A video widely circulated via the electronic media recently showed the Health Ministry’s Communications Director and the Public Health Services Deputy Director General Dr. Hemantha Herath, saying that a majority of journalists who got killed were ‘third class journalists’. However, following the statement in question, Dr. Herath told The Morning on 7 June that he had already expressed his apologies in this connection, and conveyed regret. It also begs the question as to whether those journalists were in fact and indeed ‘third class journalists’. The discourse the aforementioned statement led to is neither about Dr. Herath, nor about how we as a country gauge the professional work of journalists. They have to understand that the freedom of speech and the right to not be unfairly punished for their actions in whatever capacity is not just a right of journalists.

Source: The Nation June 08, 2021 18:56 UTC