The Worst Newspaper Mistake in the History of Sri Lankan Journalism May 15, 2008
Posted by ravana in Uncategorized.trackback
From the children’s section of today’s The Island.
Dude. I thought I had heard everything when The Island published the words “pubic nuisance” instead of “public nuisance” a few months ago. Clearly, I was unhappily mistaken. In a bid to outdo themselves, perhaps in an attempt to set a Guinness World Record, The Island newspaper continues to astound. These poems appeared in the children’s supplement, The Happy Island, today. On the cover, we find a serene looking boy of about six years old dressed in white looking over a little golden child monk’s statue. It is a picture of serenity, in keeping with the beauty, religious piety and moral superiority we have come to expect from this peaceful island, reflected of course in the values of the newspaper in question. Love for his fellow men veritably drips from the pen of the editor.
And on the inside, page 2, in fact, we find this. Above. I am not kidding. Yes, that’s right. Children’s section. If nothing else, this justifies what Tracy Holsinger was talking about on her daytripper blog a few weeks ago. Don’t Sri Lankan editors check this stuff? I mean, someone should get fired for this, if not the newspaper being shut down. How many kids are going to read this and ask their mums, “Ammi, what’s a quick-fire dick?”. How many will insist on playing with the paedophile uncles with their teddy bears?
A call to the he managing director of The Island resulted in the knowledge that they have been getting calls all day long and that they claim that ‘someone hacked into the computer system and replaced the copy’. Bullshit. He’s still accountable. This is the second absurd gaff in the space of a few months. Someone needs to get fired.
she-e-e-e-et!
I call bullshit… as if someone would hack in just to change the poems on the kids page.
Anyway doesn’t the editor check the final copy before giving the go ahead for printing.
Well, there is speculation that someone may have wanted to get the editor fired.
That is so funny. Absolutely hilarious!
Holy Shit!!!
Hahahahahahaha
*wipes away tears*
Hahahahahahahahaha!!!
omg!
*tries to pick jaw up off floor*
this is unbelievable. Jeeee—z :O OMG!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I am ashamed to say i worked in that place, even for 6 months!!!! Gasp!
[...] Ravana says that The Island claims someone hacked into their computer and replaced what was originally supposed to go up, an explanation as outrageous and incredible as the “nursery rhymes” they published. addthis_url = ‘http%3A%2F%2Fwww.groundviews.org%2F2008%2F05%2F16%2Fthe-island-newspaper-promotes-pedophilia-sex-and-fellatio-for-children%2F’; addthis_title = ‘The+Island+newspaper+promotes+pedophilia%2C+sex+and+fellatio+for+children’; addthis_pub = ‘yajitha’; 23 have read this this article so far. You may also find these articles interesting:The pretense of professionalism – the flipside of media freedom in Sri Lanka In calling the media “feral beasts” caught in a vicious cycle of unravelling standards Tony Blair, in his last days of office, may have captured the approach to journalism by some of the media institutions in Sri Lanka. While a recent article to Groundviews points to the abject degeneracy of State media in Sri… groundviews, July 1, 2007 [...]
My God, I thought my friend was kidding when he emailed me this.
Aweful..
Hahahaha. LMAO. This is why I should buy The Island more often.
Ravana, you need to stop handing out those hash brownies, machaang. Looks like the Island editor ate three.
What are you all talking about? Those are the versions I learnt?!
Just kidding!
From: Prabath Sahabandu [mailto:prabath@unl.upali.lk]
Sent: Thursday, May 15, 2008 8:11 PM
To: Ravana
Subject: From The Island Editor
Dear Sir/Madam,
Here is our explanation of the mishap. It will be carried tomorrow.
—————
The Island becomes a victim of net terrorism
We wish to bring to the notice of our readers that there has been a sinister attempt by an unknown group to disrupt the operations of this newspaper through electronic means. It all began in 2006, when a London-based correspondent warned us against such a move.
Recently, another newspaper, too, became a victim of hackers who tampered with its website.
The e-mail accounts of The Island Editor and its Features Editor are the targets through which they sought to disrupt our system with specially designed programmes. We adopted precautions but on Tuesday, when we usually print the children’s section, we got badly beaten. We believe an infected junk document had eaten into an innocent poem that a young contributor had sent in to share with others, after the proof reading stage. Its effects were noticed on Thursday as well in the main section of the paper but we managed to eliminate them in time for printing.
We have initiated a thorough investigation into the incident and apologise to our readers, especially children, for the mishap.
————
Editor — The Island
Yeah right.
This must be the 25th ive encountered this and it still cracks me up 
Seriously maybe this was just an elaborate ploy to get subscriptions up…??? hmmm……
[...] Indi was nice to point out this blunder(?) in the Happy Island segment. Apparently, it’s an act of net terrorism. [...]
This was not a question of hacking, that is just the excuse they have put forward for their sloppiness.
To begin with, typesetting is done off line, not online. There is no need to have the computer connected to the internet.
If the computer was connected online there needs to be some super intelligent virus that can read through nursery rhymes and then alter the rhymes while maintaining the rhyme, and do this all within the typeset box which is most unlikely.
If not, then someone hacked in accessed the file and altered the text, remotely. Again, highly unlikely and even if done it should have been caught at proof reading.
The Island has a habit of cutting and pasting things from the internet, they even have a regular feature called “the best of email junk”. In all probability the entirety or most of the children section is cut and paste and no one bothers to check because its unimportant.
I once saw some creationist propaganda, again in the children’s page of the paper, an article ostensibly on dog breeds was pushing the line that they were created by god and that evolution was wrong.
Chances are some hack did a search for nursery rhymes and pasted the first thing he found and now they are covering up.
As a journalist myself, mistakes are bound to happen, the editor always HAS THE RIGHT TO CHECK ALL PAGE PROOFS BEFORE THEY GO TO PRINT. Sadly, at the Island, they didn’t check the very FINAL PROOF before it went to print and they go to give an explanation or an excuse for this mishap. One can’t tell whether this is Island’s way of grabbing attention or whether it is really was a genuine mistake. Thereafter, after this fiasco, look at how Nation bounces back to the news with massive publicity these days with the abduction and assualt of their deputy. I daresay, the newspapers want to be in the news and I am happy that the institution that I work for never stoops so low or try vain attempts to get publicity (despite having problems of their own). By the way, Tracy’s article has nothing to do with it problem. Stop linking media together based on opinions and not on fact.
“I daresay, the newspapers want to be in the news and I am happy that the institution that I work for never stoops so low or try vain attempts to get publicity (despite having problems of their own). By the way, Tracy’s article has nothing to do with it problem. Stop linking media together based on opinions and not on fact.”
I am sorry. I am blown away by this. It’s hard to find the words. Let’s try and deal with one thing at a time, shall we?
First of all, you work for The Sunday Observer which is nothing more than a medium for government propaganda. The journalistic ethics of The Observer, at least in political reportage, are generally thought to be as low as they come. People just buy it for the classifieds which are unbeatable.
Secondly, as was evidenced by your article in it, which was referred to in Tracy’s post on the daytripper blog, you have a problem with spelling, grammar and punctuation. Your editor also has a problem with spelling, grammar and punctuation OR he doesn’t bother checking the final copy or proofs. This is the identical problem you describe above which you say may have led to The Island printing these raunchy poems – lack of attention by an editor. Tracy’s post was largely about this very problem. And, therefore, my link to it was justified.
So, don’t get your knickers in a twist, love.
Nilma: “As a journalist myself”
Excuse me while I barf.
“I daresay, the newspapers want to be in the news and I am happy that the institution that I work for never stoops so low or try vain attempts to get publicity”
Hahaha.
dear miss Nilma dole…………i think you my dear actually need to enroll yourself in a journalism/English for writers course, if you cant find one please ask around im sure a lot, and im saying this again a LOT of people would love to help you find a proper place to learn.
Both will indefinitely be of good help as you lack the skills to even write a proper arcticle.
While me and a lot of other people admire you for taking the time and effot for giving local talent publicity, i advise you that you scrap that page and start one afresh, cuz any intelligent begin reading that paper will automatically want to skip and read the next page….dudette for crying out loud what kind of a name have you given that column?…Melody Maniac?….im sorry but thats really bad!
Come up with other name please!
Your countdowns are lame…what are they based on radio play/ podcast play/downloads off rock.lk?….do specify..show some credibility in your work.
If you cant find the money to learn, go to wikipedia.com and hunt down their wikiuni…maybe that will help or what the hell woman you work for a newspaper place……..im sure they can sponsor you!
Lastly sweetheart…….. arent you sick and tired of these kids bitchin behind your back?, if you are not then ………sweetheart you are just another attention whore, im sure you are not at this point but i believe you are getting there.
Do yourself a favor n do as i say, god n the rest of Sri Lanka will be thankful to you
from someone whos actually worried about you
Hehe! Thanks alot, like they taught me at journalism school, there is no such thing as bad publicity.
Your feedback is taken in a positive frame of mind but it would be good if you check with what Tracy has to say before you condemn me about it. She hasn’t even commented on this blog so it’s no use really.
First of all, Theena’s opinion doesn’t count, like lots of my friends in the metal/rock industry have bluntly stated, he’s just envious me because everyone actually is pretty happy with what I do. What Minu says doesn’t really matter either because the ‘majority’ doesn’t have a problem with what I do on Melody Maniac (check rock.lk) so deal with the reality. However, I admire the fact that you ‘admire’ I give local talent publicity which is indeed difficult to do at Lakehouse as us being such a terribly conservative newspaper, heck we do put metal bands on it (whose lyrics are way anti-government).
I do understand that we are a government newspaper, its not my fault the late former PM decided to buy Lakehouse from the Wijewardenas but it is the best place to learn. Sheesh, I can work anywhere in the world after setting foot in this place because every freaking day I have to be careful about who tries to bring me down in this hell-hole(serious!)
Also, about Tracy’s article, I tried to put it as diplomatically as possible but that day I had the unfortunate fate of having a terrible subeditor to check my work who doesn’t know that cynical is spelt with a ‘c’ rather than an ‘s’ in front. I did explain THAT to Tracy so ignorant people like you don’t have to ruffle your feathers unnecessarily on that.
About Minu and the fact that I’m an unqualified journalist. I honestly think you have to go to Angoda, I’ll be glad to help you check in at absolutely no cost. I am a correspondent for BBC and I am a trained BBC journalist as well so your comment in extremely bad English won’t make much of a difference. Sadly you remind me of one of my enemies who spells ‘because’ as ‘cuz’.
About the MM page, I get heaps of positive emails more than the negative feedback and people actually do send in their ‘votes’ which is a strip at the bottom of the page which people actually fill. If you guys want to see them all, I have a whole box of votes which I’ll be glad to show to prove that the page is successful. As for the tallies, it’s the reader’s choice and the votes do get tallied. So far I get an average of about 100 votes every week which is not bad for a page which isn’t even a year old.
Oh yeah and Ravana – Thanks alot for scanning the poem on your blog, now I have it on soft copy
I’ve already chatted with Tracy about this in great detail. And she agrees.
Dear dear,
Seems like you really don’t know how to take advise very well Miss ” trained to be “BBC Correspondent”………..god……. is your head honestly so big ?
Sweetheart ive got nothing against you….i was only trying to help however you seem nothing more than just a pure waste of time now….pity i wasted my time to help…as for my English at least i know…. well let me not even start as to how bad your grammar still is!…n there is nothing wrong with using “cuz” too bad if you don’t know the difference between American n British English n only sum it up as bad English!
Oh well im out
Peace bitch!
Ravana-First ask her to comment on this blog then I’ll believe you. Besides I explained the whole story to her and she understands my side of the story. As for Minu, I wasn’t joking about getting checked into rehab, you seriously need help before you run loose trying to destroy people. You certainly don’t know English and you honestly should check your faults before checking up on others. The world is unfair, life is unfair and we all have to live in this unfair world – best live with it! Ha!
‘that day I had the unfortunate fate of having a terrible subeditor to check my work who doesn’t know that cynical is spelt with a ‘c’ rather than an ’s’ in front.’
Wow! Your sub editor changed your perfect grammar and spellings so that it was incorrect? What’s your excuse for your bad english when you speak to people?
Oh, and going for a BBC weekend workshop does NOT make you a BBC-trained journalist. Did I mention I was a GT1 driver? Yup, watched the Le Mans 24-hour once.
hehe you dont even know what rehab is for hahahahha
Exactly and your favourite singer is ….Amy Winehouse ! Ask for rehab tips from her.
Come to Lakehouse and see the situation but then again I don’t need to show you that – you read the papers anyway.
Well Mr.Spooky whatever, lets go to court and I’ll get relevant documentation to prove what I’m saying is true. As for you being a GT1 driver, you expect to believe that you have a ‘fast and furious’ way of writing comments? Gah! You people make me sick!
hi hi 0714234141
Emperor Ravana lived about 5000 years ago in Sri Lanka. As a buddhist he was vegetarian and worshiped Kashyapa Buddha. His kingdom was Lankapura. His queen was Mandodari and children were known as Upendraminika (son) and Sohili (daughter). According to Ramayana, the emperor Ravana was assassinated by Rama. But referring ola manuscripts, rock inscriptions and folklore of Sri Lanka, the emperor was not died at war. He was not to killed by any other common person as he represented a soul of a bodhisattva. The emperor had many names as he ruled many countries. Ravanna, rabanan, ravanan, dasis, ravan, ravula are some of them.
Hey people!! better not mess with this woman.. she is supposed to be a princess!! thats what she calls herself at least!! (nothing ‘princessy’ about her that i see though!!) but sin no… let Nilma call her self that!! LOL
BY the way Missy.. ‘princessy’ is bad english.. pardon me for that.. i learnt the word though at the University of Peradeniya while learning for my English degree.
Hahaha! FYI, I am a princess! It’s not my fault my ancestors were thrown out of their country as a result of colonisation. Sadly, Sri Lankans are not welcoming at all! Which is why several people leave this country on a boat! LOL!
‘ Sadly, Sri Lankans are not welcoming at all! Which is why several people leave this country on a boat!’
And you work for the state newspaper? Wow.
Hey , this is crazy..