The scurrilous websites issue

Despite the state making it amply clear that all that local news websites need to do to function in this country legitimately is to register themselves with relevant state agencies, such as, the Media Ministry, some of these entities are persisting in operating in a clandestine fashion. They need to operate in a covert manner, probably because they are in the sordid business of character assassination and other seamy operations which violate the law of the land.

However, there is no bar to those news websites which need to engage in the legitimate task of informing the public, provided they register themselves with the authorities and make a full disclosure of who owns and operates them.

This is the way the law operates in a democracy. This, the state has been right along saying and there is no reason why any party should fight shy of adhering to these conditions unless they intend to infringe the existing laws which govern the operation of these media outlets.

Some local celebrities had their say on this issue yesterday on our front page and it is plain to see that they have suffered terribly at the hands of these clandestine websites which have chosen to operate outside the bounds of the law.

While it is being argued in some quarters that the these websites are merely exercising their Freedom of Expression or Right of Speech by probing, mainly, the private lives of these personalities, which, strictly speaking, should be the business of no one, it should be pretty obvious to sensible sections that what is being unleashed by these websites is the proverbial 'freedom of the wild ass.'

We would be stating the obvious by saying that what is meant by Free Speech or the Freedom of Expression is not the 'freedom of the wild ass.' Newspaper or media freedom is an essential element of democracy, but democracy does not and cannot permit unbridled and irresponsible use of the Freedom of Expression.

The media should be used with a high degree of discipline and sense of purpose and there are ample opportunities for this in Sri Lanka. But the media cannot act outside the bounds of the law and it is the need for this that the state is emphasizing.

Inasmuch as the Lankan state is obliged to permit the full functioning of those websites and media organizations which adhere to the law, it is compelled to bring to justice those sections of the media which violate the law unconscionably and grossly misuse their Freedom of Expression.

Some media outlets, while having failed to register themselves, have been severely violating the law over the past few months, by character-assassinating some public personalities and such bodies need to be brought to justice. For, justice must be afforded the aggrieved and harmed parties.

If these outlets were registered, and their operators and owners publicly known, the aggrieved parties could have sought justice in the courts of law by citing these persons and groups as respondents. But this cannot be done in the case of clandestine websites which have not disclosed the identities of their owners and managers.

Thus, justice is denied these affected persons and it is the responsibility of the state to ensure that those websites which do not comply with the law are made to account for their transgressions of the law.

The affected persons must be given the opportunity of clearing their names of any mud-slinging and this would be made possible if the websites in question have registered themselves.

Therefore, no case could be made for those websites that operate in violation of the law by not disclosing who operates them, but churn out the most scurrilous and harmful of material. The report we carry on page one highlighting the pronouncements of a US court on issues of a similar nature could be instructive in this connection. Freedom with responsibility should be the motto of the media.