The Minister of Mass Media and Information has said that the sexual harassment of female journalists in the mainstream media institutions in Sri Lanka has provoked discussions on social media and attention has been focused on conducting investigations into the matter.
Most of those revelations are in the name of the state media.
State Media Spokesman and Minister of Mass Media and Information Keheliya Rambukwella stated that he has not yet received an official complaint in this regard.
“I have not received any such official complaint, but if I receive such a complaint, I will take immediate action.”
However, the Minister has said that steps will be taken to contact the relevant persons in this regard, raising the suspicion that “if it is true”. “If that is true, then we will definitely take the maximum possible steps,” he said to the reporters.
Neither the Minister nor the Government Information Department has yet revealed the methodology behind the investigation.
Journalist Sarah Kellapatha has revealed in a Twitter message that she was threatened with rape by a male professional colleague while working for a daily newspaper in Sri Lanka.
Following her revelation about the harassment she suffered while working for a newspaper (anonymous) during 2010-17, allegations of sexual harassment against her began to flood the social media in Sri Lanka.
Similar to the #MeToo campaign that started in the US in 2017 with the revelation of sexual crimes committed by former American filmmaker Harvey Weinstein, her tweet has prompted many more women to make their experiences public.
Following the tweet, Jordan Narin, a US journalist trained as intern journalist in Sri Lanka, tweeted that she had been sexually assaulted by a senior journalist colleague while she was training for the one of Sri Lankan government’s news paper Daily News.
She called him as “H****L”.
“In his own words, he is the best journalist Sri Lanka has ever seen. I was impatient until I got a chance to learn from him. But he took advantage of me for about two months, and then he started yelling at me, constantly embarrassing me, always touching me inappropriately. ” She eventually complained to the newspaper’s editor – in – chief and then this person has asked to resign from his position.
He has then joined the Daily Mirror and is now practicing law, according to social media reports.
Sharing her experience, journalist Sahla Ilham notes that she was sexually harassed by a editor of a “famous newspaper ” which is not publish anymore and pressured her and her family to remain silent regarding this case.
Kavindya Tennakoon, another journalist revealed that as a 15-year-old student, she was unnecessarily touched by a make-up artist while appearing on a program on the Independent Television Network. After complaining to the program director about this, the artist refrained from referring to her, but he continued to work at the agency.
She then described how a senior journalist on MTV tried to force her to kiss her while she was involved in a program and how she had to work with him for months after the incident.
Among those accused of sexual harassment were middle-class journalists in newspapers and television stations, as well as seniors who later turned to political careers.
Following the revelations, the Foreign Correspondents Association of Sri Lanka issued a statement in support of the victims, saying, “We urge the media to investigate these allegations expeditiously and take the necessary steps to prevent a recurrence.” Together, we have a responsibility to ensure that all our colleagues in our workplaces have a sense of security and equality. ”
It is not known if any other media organizations in the country have made any statement in this regard.