The extent of the investigations into all Tamil-speaking journalists, including journalist Nadesan, who was murdered in 2004, remains a mystery to date. More than 60 Tamil journalists from the Northern Province handed over the list to the then President Maithripala Sirisena and Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe. Thus said, there was no action taken towards this request from the last government, ”said Dr. V. Janagan, secretariat of the Democratic People Front and contestant for the party Samagi Jana Balawegaya with Mano Ganeshan, as one of the renowned tamil candidate in Colombo district.

In a media statement today, dedicated for the media freedom day, Dr. Janagan stated,

“It is with great regret that today, in the wake of Press Freedom Day, the media, also referred as the fourth pillar of democracy in Sri Lanka, has not been protected as it has been projected”.

“In the journal “Reporters without Borders”, Sri Lanka has not been successful in securing a place within the first 100 to date and is ranked 127th in the world. The true concern regarding this is backstage, where the reality of politics and media are intertwined, but also journalists and the media in the political apparatus are trapped and destroyed. Thus said the worst case scenario is the plight of Tamil journalists in Sri Lanka who continue to be reporting in an unsafe environment”.

“To date, 37 journalists have been disappeared and murdered. It is noteworthy to understand the alarming concern that, 34 out of these numbers are exclusively Tamil-speaking journalists. The extent to which the investigation into all Tamil-speaking journalists is at a cringe worthy situation. Further, including journalist Nadesan, who was murdered in 2004, the level of investigation is unbelievable regarding bringing justice to all these journalists and it further remains a mystery up to date. The journalist union had requested the president and prime minister of the last government to speed the process of investigation and to bring justice. Thus said, the government up to date has not take any action. Today, many families of these journalists who spoke the truth and were murdered are in dire need of financial relief to survive”.

“It is undeniably that the best efforts of media were able to guide the political path of the Tamil people, who have been crippled during the war and its proceedings. But over the past two decades, the government pressure on Tamil media and journalists have questioned the political knowledge and development of the Tamil society. Likewise, the economic structure of regional journalists has been deteriorated. The pay for their service should be defined and governments need to understand that, protecting regional journalists is a path way to strengthen social structures and feed economic growth”.

“Further, the social media industry that has grown today should be recognized as the fourth generation of media. This should be a gateway to create and enforce proper values ​​and laws regarding this new emerging social media. I would like to emphasize that it is the duty of a government with value to accept media as the fourth pillar of the democracy and to protect the media industry in order to create value and need among people for a sound society”, stated Dr. V. Janagan