e’re saying adieu to another decade, one that most would agree was something of a roller-coaster ride. It was filled with violence, upheavals, natural disasters, attempts at peacemaking and an overdose of politicking. It was slap-bang all the way, with events moving at breakneck speeds and overtaking our wildest expectations.

In short, it was a 10-year term that was filled with the best and worst of human experience.

The decade started with an election and ended with one. In-between, we had an unsuccessful attempt at peace negotiations, a very successful military campaign and a deadly 30 minutes during which nature turned on its worst fury on Sri Lanka.

When a year draws to an end and a new one begins, we hope and wish for change… for the better – regardless that such hope has always proven half-fulfilled at best.

At least this time around, we can all dream of a clean break from the past.

The last decade was also one in which journalism in Sri Lanka hit rock bottom; and as journalists, we don’t have the luxury to think of clean breaks unless we are willing to make hard decisions. Some of these decisions have to be supported by those who finance them, especially those who deal with money.

The slide was not unexpected and was precipitated by a multitude of factors: a lack of professionalism, very poor pay levels, agenda-based reporting, political pressure and intimidation, even assaults and murders combining to cause a massive erosion of public trust.

To deny that the problem the media is facing was not in any way due to external pressures would be an outright lie. But those pressures, which have been documented, could have been far better handled if the media as a whole was much more professional and united.

That there was something rotten in the belly of the beast has been known for a while. The problem was that it wasn’t addressed. Salaries have been a crucial issue. Journalists, especially those who work for the vernacular newspapers, are among lowest paid.

Newspaper managers may feel that news is news and anybody can get it, thus driving the low-pay scale forward. News may be news, but it needs a trained eye more than ever to catch the nuance and give some depth to each story. Otherwise, we end up giving the audience a collection of voice cuts and sound bites that have no meaning.

This is unfortunately what we get as the daily staple from the media – the ‘he said, she said’ version of events. What we fail to understand is that this method can be cleverly influenced and manipulated by handlers and those who give the story or the quotes. When this is epidemic, the entire reporting culture is under manipulation and influence.

Efficient and capable young talent falls by the wayside and they go on to seek better pay rather than remain in newsrooms. Very few last the distance, more often not because of their faults but those of the system.

These issues are discussed inside newsrooms but rarely, if ever, addressed head-on by management.

About three years ago, a new media house entered the fray and poached journalists from established newspaper houses. This happens occasionally in the local media scene. The biggest incentive was the hike in salaries that was on offer.

Many of us thought that despite the company’s lack of expertise in running a media house, the move would bode well. What we figured was that other publishing houses would have to follow suit. But no one did. The new media house eventually turned out to be a lot of hot air and not much more.

But we should not have harboured any hopes. The same experience hit us when the new TV networks came up. Then, there were presumptions that big media was good for small Sri Lanka – what bunkum.    

To read the entire article, subscribe to LMD – or get your copy of this widely read business magazine at leading bookstores and selected retail outlets.