CPA Media Monitoring in 2009

Nowadays very often we hear about the doctors who give the foremost place for money making. It is very rarely people hear about a health service that gives prominence to the wellbeing of the people. But not only in the world, in Sri Lanka as well, there are admirable stories about the doctors who were sensitive not only about the treatment but also about the people as well. The memory of Dr. Senake Bibile of Sri Lanka is one such admirable example. It is clear that all over the world such lives of those who engaged in an honorable public service became even the sources of literary creations not just because of the imagination. It was around such an ideal doctor that Jayalath Manorathna’s serial Tele drama “Rathriya Manaram” which was telecasted over the National Television, had been created.

However an incident that could refresh the memory of doctors who engaged in a community service which transcended the medical service was observed when monitoring the media in the recent days. That is the story of the three doctors who engaged in mobile hospital service in the Wanni and served the community till the end of the war.

This time media monitoring included the period of one week starting from 18^th May up to 24^th May. Media in Sri Lanka during this period was almost exclusively allocated to report the incident that brought the 30yrs long war to an end. Media got filled up with information such as the way that the people got organized to enjoy the bliss of the end of the war, various functions of celebration, complimenting the President, the Defense Secretary and the Commanders of the armed forces, speech by the President informing the people that the war is over, killing of Prabhakaran. Among such information the reports of the final crowds of people freed were scanty. It was in two Tamil media newspapers ( Sudar Oli and Weerakesari ) where the news of the above doctors first appeared. One Tamil news paper ( Sudar Oli ) reported this news on 18^th May quoting Gorden Vice, UN spokesperson for Sri Lanka, a statement made to a foreign newspaper by which it was said that these persons including two Tamil doctors who came to the army controlled area have got disappeared. It stated that Dr. Thangamuttu Sathyamoorthy, Health Director of Killinochchi and Dr. Thurairajah Varadharajah, Health Director of Mulaithivu had come to army controlled area with an Administrative Officer and the UN is searching for what happened to them. Report in the above Tamil media news paper clarifies, quoting The Observer, that the Sri Lankan government says that these doctors catered to the needs of the LTTE, saying that they were the people who exposed to the media the tragedies happened to the people in the area called ‘No-fire Zone’. According to another news in this same paper, those disappeared were six including three doctors and the websites are taken as sources. That also carries a news published by Inercity website accusing the UN of being silent about the disappearance of the doctors. This news paper that has taken an interest in finding many sources for reporting about the fate of these doctors, in the existing situation where this kind of news is not reported, on the other hand has not become careful about the differences of these facts. “the fact that two doctors, three doctors and six persons including them have disappeared” were reported in that news. No attempt has been made to resolve them through a responsible source. It has not even been careful to make a note in the way it had been reported with differences. Such incidences are there especially in Sinhala and Tamil media. Perhaps this may raise a question of professionalism. According to the other newspaper (Weerakesari ) which published the news about this on the same day, the headline says that six persons including doctors came to the government areas. It is stated that the Additional Government Agent- Partheepan who came with them is in an IDP camp in Vavuniya and Dr. V. Shanmugarajah was seriously injured and was sent to Colombo for treatment. It is in this report the name of the other mentioned as the three doctors is present. It is revealed in this news that the other two doctors mentioned above were detained at the Omanthai check point for questioning. Among the 13 reports published in the Tamil newspapers on this matter there is also a communiqué issued by Dr. Jayalath Jayawardene appreciating the services rendered by these doctors. One of the three Tamil newspapers (Thinakkural) that generally report the original news when reporting the humanitarian news, this time has published initially Dr. Jayalath Jayawardene’s communiqué without publishing the original news. That newspaper has also published the appeal of several international human rights organizations, made to the Sri Lankan government. The fact that the doctors are in custody is revealed by the news items published in two Tamil newspapers (Sudar Oli and Weerakesari) on 21^st May. One newspaper (Sudar Oli) reports that they are in police custody by quoting an interview given by Minister Mahinda Samarasinha to Al Jaseera. The other newspaper (Weerakesari) reports that the doctors are at the Terrorist Investigation Division (TID) in Colombo taking the Amnesty International (AI) as the source. AI has stated that Dr. Vardharajah who has been seriously injured was air lifted from Omanthai and his whereabouts are not known. (It was mentioned in one of the previous news reports that who has got injured is Dr. V. Shanmugarajah). Furthermore, according to this news report, the facts that the doctors were taken in to custody and where they are now, etc are not known to any of their family members. These doctors have treated around 5000 injured patients in the ‘No-fire Zone’. One newspaper (Sudar Oli) carries a statement made by Minister Keheliya Rambukwella at a press conference of the Media Centre for National Security. Accordingly, what he has stated is that no doctor who served in the ‘No-fire Zone’, registered under the Ministry of Health, has been taken in to custody. But the only news carried in the government owned newspaper (Thinakaran) says that the Ministry of Health is conducting an investigation against the doctors who provided wrong information.

There were three reports in the Sinhala newspapers within the relevant period and it is one newspaper (Lankadeepa) that reported, initially, on May 20^th, a news item relevant to the incident. The source for that is a statement by Mr. John Homes of UNO. Anxieties have been expressed about the fate of the doctors and it notes that these doctors who had been labeled as Tiger spokesmen can be living in IDP camps. Further it has been mentioned that their mission is a heroic one. Another paper (Divaina) that reports a news item on 21^st states that inquiries are held about the doctors who provided false information from the “No-fire Zone”. According to that news item which mentioned a health ministry official as the source, they have been taken in to custody when fleeing and disciplinary action will be taken if they were found guilty in the inquiries. When compared with the other newspaper reports this paper as well as the government Tamil media newspapers report only one side of the news. Further, it is clear that the point of view of the newspaper also has got incorporated with it. According to them the doctors have become wrongdoers. Dr. Upul Gunasekare, Deputy Secretary to the Government Medical Officers Association (GMOA) has stated to a Sunday newspaper of 24^th May (Ravaya) that even though these doctors, who have been accused by the government of providing false information to foreign media, are not the members of their association they would be ready to inquire about their fate if their relatives were to make such a request. But the Media Secretary to the Ministry of Health has stated that the three doctors have been taken in to custody by the security sections while they were fleeing with the civilians in to the government areas, at the last moment, and no particulars have been found of the other health workers.

There were three reports published in the English newspapers and one out of them (Daily Mirror) has published two news items on May 20^th and 21^st. One report that took UNO and Associated Press statements as sources has assumed that they have been taken in to custody. They have made statements to international media about the deaths and injuries of civilians due to attacks and malnourishment of children etc in the War Zone. That report which took a Health Ministry employee as a source has also stated that they have given wrong information. The other news report has taken as the source, the statement issued by the Amnesty International expressing fears about the security of the three doctors who are detained by the Terrorist Investigation division (TID). This news report has reported the matter in the same way the Tamil newspaper which took this same source did. The other news has been reported by a Sunday paper (Sunday Leader). When the police media spokesman was inquired about the arrest of these doctors who exposed the situation of the civilians to the international media he said that he was not aware about it and asked in turn to inquire from the army spokesman. He in turn has directed that it should be asked from the police media spokesman. This reveals the effort that the newspaper has taken to verify the news they received, through the governmental authorities. It also clarifies the fact that the authorities are not able or unwilling to give accurate information on a serious incident such as this. The Ministry of Health has said that they have been taken in to custody since they provided false information. In any case the fact that these doctors have done a great service to the people who were caught up and got injured in the war zone is revealed through the several Tamil media reports as well as the three reports in English media. For that they have used diverse sources. On the other hand without stopping at giving medical treatment they have also given statements to media about the tragedies the civilians were suffering due to the attacks. They have also expressed their views about the malnutrition. The statements of the authorities on the incident are contradictory with each other. Moreover, they were not published prominently or as in a Lead story. In the Tamil newspapers there were seven reports on the front pages. In Sinhala and English newspapers there was one each on front pages. But when we examine these few reports it becomes clear that the International is in special attention about what has happened to these doctors even though in Sri Lanka there is no voice raised about it.

By Seetha Ranjanee, seetha@cpalanka.org

Read the original article in Sinhala here.