Thursday, October 24, 2013

Reconciliation between Tamils and Sinhalese in Sri Lanka: Propaganda in Media Discourse



·         Gnanaseelan, J. (June 2013). Reconciliation between Tamils and Sinhalese in Sri Lanka: Propaganda in Media Discourse. Puthiya Panuval : An International Journal of Tamil Studies, Chennai - 600 005, India.  Vol 5, No 01, ISSN: 0975 – 6213 ; p.116-128.  available at http://www.indianfolklore.org/journals/index.php/Panu/article/view/1309/1480
 

Reconciliation between Tamils and Sinhalese in Sri Lanka:
Propaganda in Media Discourse
 Jeyaseelan Gnanaseelan
Senior Lecturer, Vavuniya Campus of the University of Jaffna
Park Road, Vavuniya, Sri Lanka
jeya86@hotmail.com
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ABSTRACT

The reconciliation between Tamils and Sinhalese in Sri Lanka has become an internationally sensitive political issue, discussed even at the United Nations Human Rights Council in Geneva at present. Sri Lanka has been suffering due to the protracted ethnic conflict for three decades. The rupture between the Sinhalese and Tamils is ever widening, thanks to the propagandist function of Media. Media plays a key role in many conflict-torn democracies throughout the world. The Propaganda Model, developed by Edward Herman and Noam Chomsky, claims that elite media interconnect with other institutional sectors in ownership, management and social circles. It constrains their ability to remain analytically detached from other dominant institutional sectors (especially in their knowledge construction) for proper governance and political reconciliation. This paper attempts to assess the relevance of this knowledge construction using this Model. The analysis of the selected editorials of the Sri Lankan English newspapers on the ethnic conflict, reconciliation and governance (mainly during the period of Ceasefire Agreement (2002- 2006) between the Government of Sri Lanka and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam and post-CFA periods) traces an ideological significance in their discourse construction. The editorials reveal the State, ethnic and party -based and -biased ideologies. They implicitly support cultural nationalism cloaked by constitutional nationalism and argue that globalization facilitates ‘inter state-security’, and not intra-state security. The paper studies whether the media can contribute to the knowledge base for reconciliation and governance leading to legitimization, political accommodation and ideological management.
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Key words: media discourse, ethnic conflict, governance, reconciliation, knowledge and ideological construction ____________________________________________________________________________________



1.      Introduction



This paper applies the ‘propaganda model’ of media operations developed by Edward Herman and Noam Chomsky in Manufacturing Consent: The Political Economy of the Mass Media to the Sri Lankan Media’s discourse construction. Herman and Chomsky’s Model claims that elite media interconnect with other institutional sectors in ownership, management and social circles. This Model is applied to a discourse analysis of the selected editorials of the Sri Lankan English newspapers on the ethnic conflict resolution under international intervention during the period of Ceasefire Agreement (2002- 2006) between the Government of Sri Lanka and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam. It traces an ethnonationalist ideological significance in their editorial construction projecting binary positions in the knowledge construction for governance and reconciliation.
According to Ponnambalam in his book, Sri Lanka: The National Question and the Tamil Liberation struggle, after Sri Lanka gained independence from Great Britain in 1948, discrimination against Tamils increased through government policies and led to resistance. In the late 1970s, the Tamil militants materialized their armed struggle after non-violent resistance groups failed to raise awareness for their cause. Thus the present day conflict took a significant national as well as international dimension in Sri Lanka with the Sinhalese fighting to maintain control of Sri Lanka to project a Sinhala identity to the country as a whole and the Tamils fighting for an end to discrimination, for equal representation in political and economic affairs and recognition of their traditional homeland in the Northeast of Sri Lanka.

Chomsky in Necessary Illusions: Thought Control in Democratic Societies talks of ‘the primary targets of the manufacture of consent are those who regard themselves as "the more thoughtful members of the community," the "intellectuals, and “the opinion leaders". The Sri Lankan Newspapers also, internalized by majoritarianism  target the same groups of members nationally as well as internationally to mobilize them against Tamil nationalism and the conflict interventions made by India in the past and by the Norway-led International Community for "he who mobilizes the elite, mobilizes the public," (Chomsky 47). This paper inquires into Chomsky’s concern about ‘the necessary effect of the present economic system upon the whole system of publicity; upon the judgment of what news is, upon the selection and elimination of matter that is published, upon the treatment of news in both editorial and news columns’ (131). Thus it endorses his statement ‘how far genuine intellectual freedom and social responsibility are possible on any large scale under the existing economic regime’. Chomsky disapproves of ‘the reigning social order’, and the idea that ‘the general public must remain an object of manipulation, not a participant in thought’. Any rebellious attempts by the underprivileged against the privileged have long been understood as "crises of democracy" (131).


2.      Conflict Background

The conflict between the Tamils and the Sinhalese is not a recent phenomenon in the political life of Sri Lanka. The conflict history consists of many centuries during the pre-colonial era and of many decades during the post-colonial era. But the present conflict dates back from immediately after the colonial period. The ethnic conflict in Sri Lanka dates back to the fifth century BC when the first Sinhalese migrated from India to the island. The Sinhala historians base their origin as North India. The Tamils came from South India with a totally different language and religion. From the beginning, territorial disputes caused tension between the ethnic groups. Later, the Dutch, Portuguese, British, and American intervention in Sri Lanka influenced political, educational, and religious developments within the island, each country showing favouritism to either the Tamils or the Sinhalese.
After Sri Lanka gained independence from Great Britain in 1948, discrimination against the Tamils increased through government policies and led to resistance. In the late 1970s, the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) materialized after non-violent resistance groups failed to raise awareness for their cause. The formation of the LTTE began the present day conflict between the Sinhalese and the Tamils of Sri Lanka, the Sinhalese fighting to maintain control of Sri Lanka and the Tamils fighting for an end to discrimination and for representation in political affairs.

3.      Indian Intervention for reconciliation and fair governance
The Indian government’s interest in Sri Lankan affairs increased from 1983 through 1987. Numerous attempts at mediation between the Sinhalese and the Tamils failed. The impetus for such intervention was most likely the pressure from the many citizens of Tamil Nadu who were related to the Tamils in Sri Lanka. Finally, the Indian military intervened in 1987. Negotiations were held, and the Indo-Sri Lanka Peace Accord was signed on July 29, 1987, by Indian Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi and Sri Lankan President Jayewardene. The accord stated that the Indian government would not support a separate Tamil state; however, it did recognize the northern and eastern areas as “areas of historical habitation” (Hennayake 408).

This was eventually enacted as the 13th Amendment. The Indian Peace-Keeping Force (IPKF) established order in the north and east. Consequently, the JVP uprising took place in the south against the Indian military presence. Few of the demands agreed to in the Agreement were implemented. When the militants refused to disarm its fighters, the IPKF tried to demobilize them by force and ended up in full-scale conflict with the Tamils. Simultaneously, nationalist sentiment led many Sinhalese to oppose the continued Indian presence. Casualties mounted and eventually India pulled out its troops in March 1990.

4.      International Intervention for Reconciliation
The war has caused great damage to the population and economy of the country. In 2001, however, the militants announced a unilateral ceasefire just before Christmas 2001. The new United National Front (UNF) government reciprocated the unilateral ceasefire offer and signed an MOU in February 2002. Norway and other Nordic countries monitored the ceasefire through the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM).
The militants temporarily pulled out of the peace talks in 2003, citing lack of attention on an interim political solution. The Government of Sri Lanka (GoSL) rejected the Interim Self-Governing Authority (ISGA) proposal submitted by the militants for the northeast of the island of Sri Lanka on October 31, 2003. In 2004 the United People Freedom Alliance (UPFA) came to power. The Asian tsunami of late 2004 killed more than 30,000 people in the country. It was hoped that the disaster would bring the warring sides together, but the conflict continued. The militants suggested a Post-Tsunami Operation Mechanism Structure (PTOMS) for rehabilitating the north-east victims. But due to the strong opposition from the Sinhala hardliners, and the consequent Supreme Court verdict, it was abandoned.
Gradually the situation became complicated by allegations that both sides violated the CFA. In light of this renewed violence that erupted in December 2005, ethnic riots and unsolved murders suspected to have been committed by the military and the militants’ attacks followed. A new crisis, and possibly the resumption of a proper war, emerged in July 2006, resulting in the International Community’s scepticism over resumption of the peace talks. At last the ceasefire agreement was unilaterally abrogated by the government on 16th January 2008.

5.      Objective

The Research Problem is whether the editorial knowledge constructions of journalists and editors of the Sri Lankan elite media hide or express their ideological and attitudinal positions in subtle and mild forms. The general objective is to investigate the ideological and attitudinal positions of the Sri Lankan English newspaper editorial discourse on conflict resolution, reconciliation between Tamils and Sinhalese.

6.      Methodology

Selected editorials of the Sri Lankan English National newspapers on the ethnic conflict, reconciliation and governance mainly during the period of Ceasefire Agreement (CFA) (2002- 2006) between the Government of Sri Lanka and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam and post-CFA periods were analysed. This research bases its data on 1249 editorials taken from The Daily News and The Sunday Observer (397), The Island and The Sunday Island (440), The Daily Mirror and The Sunday Times (250), The Morning Leader and The Sunday Leader (162).

The ‘propaganda model’ of media operations formed and applied by Edward S. Herman and Noam Chomsky in Manufacturing Consent: The Political Economy of the Mass Media, stipulates that the mass media are instruments of power that ‘mobilize support for the special interests that dominate the state and private activity’ (11). Media function is the central mechanisms of propaganda in the capitalist democracies and class interests have ‘multilevel effects on mass-media interests and choices. Chomsky in Propaganda and the Public Mind says:
It goes right from kindergarten up ... People are supposed to be obedient producers, do what they're told, and the rest of your life is supposed to be passive consuming. Don't think about things. Don't know about things ... Just do what you're told, pay attention to something else and maximize your consumption. That's the role of the public (19).
Media do not have to be controlled nor does their behaviour have to be patterned, as it is assumed that they are integral actors in class warfare, fully integrated into the institutional framework, and act in unison with other ideological sectors, i.e. the academy, to establish, enforce, reinforce and police corporate hegemony.
Herman and Chomsky (1–35) argue that the ‘raw material of news’ passes through a series of five interrelated filter constraints, ‘leaving only the cleansed residue fit to print’. These filter elements continuously ‘interact with and reinforce one another’ and have multilevel effects on media performance (2). The five filter elements are: (1) the size, concentrated ownership, owner wealth, and profit orientation of the dominant mass-media firms; (2) advertising as the primary income source of the mass media; (3) the reliance of the media on information provided by government, business, and ‘experts’ funded and approved by these primary sources and agents of power; (4) ‘flak’ as a means of disciplining the media; and (5) ‘anti-communism’ as a national religion and control mechanism. Chomsky in Propaganda and the Public Mind states that ‘a standard technique of belief formation is to do something in your own interest and then to construct a framework in which that's the right thing to do’ (167).
     
     7. Analysis, Findings and Discussion
The discourse of editorial texts is not free or more or less arbitrary. That is, according to van Dijk in Discourse and Inequality  , ethnic minorities are linked to the prominence and availability of the overall social cognitions such as (a) Socio-cultural difference and lack of adjustment and tolerance; (b) Deviance of established (dominant) norms (including terrorism, violence and crime); (c) Competition for scarce resources (educational, economic and natural resources) (25).
Chomsky in Media Control talks about the media’s attempt at atomizing and segregating the people: “they're not supposed to organize, because then they might be something beyond spectators of action. They might actually be participants if many people with limited resources could get together to enter the political arena. That is really threatening”(23). In this Sri Lankan media context, these discourse themes have been constructed in binary positions between US and THEM; THEM is given in terms of deviance and threats, viz., as threats to our country, space, population composition, and ethnic representation in political power, employment, education etc. It recognizes the typical concerns of dominant group members. The discourse reveals the underlying prejudices, group norms and goals, as well as dominant ideologies. Van Dijk in Discourse and Inequality establishes “a first link between text structures and the structures of underlying social cognitions. The discourse tells us something about “the hierarchical structures and of our social representations in memory” (25). 
The first filter constraint in his model emphasizes that media are closely interlocked and share common interests with other dominant institutional sectors (corporations, the state, banks). With the nationalisation of the largest newspaper group in the early 1970s, the stage was set for government manipulation of the media. Since, the State media has been under the control of successive governments, it is perceived as a vehicle for government propaganda. The appointment of reporters, editors, directors and managers has always been aimed at fulfilling partisan agendas. In the case of state television and radio, legal safeguards were also readily available. Herman and Chomsky point out: “the dominant media firms are quite large businesses; they are controlled by very wealthy people or by managers who are subject to sharp constraints by owners and other market-profit-oriented forces” (14).
The Associated Newspapers of Ceylon Limited (ANCL) was a previously successful family run newspaper enterprise. It was “nationalised” by the Prime Minister,  Bandaranayake, of the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) in 1973 with the then government taking over 75% of its shares, stating intention to broad-base ownership of the company by distribution of shares amongst the public but it was not done. The aim was to curtail its support to the rival main party, UNP. From then onwards, it functions as the mouthpiece of the government in power. When the United National Party (UNP) was in power in 1987, they were forced to construct a positive representation of the Indian intervention like the JR government which was forced to enter into the Indo-Lanka Agreement. But the Sinhala readership was against the Agreement. However, later, J.R Jayawardene, the Sri Lankan President, manipulated the intervention climate to go against the Tamil militants and the Tamils. The young Indian Prime Minister and the Indian policy makers on Sri Lanka became ‘the victims’ to the political shrewdness of J.R. Jayawardene’s experience; in consequence, the Tamil militants and Tamils have become the victims.
The Daily News and the Sunday Observer indirectly and ideologically adheres to cultural nationalism. Based on the research on Ethnic Conflict and International Relations in the Editorials of Sri Lankan  English Newspapers: a Discourse  Analysis,  it represents the party in power first and then gives priority to the government position but overtly it constructs ‘constitutional nationalism’(Gnanaseelan, 175-185). It invites the Tamils and the International Community to reach a hybrid solution both militarily and politically imposed: it can be either centralized or ‘de-centralized’ power devolution while taking care of ‘the elimination of terrorism and secessionism’ (Gnanaseelan, 175-185). The newspaper group’s position had been always confusing and ambiguous through out the peace process because it had come under the control of both the major governments of alliance: UNF and UFPA. In this post-war situation, it is almost silent about devolution and is always vocal about development.

When the UNP government signed the CFA agreement with the militants in 2002, it strongly supported the intervention of the international community. The other newspapers expressed many complications and implications of the intervention. It constructed a binary position: intervention versus interference. Later, when the Rajapakse-led SLFP took over the regime in 2006, it started to express the same, for, it goes with the Chomsky’s idea in Media Control that ‘propaganda is to a democracy what the bludgeon is to a totalitarian state’ (20).
Herman in “The Propaganda Model: A Retrospective” states that the dramatic changes in the economy, the communications industries, and politics over the past dozen years have tended on balance to enhance the applicability of the propaganda model (101-12). The first two filters – ownership and advertising – have become even more important. The Sinhala ownership and Sinhala readership have given the trust for upholding the ideologies.
However, the private media’s situation was different from the state press. The Island Group (27 years- World Press Trends, 2000) was and has been owned by the relatives of the major party leaders, mainly the SLFP. They are said to be the most "scrutinizing" and very ‘nationalistic’ in character and widely read newspapers. Though the ownership had links with the SLFP, it follows a neutral approach to the party politics. However, its construction of the Indian intervention in 1987 and international intervention in 2002 was so negative and not to the liking of the international community or India. It is said to be the propaganda organ of ethnonationalism but overtly it constructs ‘the constitutional nationalism’ in ‘preserving the state sovereignty and security in the ethnic conflict resolution and reconciliation process’ and comments on the role of the International Community solely within this framework.
It persuades ultimately for a centralized power or governance system and elimination of ‘terrorism’ through a militarily imposed solution. This trend reflects Chomsky’s idea in Necessary Illusions: Thought Control in Democratic Societies that the owners and managers or  commentators ‘belong to the same privileged elites, and might be expected to share the perceptions, aspirations, and attitudes of their associates, reflecting their own class interests as well’. Journalists also should ‘conform to these ideological pressures, generally by internalizing the values’ and ‘those who fail to conform will tend to be weeded out by familiar mechanisms’ (8).
Wijeya Newspapers Ltd (Formerly the Times Group) was started by Ranjit Wijewardane in 1979. A family link was established between the Upali Group and the Times Group; it is considered as the most "independent" and, it is said to be the most "daring" one in publishing the issues of national security and national harmony. It also runs only English and Sinhala newspapers for 38 years. Like the Upali group, the Wijeya group too took a neutral stand on party politics. However, it is slightly more critical of the SLFP than the UNP. It could be traced to the ownership relations with the latter. It was highly critical of the Indian intervention in 1987 but later took a pro-Indian stand when India banned the Tamil militants. Generally it welcomed the international intervention in 2002 but whenever the International Community seemed to recognize the Tamil militants and was sympathetic to the grievances and political rights of the Tamils and expected a federal solution to the crisis, the institution was critical of it developing the binary: federalism versus unitarism.
    The Sunday Times and Daily Mirror has been considered as the most tolerable one. It constructs ‘constitutional nationalism’ in ‘preserving the state sovereignty and security in the Ethnic conflict resolution process’ and commented on the negative role of the International Community. Finally with or without the assistance of the International community it seeks a politically imposed solution: A pseudo ‘de-centralization of power’ and elimination of secessionism.
Leader Publications Ltd published the Sunday Leader (15 years) by an independent group called Leader Publications. It is more critical of the SLFP government and many news items are inclined towards UNP; earlier it was considered as the most "party-based" newspaper in publishing the issues of rivalry of national party politics. It was also highly critical of the Indian intervention in 1987 and after the ban of the militants, undertook propaganda to get Indian assistance in neutralizing the militants rather than in devolving the power to the Tamils in the Northeast and in recognizing the areas as their homeland. It welcomed the international intervention in 2002 because the inviter was the UNP but later, like other two private owned newspapers groups, began to criticize the overindulgence and pro-Tamil approach of the International Community. First it focuses on the party needs and then constructs ‘constitutional nationalism’. It supports conflict intervention to find a solution, the ‘de-centralization of power’ and elimination of secessionism through both military and political imposition . Chomsky highlighted it in his statement: ‘the media serve the interests of state and corporate power, which are closely interlinked, framing their reporting and analysis in a manner supportive of established privilege and limiting debate and discussion accordingly’ (10).
When it comes to Tamil Dailies & Weeklies, Thinakkural (20 years) is owned by Thinakkural Daily publishers , Veerakesari (29 years) by the Express Group, and Sudaroli (15 years), and Udayan (24) by Udayan Publishers. All the chief editors are Tamils. It is natural that they all expressed a positive representation of the Indian intervention in 1987.But later when the IPKF turned against the militants and Tamils, they began to criticize the Indian approach not the intervention, for, the Tamil press has always been positive about an Indian intervention because of the support and sympathy  from Tamil Nadu. They welcomed the International intervention in 2002 as well. Being the media of minority representation, they were always positive about any international intervention.
The second filter highlights the influence of advertising values on the news production process, for, Chomsky says that ‘like other businesses, [the media] sell a product to buyers. Their market is advertisers, and the "product" is audiences’ (7). To remain financially viable, most media must sell markets (readers) to buyers (advertisers). This dependency can directly influence media performance. Chomsky in Manufacturing Consent: The Political Economy of the Mass Media (8) remarks that media content naturalizes, reflecting ‘the perspectives and interests of the sellers, the buyers, and the product’ (see also Herman, in The Myth of the Liberal Media: An Edward Herman Reader). The ANCL publications being government newspapers still are said to be the most widely read newspapers, due its advertisements and notices covering the educational, employment and government departmental information. Thus, the political ideologies of the party in power in matters of conflict and intervention were the ideologies of the media institution’s propaganda. It reached the international, Sinhala and Tamil readership largely because it ran the English papers, Sunday Observer and the Daily News (92 years), the Sinhala newspaper, Dinamina (97 years) and the Tamil newspaper, Thinakaran (73 years) as well. Unfortunately the private media could not compete with the State media in advertising business.  However, the ideologically based propaganda was the prime attraction which made the newspapers sell substantially.
The Sri Lankan media is generally against the internationalization of the conflict and international intervention. They project an aggressor versus victim frame in the International Community-Sri Lanka relations. The media appreciates it when the international community acts against the militants and Tamil Diaspora internationally and criticizes when the international community intervenes in the ethnic conflict resolution and insists on refraining from the military approach. Chomsky in Media Control says: ‘the point of public relations slogans like "Support our troops" is that they don't mean anything... that's the whole point of good propaganda. You want to create a slogan that nobody's going to be against, and everybody's going to be for. Nobody knows what it means, because it doesn't mean anything. Its crucial value is that it diverts your attention from a question that does mean something: Do you support our policy? That's the one you're not allowed to talk about (26).
They accuse the international community on their ‘double standards’ in  global war on terror versus Sri Lankan war on the Tamil militants and in  approaching domestic versus international  terrorism. It goes well with Chomsky’s statement in Necessary Illusions with regard to the US: ‘the United States has no principled opposition to democratic forms, as long as the climate for business operations is preserved’ (111). The Sri Lankan media takes advantage of the US double standards in international relations and interventions to criticize the conflict situation. The media suppresses the human rights violations of the government and its armed forces and foreground ‘crushing terrorism’. This approach tallies with Chomsky’s attribution of the USA: ‘if the enemies of democracy are not "Communists," then they are "terrorists"; still better, "Communist terrorists," or terrorists supported by International Communism. The rise and decline of international terrorism in the 1980s provides much insight into "the utility of interpretations." (113). Thus in Sri Lanka the media supports governments and the international community resolve the conflicts militarily or with the minimum devolution which does not affect the majoritarian nationalist interests. They oppose when the fighting minorities win their political rights or maximum devolution.    
The media appreciates when the international community acts against the militants and Tamil nationalists nationally and assists the State militarily and economically; they criticize when the international community advocates a political solution fair to the Tamils by refraining from the military approach and when the international community treats both the government and militants as equals. Chomsky in Media Control relates this situation to his idea that ‘hypocrites are those who apply to others the standards that they refuse to accept for themselves (77). The media appreciate it when the International Non-governmental Organizations (INGOs) assist the South in economic development and humanitarian services but the media criticize when the INGOs assist the northeast rehabilitation programs as the fund was going into the hands of the militants and when the international community criticized the armed forces and the government. This goes well with Chomsky’s statement in Necessary Illusions that a solicitous concern for democracy and human rights may go hand in hand with tolerance for large-scale slaughter, or direct participation in it (108).
In accordance with the same principles, it is natural that vast outrage should be evoked by the terror of the Pol Pot regime, while reporters in Phnom Penh in 1973, when the U.S. bombing of populated areas of rural Cambodia had reached its peak, should ignore the testimony of the hundreds of thousands of refugees before their eyes. Such selective perception guarantees that little is known about the scale and character of these U.S. atrocities, though enough is known to indicate that they may have been comparable to those attributable to the Khmer Rouge at the time when the chorus of indignation swept the West in 1977, and that they contributed significantly to the rise, and probably the brutality, of the Khmer Rouge (108).
The third filter notes that dominant elites routinely facilitate the news-gathering process: providing press releases, advance copies of speeches, periodicals, photo opportunities and ready-for-news analysis (Herman and Chomsky 19). Thus, government and corporate sources are attractive to the media for purely economic reasons. Such sources are favoured and are routinely endorsed and legitimized by the media because they are recognizable and are viewed as prima facie credible. Information provided to the media by corporate and state sources does not require fact checking or costly background research and is typically portrayed as accurate. A similar situation has been prevalent in Sri Lanka on conflict intervention and governance issues. However, they are attractive not for purely economic reasons but for political as well as ideological ones.
The Sri Lankan media have historically been divided along ethnic lines, a trend which dates back to colonial times. According to International Centre for Ethnic Studies in The Reconciliation survey Report, in 1860s, a number of reactionary Sinhala publications such as Lanka Lokaya, Lakmini Pahana and Sandaresa were started, taking a distinctly Sinhala-Buddhist stance.  This religious and cultural focus could also be seen in the Tamil media of the time. In the 1950s, the media played a significant role in bringing the “Sinhala only” policy. The media have always projected a discourse of resistance to conflict resolution and intervention. The Sinhala elites occupy prominent positions in the public and private sectors. They recognize the ordinary Sinhala mass only for commenting on the negative consequences of terrorism and war, not the causes of the conflict or solutions.
Importantly, the editors incorporate preferred meanings into news discourse, originated from official sources identified as ‘experts’. Thus, news discourse ‘may be skewed in the direction desired by the elites, the government and “the market”’ (the Sinhala mass) (Herman and Chomsky 23). Concurrently, the ‘preferred’ meanings structured into news discourse are typically ‘those that are functional for elites’.
Flak, the fourth filter, means that dominant social institutions (most notably the state) possess the power and requisite organizational resources to pressure media to play a propagandist role in society. Herman and Chomsky explain that: Flak refers to negative responses to a media statement or program. . . . It may be organized centrally or locally, or it may consist of the entirely independent actions of individuals (26). In sum, the authors maintain that there are powerful interests that routinely encourage right-wing bias in media. (27–8). The monopoly of the media by successive governments affected the reporting of the conflict. However, there is no state control over the privately owned newspapers, except under emergency or Prevention of Terrorism Act censorship when they are in force.
The policies, activities and achievements of governments get publicity only through the Press. It can help influence people with diversified, even opposing ideologies. Religion, language, and culture play an important role in the actions and policies of the government and also the other Political parties. Inevitably, newspapers get linked to political parties, ethnic communities and regions. This is evident in Sri Lanka as well. History has shown Presidents and Prime Ministers attempting to control the press. Mrs. Sirimavo Bandaranaike, took over the Lake House (The Daily News & The Sunday Observer). Almost at the same time the Sun Group of newspapers was sealed, while the Times Group was manoeuvred into bankruptcy. Late Mr. J.R. Jayawardena brought the notorious Parliamentary Privileges Act, which placed the media directly under the control of Parliament. Mr. Ranasinghe Premadasa did not depend on subtle tactics.
 President Chandrikka Bandaranaike Kumaratunge's (CBK) latest move followed the tradition controlling independent dissemination of news in the media. In setting up the Policy Research and Information Unit (PRIU), the government was in effect restricting access to information about the government as well as the forces. She, in addition to her various responsibilities as Minister of Finance, Minister of Defence and Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces, is also the Chief Editor of the Government Media. Since governments know the power of the media, as an ideological apparatus, they prefer to use it for achieving their ends.
The fifth filter is ‘anti-communism’ as a national religion and control mechanism. The tail end of 2003 saw the re-emergence of a strong Buddhist nationalist agenda within the mainstream politics. This was reflected in the Sinhala language media. It was particularly evident in the attention given to the Jathika Hela Urumaya (JHU), a party that fielded Buddhist monks in the general election campaign in April 2004 for the first time in Sri Lanka’s history. According to Centre for Policy Alternatives, in Monitoring of Media Coverage,  the Media Monitor points out: “Sri Lankan newspapers of the three language media cater to sets of individuals who inhabit different worlds and espouse different worldviews. Though the island is small, yet the gulf that separates these language groups appears to be ever-widening, particularly between the Tamil readership and the rest” (5). This is similar to what Chomsky in Media Control says about the US media making propaganda for the US international intervention: ‘it is ... necessary to whip up the population in support of foreign adventures. Usually the population is pacifist, just like they were during the First World War. The public sees no reason to get involved in foreign adventures, killing, and torture. So you have to whip them up. And to whip them up you have to frighten them’ (30).
 According to the Centre for Policy Alternatives (CPA), the Sri Lankan media of all three languages were monitored by the CPA Media Unit from March to August 2004. A study of the Oslo Declaration jointly made by the government and the militants demonstrates the politico-ideological divide between the communities. On 05 December 2002, the government and the militants agreed to explore a political solution within the framework of a federal political system during the third round of talks. Most of the Sinhala private newspapers were not positive in their response whereas all the Tamil newspapers were positive. The government run newspapers like the Ceylon Daily News and the Sunday Observer and the pro-UNP government newspaper the Sunday Leader were positive. But the rest of the private run newspapers by the Sinhalese like The Island and The Sunday Times were not.
The filters continuously interact with one another and operate on an individual and institutional basis (Herman and Chomsky, 2; Rai, 40). They say that the filter constraints excise the news that powerful interests deem not fit to print.

The papers generally comment on the manner of “the root causes”, “the legitimate grievances and injustices of the Tamils”, “the perceptions of the Sinhala community”, and “the importance of the southern consensus” from their ideological affiliations. They balance the Sinhala ‘isms’ with the Tamil ‘isms’. The media lay stress on the former but silenced the latter, highlighting the moral frame: the affected versus the aggressor. Both the Leader and News use the discourse themes such as “preserving democracy”, “pluralism”, “tolerance in finding the solution”’, “inclusion of opposition opinion”, “agreement as the outcome of the negotiation”, and “negotiations and compromises to construct the impartial nature of the media in their comment on the national as well as international political universals”.
The Island recollects the resistance to federal system from 1958 and “the rejection of federalism”. But no such federal proposal was given to the Tamils. It was only a media-invented event. Both the Island and News always remind readers of “the JVP (Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna) and JHU opposition” to the peace talk “the hurdles and obstacles”. The Island criticizes the militants’ violations of the 13th Amendment (the Provincial Council System), Sinhalese resistance to the 13th amendment. All the four newspapers comment in their respective ways on the “contradictory” nature of the policies of the two major parties on the issue, of their party rivalry in general and of their leaders’ power struggle and consensus and cohabitation. They “insist” on a bipartisan approach “reaching southern consensus” while the media could not reach a consensus on “a fair solution”. It thus foregrounds that it was only the Sinhala politicians, not the whole community or the pan-Sinhala Buddhist nationalists who are responsible for the on-going conflict.


8.      Conclusion
The Sinhala Press played a major role in sharpening the ethnic conflict as it showed narrow nationalistic assumptions. The first filter of concentrated ownership played a strong role in determining or deterring the international intervention and conflict resolution. The second filter of advertising as the primary income source of the mass media played a minimum role because the significance of the issue goes beyond mere profitability. It is deeply ideological and attitudinal; the third filter of the reliance of the media on information provided by government, business, and ‘experts’ is applicable but it is the choice of the media and it is intentional, not unintentional as Herman and Chomsky point out on the third filter; for the model says that the media can follow the positions of the state, institutions and elites unconsciously as they have been mechanized by these filters for a long time. The fourth filter of ‘flak’ as a means of disciplining the media is considerably true especially in matters of commenting on the Sri Lankan Forces’ war against the militants and Tamil nationalists and the victimization of the Tamils by the Sri Lankan military operations; however, reporting on the conflict resolution and intervention, the media consciously distort the facts. The fifth filter of ‘anti-communism’ as a national religion and control mechanism is very pervasive and persistent here in the form of ‘anti-terrorism’ and ‘anti-federalism’. Finally Chomsky in Media Control says:
Pick the topic you like: the Middle East, international terrorism, Central America, whatever it is—the picture of the world that's presented to the public has only the remotest relation to reality. The truth of the matter is buried under edifice after edifice of lies upon lies. It's all been a marvellous success from the point of view in deterring the threat of democracy, achieved under conditions of freedom, which is extremely interesting. It's not like a totalitarian state, where it's done by force. These achievements are under conditions of freedom (37).
There has been always subtle forms of construction for a solution within the unitary constitution of Sri Lanka due to their ethno-centrist and cultural nationalist’ positions. All the newspapers foreground the elimination of terrorism and give priority to it. The self-serving partisan nature of the editorials is clearly ideological, and articulated along the fundamental ideological divide between the Sinhalese and the Tamils at the community level. All levels and dimensions of the discursive structures of the article express, with some variations, this basic fundamental ethnic divide.



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