GOOD JOURNALISM ON SOCIAL MEDIA

Iconic TV duo Thanuja and Narada embark on another ‘mission possible’ with Helidarawwa

Over the decades, we have seen pairings in several entertaining spheres like film, music or showbiz in general. Such iconic duos become heartthrobs among the masses and are livewires in their own right. Come to think of such two-some contributions, Vijaya-Malani and Gamini-Malani cross our minds instantly. And in our local television sphere, we had a dynamic duo in Thanuja Jayawardana and Narada Bakmeewewa who have maintained their popularity to date, despite the passage of time, technology revolutions and emerging new trends in the media sphere.

The Thanuja-Narada twosome blend that ignited the small screen, dishing out wholesome, entertaining content, has now taken another challenging step fighting all odds, to generate and promote good journalism on digital platforms. “Today people’s mind sets have been blurred or corrupted by the misconception that gossip, obscenity or the spread of wrong public opinion on social media platforms are in big demand.  

But we feel that serving people with the right dose of wholesome content and steering them in the direction of humanity is the biggest need of the hour. Propagating content with low taste will only plunge this generation into nothing but disaster. So during the past Covid-19 crisis period, I together with Narada and our team, decided to work on some realistic projects which indeed became eye-openers. During such difficult phases, the spotlight swirled lesser on some marginalised sections in our society. Therefore, through our programme series titled ‘HELIDARAWWA’ we focused on those affected by the pandemic,  gender minority community, differently-abled sections and  others.                                                                                                                                    

I and Narada became the voice for those voiceless people in our own society. Besides the overwhelming feedback we received, the positive and most significant aspect we grasped from this mission is that today there is a huge and extensive vacuum in the media for good journalism. Good journalism really matters today with the advancement of digital media, largely because it can serve as a sieve to sift through the right information and prevent the propagation of half truths. We feel, social media and digital platforms especially have the potential to become the new media universe that can have a huge positive impact on society, depending on the right content,” Thanuja told Daily Mirror Life Impulse.

•  “Today people’s mind sets have been blurred or corrupted by the misconception that gossip, obscenity or the spread of wrong public opinion on social media platforms are in big demand...”

“To facilitate our mission aimed at promoting good journalism, we utilised Lahiru Mudalige’s online platform ‘Hari TV’. Among the projects we conceptualised to propagate under ‘Helidarawwa’ were issues relating to apparel sector employees, Muslim community, differently –abled sections, plantation sector workers, indigenous people, expatriate workers, HIV aids stigmas, transgender persons and others. We also ran a parallel short film series using this online platform. Our sincere and well-crafted moves were embraced and well-received with encouraging feedback which has boosted our willpower to carry forward these people-friendly endeavours. Our future missions in this direction will continue to maintain this stance. We are so grateful to Dr. Ranga Kalansooriya, Anomaa Rajakaruna, Nalaka Gunawardane and Attorney Jagath Liyanaarachchi for being our biggest strength in this noble mission of pushing for good journalism on digital platforms,” said Thanuja. 

Social media and digital platforms especially have the potential to become the new media universe that can have a huge positive impact on society, depending on the right content