17th November 2023 23:58:56 Hours
An interactive symposium to foster closer understanding, cooperation and reconciliation between Officers and Other Ranks of the Army and Media community in Ampara and the East, themed on 'Impact of Media on Military and Civil Society: Positives and Negatives' got underway during 11- 13 at the 24 Infantry Division HQ of the Security Force HQ-East following guidelines given by Major General W. Chandrasiri RSP USP psc, General Officer Commanding (GOC), 24 Infantry Division.
A gathering of more than 25 East-based journalists of print and electronic Media as well as Officers of the 24 Infantry Division joined the interactive and educative sessions, moderated by Mr Sisira Wijesinghe, Media Consultant to the Sri Lanka Army who counts more than 30 years of experience in the field of Media.
The lectures and professional input largely focused on Media ethics, reportages, distortions, disinformation and misinformation, reliability, responsibilities, civil-military relations, importance of security of the country as well the transmission of information sans ethnic bias, communal passions, fair reporting adhering to social ethics, repercussions of inaccurate Media reports, exaggerations, privacy of individuals, prioritization and need to promote reconciliatory gestures in relation to the young generation, digitalized Social Media trends, understanding of security operational requirements, collective nation-building efforts of both military-civil personnel, damage causes by hateful, violent and criminal reports, prime mandate and responsibility of Media, Broad understanding of the role and tasks of Security Force personnel for the best interest of civil community, etc.
The General Officer Commanding, 24 Infantry Division, Major General W. Chandrasiri RSP USP psc coordinated the deliberations and set out the scope of the symposium, making introductory remarks before the sessions commenced. Towards the end of the sessions, all participating Media personnel were awarded certificates of attendance to all Media personnel by both the GOC and the lecturer.
Similarly, all Officers of the 24 Infantry Division as well as Other Ranks in separate arrangements at the HQ learnt the basics, related to Media, its current behavioral patterns, values and ethics, impact on the Army and security, importance of Media, its positive, negative and anti social aspects, military's responsibilities, role of Army Spokesman, tasks of Directorate of Media, Army website, Fb account, social media, etc. Mr Sisira Wijesinghe delivered those educative lectures.
