by Ravi Embar

Created on: October 30, 2008   Last Updated: April 09, 2010

What does media freedom mean in a place like Sri Lanka that is determined to stamp out a long-standing insurrection?

There is an old adage that the "pen is mightier than the sword" - in many long-standing conflicts around the world, especially where media persons and vocal critics have been killed, injured, threatened or silenced, the adage has a hollow ring to it.

Without independent media freedom, people everywhere would not be able to obtain the comprehensive news and views of all persons involved in the conflict. Consequently, the public would only be aware of the official Government line.

In the conflict in Sri Lanka, the widely quoted statistic is that there has been around seventy-thousand casualties since the inception of the insurrection although the exact number is probably higher and cannot be determined due to government restrictions on media activity in the conflict zone.

The government of Sri Lanka has adopted a hard-line posture in the wake of several violent and deadly confrontations and the killing of international aid workers. Both the Sri Lanka government and the Tamil Tigers have blamed each other for the killing of the aid workers.

The advancing attacks by the Sri Lankan armed forces on Tamil areas in the North have destroyed the broadcast facilities of the Tamil Tigers who are fighting for an independent homeland. The removal of international monitors following the flare up of violence in the affected areas has also cut off an important and independent news source.

While the Sri Lankan armed forces have routinely reported their successful battles and the heavy losses inflicted on the rebels, a tragic element of the conflict that is rarely mentioned and not widely known is that many of the rebel soldiers are composed of youths of bother genders barely into their teenage years.

Some governments have an aversion to independent news media covering conflicts that might show the enemy in a sympathetic light, but the presence of independent media would also allay the concerns of concerned persons that military operations were not infringing on the civil rights of people living in the conflict zones.

In the Sri Lanka conflict there is a blackout on independent news from the frontlines as the Sri Lankan armed forces prepare for a final onslaught surrounding Killinochi, the current administrative capital of the Tamil Tigers.

However, Tamils in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu, across the narrow Palk Straits separating Sri Lanka from India, have kept the Indian media spotlight on the plight of the Sri Lankan Tamils by staging rallies and demonstrations.

The role of an independent media is vital in providing news coverage and a balanced perspective in any conflict in general and particularly in Sri Lanka, where there is a government clampdown on media freedom. A free and fair media will provide a strong affirmation to an updated version of the old adage that "Information is more potent than destruction".

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