REMEMBERING LASANTHA WHO CHAMPIONED PRESS FREEDOM
Lasantha, was one of the best investigative journalists, if not the best, the country had ever read. His absence has left the country poorer
Five years on after the brutal murder of Lasantha Wickrematunge, the journalistic fraternity in the country is still reeling. As much as many would have diverse and often contradicting views about how the pen was used by Lasantha, many would not doubt that he stood out and was one of the best investigative journalists, if not the best, the country had ever read. He stood tall as a champion for the freedom of the press to inform and the right of the people to be informed. Therefore his absence has left the country poorer.
The much larger questions that loom today, five years after his demise are twofold. Has Lasantha’s journalistic panache evolved into a more vibrant and potent form of media, or have we been left still fighting to sift through the rubble after his death? What does it mean to the rule of law and the right of the public to be informed, when an editor of a national newspaper is brutally murdered a stone’s throw from a High Security Zone, with not a single person found responsible for the murder? The two questions will have many connotations attached to it, but it’s pertinent to inquire into them. Five years on, his legacy would call for this introspection if nothing else. The answers to these two questions will help unravel the many strands that truth might possess. But it will also help in understanding the bigger dynamics of democracy that prevail in the country as of now.
Until and unless these questions are answered, the public are left poor: poor in both information and insight with regard to those who govern the country and those who oppose the ones who govern. This can be the postmortem, although many have been conducted in different fora since that fateful January day. For many of us who did not know him and the many who did, the fact remains that his death must not be mourned, but his life instead celebrated. Five years on his legacy demands this celebration together with a deep introspection flowing concurrent to each other.