frequent debates about the social responsibility the media has for the survival of democracy in the country. If this does not become an essential condition in a conflict ridden society, the freedom of the 4^th estate of media would be ridiculed. Today the Sri Lankan society is in a situation where the humanitarian vision of the fourth estate has become absolutely necessary to safe guard lives of people. In fact what is done through “Wimarshi” is an effort to identify the true nature of the humanitarian problems faced by the Media who are performing this essential social responsibility.

Among the humanitarian troubles that took place last week, the terrible fate of about 350,000 people who had to suffer the consequences of torrential rains was the most noteworthy. From Saturday 22^nd to Friday 26^th Nov. 2008, 29,509 centimeters of space was allocated to cover the humanitarian news in daily and weekend Sinhala and Tamil newspapers (there are 59 such) out of which 8,774 centimeters were used to cover the news relating to the floods that seriously affected people.

Though there were rains island wide, it was the people in the north that suffered most as they had the highest rain fall for the last 30 years. This catastrophe that brought death to seven people in Jaffna and Wanni, dealt the biggest blow to people living in Kilinochchi and Mulaitivu dists because even by then they were not leading normal lives. Most of them were displaced due to the war and were finding difficult as it is to find basic necessities like food and water. According to information sources of GA offices in Mulaitivu and Kilinochchi, out of the 219,878 total population of Kilinochchi (by the end of Oct), 174,979 were already living as internally displaced in schools, religious places, common bldgs or temporary shelters and in Mulaitivu dist 197,103 of its population of 259,293 were also in the same predicament. Out of the 4 AGA divisions of Kilinochchi, all people of Poonagari and Pichchalaipalli and half of the population of Karachchi were displaced and the only division that did not have clashes Kandavalai had about 45,000 displaced families given sanctuary. Out of the five AGA divisions in Mulaitivu dist two divisions were completely displaced due to war. While the Tamil media (especially) was reporting the suffering of these masses without food, clothing and other basic necessities, there is no need to elaborate on the additional suffering these displaced and non-displaced people had to undergo due to heavy rains. By then the Omanthai check post was already closed creating a lot of problems in sending essential food to these desperate people. By the end of the week a part of Indian aid sent was delivered to only Vavuniya. In this situation the number of families in Mulaitivu dist devastated by floods, was reported to be about 23,236 and in Kilinochchi this number was about 45,000 families. But the seriousness of the suffering of these people was reported inadequately because of the on going war.

The news of people being displaced by floods, was first reported by three of the four main stream Tamil newspapers, was reported on the 25th of November and that too as a news report on Trincomalee dist. On the 26^th all four newspapers also carried this news marking Mannar, Jaffna and some areas in the east as badly hit. One news article had the caption “Massive floods in Wanni”. The Sinhala newspapers however reported these floods two days later, on the 27^th instant. Three out of the four major daily newspapers carried this news but no real mention was made about the terrible fate thus suffered by this natural disaster that befelled the already suffering displaced people.

The Tamil newspapers on the 27^th instant carried for the first time the news of displaced people being displaced again. Virakesari newspaper carried seven photographs to underline the seriousness of the Wanni floods and Thinakkural paper had four pictures highlighting the devastation in Jaffna. The govt owned Tamil newspaper reported about heavy rains without mentioning the Wanni areas. The only Sinhala newspaper that carried a picture on the flooded Wanni was the Lankadeepa of the 28^th instant.

Out of the 8774 sq. centimeters allocated for the news about the damage caused to 350,000 people over the week, 7678 was used by Tamil newspapers that allocated 3 lead stories, two editorials, 20 front page slots and 11 pictures for this news. The Sinhala newspapers had three front page news slots and one picture and had other stories in inside pages. Most of the areas and people devastated by floods were areas where Tamils live. Out of this, news about govt controlled areas got some coverage, but news about uncleared areas in Wanni and where the battles rage, was very less. In a situation where the administrative mechanisms have been completely destroyed by the on going war, the officers of these dists were trying to manage affairs of the displaced people from sub offices established in Vavuniya. It is a democratic right of people to be aware of news of one another in a society. On the other hand the exposure of such events by the media will draw the attention of the society to provide humanitarian assistance to devastated groups of people and also draw the attention of the authorities are drawn to find solutions to these crises.

Original Sinhala article here.