The New York Times, in an interview with the editor of state sponsored Sri Lankan newspaper, The Daily News, looked into why the editor felt state sponsored media was vital in Sri Lanka.

Speaking to the New York Times, the editor of the Daily News, Rajpal Abeynayake, outlined that need to have a predominantly state owned media to make sure that the government views were not ignored.

Condemning the notion of a complete free press, he said,

“ A coterie of privately owned media could bring down the government by manipulating the news, and that doesn’t do justice to those who elected them.”

“You cannot allow the freedom of the wild ass. And if media are manipulated to serve as the instrument of other’ agendas- like imperialists or multinational corporations – you need to counter that.”

Responding to queries on the deaths of journalists during the civil war, Abeynayake dismissed international estimates of war casualties. Arguing that many journalists killed were spies for the Tamil Tigers he stated,

“These were terrorists using journalism as a cover. Terrorists get killed by governments, and, yes that’s OK.”

Responding to further questions on journalists that were forced to leave the country after receiving threats, Abeynake postulated that they were in-fact economic migrants and agents of the countries that they fled to, arguing,

“They are economic migrants just like these people who get on boats to Australia.”

Speaking to The New York Times, the senior deputy editor of Ceylon Today, Dilrukshi Handunnetti, conveyed an opposing opinion of the state presence in the media, stating,

“You cannot question them. It’s just not allowed. You are expected to stay forever grateful that they delivered us from war.”