Colombo, Sri Lanka: There is a general allegation that the irresponsibility of the media is one cause for the ethnic strife, escalation of violence and obstacle in resolving the problem.

Last week when there was a clash in Vahaneri in Batticola, the Colombo media published a distorted version of the news. Had they reported the incidents without distortion, the South would have known the truth. But unfortunately, the distorted version caused hatred towards the Tamils and LTTE.

According to the Colombo, the LTTE attacked the army engaged in surveillance in the government controlled territory and killed a number of soldiers, while more than a dozen had gone missing. Colombo media further stated that many LTTE cadres were killed, when the army retaliated. Certain sections of the press went on further and said that according to army sources there was no truth in the claim of the LTTE that they attacked soldiers who infiltrated into LTTE controlled areas.

What is disturbing is that the Colombo media are not interested in ascertaining the truth. It lacks the courage and the moral strength to tell the truth. Ommerson, the spokesperson of the SLMM told a correspondent of a Colombo based English weekly that the clash had taken place in an area considered controlled by the LTTE.

It is unfortunate the correspondent's written report did not see the light of the day. It is strange the entire media in the south, as if in a common connivance, chose a blackout on the SLMM finding.

According to the LTTE, the army infiltrated about 5km into their territory and attacked them killing four of their caders. They reitaliated, two hours after reporting the incident to the SLMM. It was when then that 12 Sri Lankan soldiers were killed.

S.P.Thamilselvan the leader of the Political Wing, LTTE, has already complained to the SLMM of army infiltration into LTTE areas, once on the sly, is now open and brazen and conducting attacks.

The media in the South has a duty in today's context, to publish the views of both, the government as well as the LTTE, and also the findings of the SLMM, if they wish to prove they are observing healthy norms of journalism, as they claim. Had they reported the Vahaneri incident impartially, they could have afforded an opportunity for the Sinhala people to learn the truth. The masses then would have known the direction in which the country is being led by the security forces, as well as the political leaders.

Instead, by publishing a distorted version of the incident in which 12 Sri Lankan soldiers were killed, they have sowed the seeds of hatred towards the Tamils and the LTTE, in the minds of the Sinhala people.

They have played into the hands of political opportunists. Unless the media of the South engages in responsible and healthy reporting, the Sinhal people will not know the reality. That is the sorry plight today!

An English translation of the Editorial in Sudar Oli, a Tamil National daily, based in Colombo

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