Media bias and freedom of the press, a correspondence between Eric Bailey and Alastair Reynard

To the readers of the Sri Lanka Guardian,

(October 14, Washington/London, Sri Lanka Guardian) Since the end of May of this year, I have had an exchange of letters with a man by the name of Alastair Reynard concerning the nature and accused bias of this news site. In these letters he expressed his concern that the Sri Lanka Guardian, or SLG as it is often written in shorthand, was sympathetic to the LTTE and that it had become a propaganda tool of the rebels by publishing articles that showed issues through their point of view. In response I sought to explain to him the functional nature of the SLG to show him three things. The first was that any bias was held by the individual contributor, not the SLG as a whole. Second, I tried to explain to him that the SLG has a decentralized design that serves as a natural buffer against media bias, ironically, by encouraging multiple conflicting biases to contribute to the same entity. Finally, I tried to express my personal opinion that, by allowing people of many differing points of view contribute articles to the SLG, this decentralized system actually became a champion of free speech and gave readers such as yourselves the liberty and responsibility to judge each issue for themselves based on whatever points of view a contributor had felt compelled to offer them.

These letters were originally never designed to be published, at least not on my part. As far as I was aware, no one but Alastair and myself knew of our correspondence and my responses, while lengthy, were personal attempts to ease the mind of someone I assumed had an honest concern and could be appealed to by an honest and logical discussion of the subject. I was disappointed later to see that that this man, who came to me complaining of media bias, decided to publish his latest letter to me, by name, on a competing Sri Lankan news media site. There is a double irony to this action that I hope others will appreciate. The first that comes to mind is that while he came to me with concerns about media bias, he published his letter without publishing the letters that had preceded it, denying his own readers the context of the correspondence and giving them a very one-sided point of view. The second, less obvious, but possibly even more important is that, if he wanted to, he could have published that same letter on the Sri Lanka Guardian and still done so without publishing my letters along with it. If anything, that fact should cement the SLG's status as accepting of all views and biases more so than anything else.

Now that one letter has been made public, I feel its sister letters should follow suit. The following will be all four of the letters Alastair and I exchanged over a period of approximately four months, including my final response letter to him that was written three days after his last letter to me and before I had learned of its publication. My personal bias could not be made more plain than through the publishing of these letters, but I take dual comfort in the fact that I have no shame for my personal political views, and that none of the fine people who read this risk being unfairly influenced by my point of view as I have every confidence that someone will feel compelled to counter my positions as soon as they read them. When they do, I and the Sri Lanka Guardian will be happy to publish them. As far as this correspondence is concerned, I feel no further context is required or would be helpful. I urge each of you to read these emails at your leisure and decide for yourself what your believe is right and just on the subject, as is your right.

Regards,
Eric Bailey, Sri Lanka Guardian


Dear Editor of the Sri Lanka Guardian:

For the past few weeks, we have seen a growing number if biased and racially charged stories on the Sri Lanka Guardian web site. We used to think that yours was a moderate media outlet but your general tone suggests a pro-LTTE rhetoric. This is sad and violates ethics of your profession.

Alastair Reynard

Dear Alastair Reynard,

My name is Eric Bailey and I am a Texan contributor to the Sri Lanka Guardian. I imagine that my latest article is one of the articles some people think of as "pro LTTE." This article, however, is not an endorsement of either the GoSL or the LTTE, nor are any of my other articles. Many of the Sri Lanka Guardian's contributors have this same goal of presenting facts and commentary on those facts without trying to prop up one side or another. I would hope that you will see these articles as representative of the very real issues that exist in post war Sri Lanka. If you care to look into who actually contributes to our paper, you will find a key officer of the IPKF, an LRRP veteran, people from both Tamil and Sinhalese ethnic backgrounds. For myself, I will admit freely to you that I fully supported the destruction of the LTTE by military means. You can also see my past articles, both by clicking on my link on the main page, and by searching for my previous pen name "E.T.Bailey" in the search bar on the top right hand corner of the page.

This "pro LTTE" bias that you are seeing is not a change in who is writing, nor is it any kind of policy change from the Sri Lanka Guardian. I hope you will see the recent trend of articles as representative of the difficult political situation in Sri Lanka. Our policy has never been to side with either the LTTE or the GoSL, but has instead been to report the facts without passion or prejudice and to provide a wide range of expert and highly educated commentary from a wide range of sources, both foreign and domestic. We are very proud of the diversity of our writers and believe that it is that diversity that gives our readers the best possible insight into current events in Sri Lanka.

I hope this has done something to ease your concerns about a bias on the part of the Sri Lanka Guardian. We are more of an alliance of contributors than a single media entity so, actually, a bias on our part would require a higher level of organization than we normally have. If you have any further questions or concerns, please feel free to email me directly at eb@srilankaguardian.org.

Regards,
Eric Bailey, Sri Lanka Guardian

P.S. It should be noted that with the diversity of our contributors, we freely admit that some of those who write for the Sri Lanka Guardian have, if not an actual support for Tamil Nationalism, at least a negative view of the current Sri Lankan administration. This is the natural result of diversity. To give our readers multiple perspectives on current events, the points of view that oppose the government position must be as freely accessible as those that support official government policy.

Dear Eric Bailey:

There is nothing wrong with criticizing a government. But that is not what we see on Sri Lanka Guardian. Tamil terrorists are crafty criminals. They use the media well to crucify Sri Lankans. That is not journalism. Articles driven by ethnic hatred is petty and contributes to even more friction among ethnic groups. Don't you think we have enough of that already? If Sri Lanka Guardian is truly diverse as you claim it to be, why are there almost no headline articles that discuss what is done by the GoSL to take care of the Tamil population? Why is there a total void in reporting about the global LTTE groups who are trying to revive this brutal terrorist organization? Let me prod you in that direction:

Obama's association with terrorists:

He accepted money from the brutal Tamil terrorists and tried to help their cause. These Tamil terrorists are on our State Department's list of Foreign Terrorist Organizations!

Obama illegally took donations from Tiger terrorists
http://www.nopc.info/forum/showthread.php?t=32479

More on Obama and Tamil terrorists
http://atlasshrugs2000.typepad.com/atlas_shrugs/2008/10/obama-accepts-d.html
http://sinhale.wordpress.com/2008/09/25/obama-campaign-accepts-funds-from-pro-ltte-donors/

According to data obtained by Asian Tribune from the Federal Election Commission:
Dr. Elias Jeyarajah, a Tamil terrorist in the US, contributed $ 500 to the North Carolina Democratic Party, 2007 Fourth Quarter. Second Quarter 2008 he contributed $ 1,500 to Hillary Clinton campaign. Third Quarter 2008 Jeyarajah contributed $ 1,565 to the Obama campaign.

Will Obama save Osama Bin Laden and Taliban's Mullah Mohamed? Why not, since he is working secretly for the world's most ruthless terror group. Obama administration and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is working to save the Tamil Tiger terrorists. The front organizations for these terrorists financed Obama's and Clinton's presidential campaigns. Research TRO, Tamil Foundation and Tamils for Obama - all fronts for the Tiger terrorists and you'll find their terror links and associations to the current US administration. These terrorists in the U.S. are meeting regularly with Obama and Clinton to slowly kill our freedoms and make terrorism legal.

LTTE terrorists Website Tamilnet proudly displays the association by then candidate Obama with the prominent fundraiser and promoter of the Tamil Tiger terrorists, Vaiko
http://www.tamilnet.com/art.html?catid=13&artid=26345

When the Tamil terror leadership was about to be removed, Obama & Clinton stepped in and tried to rescue them terrorists by offering amnesty and safe haven! So what about a life line for Osama Bin Laden or the Lockerbie bombers?

If Clinton runs for the White House in the future, it is guaranteed that front organizations for the same Tamil Tiger terrorists will contribute immensely as they did to Obama's Presidential campaign.

Google "Hillary Clinton Tamil Tiger terrorists".

WANTED: Clinton for aiding terrorism by FOREIGN POLICY based in Washington, DC
http://hillary.foreignpolicy.com/posts/2009/04/29/wanted_clinton_for_aiding_terrorism

"Yes, we can" - LTTE terrorists tells Obama and Clinton - both tempted by terror blood money!!!

Why is it hard to get the truth printed?

Regards,

Alastair Reynard

Hello again Alastair. It has been a while since we last spoke and I hope you are doing well.

I would hope that you do not base your opinion on the Sri Lanka Guardian on only one group of articles, but on the overall pattern the Sri Lanka Guardian uses that ensures all sides get their voices heard. Every subject you have asked about is available to you from our website. Just go look and see. Pro government authors and even government officials do often contribute to the Sri Lanka Guardian, or their open letters are posted on our news site along with countless other media sources. The President has had many of his own letters published on the Sri Lanka Guardian and I regularly see articles on the Ministry of Defence Website (www.defence.lk) or the Sri lankan Army website (www.army.lk) that are also available on the Sri Lanka Guardian. Conversely, articles have been published by Tiger sympathizers and the actions of the LTTE abroad have been kept in the limelight. Their intentions to form a government in exile is probably the most recent example available on the Sri Lanka Guardian.

Once again, I take a bit of pride that the Sri lanka Guardian takes such a hands off approach to shaping any sort of political agenda. I would like to explain this point with two American television news channels as examples. On the one hand, the FOX news network has a very strong bias in favor of the American Republican Party and will often only talk about news stories in ways that promote their political views. They will often twist quotes, ignore context, and will seek to interview the least articulate liberals and most articulate conservatives they can possibly find. MSNBC, a competitor of the FOX News Network, has an equally strong liberal bias and will do the exact same thing to label conservatives as racists, uneducated, or even domestic terrorists, all to achieve their political agenda.

I think it is a remarkable thing that the Sri Lanka Guardian has actually completely pulled itself from such dirty journalism. No intelligent and free thinking individual can determine the political views of the Sri Lanka Guardian because we are incapable of having any. All of our articles come from a variety of loosely connected (if connected at all) contributors who come from a wide variety of backgrounds. One is the current president of Sri Lanka. Another is a former officer of the IPKF in the late 1980's. Still another is a combat veteran of a Sri Lankan LRRP unit. These are just a few examples, all of whom actually cheered the government on to victory during the war, as did I. No board of directors demands to know a writer's political views before they contribute. If their talent is discovered, or if they are making the news for themselves, they will probably be published.

Our goal is to show all points of view in the issues we cover. That means Tiger sympathizers, Karuna defectors, government backers, and foreigners from every corner of the Earth may contribute to stories about reconstruction and other such issues and the staff at the Sri Lanka Guardian will be happy to assist them. Considering that all of the above examples are actively molding Sri Lanka's future, this is not an act of appeasing fringe elements, but is giving a well rounded view of the situation by allowing all points of view to be expressed. We allow our readers the liberty of deciding for themselves what to believe and with whom they agree. It is very unfortunate that the Sri Lankan government has sought to censor us for this philosophy.

In fact, one of our employees had to leave Sri Lanka in fear for his life, just like so many others before him. Fortunately, he did not meet the fate of many journalists in Colombo in recent years. In the grand scheme of things, it doesn't even matter who was trying to cause him harm. Whether it was the government, or the angry ghost of Prabakharan himself is irrelevant. The fact is that there are some people in Sri Lanka and around the world who think that people should be manipulated into their political views just like ranchers herd cattle into a pen. Some people seek out and believe in a system where only limited information is available to the people, forcing a limited view of the world upon them that favors one political ideology over another. This flies in the face of the most basic principles of free speech and personal liberty and the Sri Lanka Guardian will continue to support the personal liberties of our readers.

Now, regarding the allegations that terrorists backed Obama and Hillary Clinton, this is going totally beyond the subject of publishing policies by a news media company. As a result, I am no longer speaking to you as a contributor to the Sri Lanka Guardian and am only speaking as a citizen of the State of Texas. Since you refer to the State Department as "ours" I will assume that you are also a citizen of an American state. I have heard both sides of this argument and can only conclude that something illegal MAY have happened. If I remember correctly, articles about this issue were published in many Sri Lankan news sources, including the Sri Lanka Guardian, during the 2008 presidential election. I am sorry you missed the flurry of articles on this subject, but "the truth" was already published months ago and no news company would reprint them without cause any more than they would print out a headline about the Falklands War. They are both ancient history now. News companies focus on today and tomorrow.

The unfortunate bottom line is that most of America has never heard of Sri Lanka, Tamils, or the Sinhalese. The Constitution is regularly violated and has been by every president for longer than Sri Lanka has been an independent nation. The amount of money in question is negligible. The persons in question may not even fit the definition of a terrorist, since no legal definition exists. According to some federal agencies, I might qualify as a terrorist because I am a gun owner, and the friends I have from my childhood might as well because they served in the military. Does this make sense? Of course it does not, but this goes to show that a terrorist is in the eyes of the beholder, not just in the debate of "terrorist vs. freedom fighter" but in the simple quest to find a definition for the term. As a result, nothing will come of this. Only a small minority of Sri Lankan Americans care about this subject. Half of them are Tamils and are actually glad that a president who has some sympathy for their cause was elected.

This will go the way of debates on Obama's connections to a radical racist preacher, and a 1960's domestic terrorist. I hope you appreciate the irony in the latter's label given my previous statement. I never cared for political correctness so I will not show any now. Obama has a personality cult that protects him. He was elected based on a protest vote and the hope his charismatic persona instilled in a population that had a need to believe in something. His policies often could not stand up to scrutiny and since his election he has violated the majority of his election promises and has even taken actions proposed by John McCain during the election that were scorned by Obama at the time. Some people call it dirty politics as usual, but this personality cult still makes Obama a savior for change and reform in America. Logic has very little to do with American politics, I find. Most Americans actually oppose most of his policies, but his popularity remains high. Thomas Jefferson had a similar situation during his presidency. As a result of this phenomenon, nothing will ever happen regarding these alleged Tiger endorsements or any other premature Watergate. The stories have all long ago been published. It is a dead end. It may not be right or fair, but it is the reality we face and, quite frankly, there are a lot more grievous breaches of the Constitution than this that Obama and past presidents are not only guilty of, but continually support as a long term policy.

I wish you luck in finding those old Tiger endorsement stories. I would stick to Sri Lankan sources as Mainstream American Media would likely have ignored the issue. If for no other reason than for posterity's sake, I hope you find them.

Please let me know if there is any other way I can help you.

Regards,
Eric Bailey, Sri Lanka Guardian

-Sri Lanka Guardian