Towards True Freedom of Expression

Featured image courtesy NewsFirst

RAISA WICKREMATUNGE
05/06/2016

Former editor in chief of the Nation in Thailand, Kavi Chongkittavorn received an unexpected scoop when visiting Sri Lanka in the 1990s. The source – Minister of Foreign Affairs Lakshman Kadirgamar, who challenged, “If I give you stories… stories which involve Thailand, will you write them?”

Chongkittavorn replied that it was his duty to do so. The subsequent story he filed – revealing that Phuket was being used as a base for the LTTE to smuggle weapons to Sri Lanka – surprised Kadirgamar, who never thought that he would write a story implicating his own country.

“He thought I would never write the story as something might befall me. But a good story is a good story,” Chongkittavorn says.

Kadirgamar could be forgiven for thinking Chongkittavorn would fear for his safety – since 1992, 19 journalists have been killed in Sri Lanka in the pursuit of their jobs, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists. Many of these cases are still unresolved, as Groundviews has reported in the past.

This is pertinent to remember as World Press Freedom Day fell on May 3. However, Chongkittavorn says he has seen a vast improvement since his last visit.

During the era of Mahinda Rakapaksa, the former editor in Chief of the Nation said, media freedom ‘had been turned upside down, including media structures.”

This isn’t the case today.

“Journalists are not being jailed, or murdered, or kidnapped. I think the [Sri Lankan media landscape] has changed a lot since the new government,” Chongkittavorn said.

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