29 March 2023 12:03 am Views - 459
Rahul Samantha Hettiarachchi, my colleague from the deep south is a bit of cocky character. Abrasive at times, hard to deal with. But he is a heck of a journalist.
he is one of the few who have mastered, at least somewhat how to pry open the secretive public information apparatus using RTI laws. He combines the RTI tools to add on to the feet on the ground journalism work.
Recently he wrote a series of stories on pyramid schemes. His persistence has led to more awareness and Central Bank intervention.
But when he investigates these types of stories, he not only does the level of work that is needed on the ground – reams of paper work, he also undertakes similar investigative dives into the deep online world. A world that is getting inhabited more and more. The overcrowded digital space is also full of crooks, thieves and swindlers.
Rahul told me this week he logs into chat groups to gain information and leads on stories like the one on the pyramid schemes which have an emphasised online component. Most of these rackets use the unregulated, but crowded digital architecture to scout and snare victims.
Rahul does this work mostly on his own as a freelancer based in the deep down south. He does not have the luxury of even a veneer of support a colleague working for a media house permanently would have.
He told me that he has felt let down and betrayed when he has come under attack, or his stories have led to action curbing corruption. Despite his ground breaking journalism, Rahul also lacks the skills to do his work safely and professionally.
Post-Aragalaya, dozens are now openly activist journalists. Nothing wrong with that, expect when one insists on the privileges and rights of a journalists when disseminating personal opinion and emotional retorts
My limited interactions in Colombo this week, working with small groups of journalists has cemented a long-held belief, that the media community needs urgent inputs on digital hygiene and safety. We are not alone in this situation. As the world pivoted acutely towards digital resources for communications with the Pandemic, the exposure to digital dangers have risen exponentially. The approach to tackle this is multi-pronged. We need the technical skills but they should be layered with safety skills that emphasise on personal wellbeing and mental safety.
We can not expect Rahul to feel safe when he is faced with attacks, abuse and accusations, staring at a screen in the middle of the night. More so when he knows that he has very limited recourse to organisational and community safety nets. Worse he feels betrayed by them.
He is not alone. Another journalist told me how following a series of reports, online trolls had attacked him but used his family details to dox him and his family members. He reacted by calling on his close-net of colleagues he trusted.
It has been hard for those like Rahul to extricate their personal profiles from their professional profiles. They moved into digital platforms firstly as a form of personal interactions, it was thereafter, after they had been posting on personal details, that these very same platforms became important for their work.
When they began to use digital and online resources for their work, they did not think it was necessary to distil the personal details. They just kept going. And the performative nature of these platforms encouraged the personal interactions.
They stopped in their tracks when the personal attacks began and escalated.
But exposure levels and attacks have risen by the time they realised that there was too much personal information on the public profiles. Some of them have limited or completely stopped engagement. Which, in turn leads to self-censorship and allowing more traction and space of unverified bile on the web.
This is just one aspect of the safety issues that are confronting those like Rahul. Even now the journalism community is behind the curve in adjusting to these dangers. On the contrary, many have fallen into the trap of misdiagnosing journalism and activism. Post-Aragalaya, dozens are now openly activist journalists. Nothing wrong with that, expect when one insists on the privileges and rights of a journalists when disseminating personal opinion and emotional retorts.
The dangers are not going away. They will rise. Once we catch up to one, two more would have sprung up.
We need some of the tough talk that is going around, especially from quasi experts to be translated to action. Action that will empower those like Rahul, so they can continue the important work without jeopardising theirs and their loved ones’ safety.
The writer is a journalism researcher and the Project Lead at the Dart Centre Asia Pacific. He can be contacted on
amantha.perera@cqumail.com