WMC

condemns unethical reportage by the Ceylon Today and Mawbima newspapers and infringement of a womans right to privacy The WMC protests and condemns articles published in the front page of the Ceylon Today newspaper on the 22nd of January 2012, page 12 of its Sinhala newspaper Mawbima on the 23rd of January and, the online editions of both newspapers regarding a woman drunk driver. The article published in the Ceylon Today mentions the womans name and her vehicle registration number while that in Mawbima includes, in addition, her home address and the name of her lawyer. The details published by both these newspapers is a gross violation of an individuals right to privacy as well as a violation of media ethics. Previous reportage on drunk drivers in these two newspapers either do not name drivers, all of whom were reportedly men, or give pseudonyms to protect their identities. WMC sees the publication in this instance of the personal information of a woman driver as a deliberate act aimed at vilifying women who are seen to cross gendered social norms which are not applied to men. The Ceylon Today article on the 22nd of January 2013 was flagged by WMC, civil society organizations and concerned citizens on Twitter; subsequently the newspaper removed the personal details of the woman from their online edition. However, on 23rd January 2013 the same article with additional personal information about the woman was published in its Sinhala edition, Mawbima and in its online edition. We urge Ceylon Newspapers (Pvt) Ltd to apologize for such unethical and derogatory journalism. We demand a public guarantee that the newspaper will adhere to globally accepted norms of responsible reportage. Women and Media Collective 24th January 2013