"Today's journalists do not know where they are or who they are. They belong to nowhere," , Senior Lecturer in Mass Media attached to Sri Palee Campus, University of Colombo Dr. Liyanage Tudor Weerasinghe said
"They think that they are close to politicians when they are with them and they think that they are close to the people when they are with them. The reality is they belong to nowhere and stand in the middle," he said.
He was addressing the gathering at the book launch of Sugath Ratnayake's first `Information Revolution and News' at the Sri Lanka Library Services Board, Colombo yesterday.
Dr. Weerasinghe said the real position of journalists could be described through an example. "They think that they are the head of the house, but they are not. `News' is actually not news today and they are only `fake news and `post news'. They are different from the actual meaning of news according to the theories in Journalism," he said.
"The media select certain problems and made them real. But the real problems of the people are not what shows on the television. The people recognise the identity of a television channel through its news telecast. The news telecast shows the stand of the relevant television/radio channel," he said.
He said the media has no text books, but all the other subjects have. "The `post truth' has become a very important topic today. "Any opposition try to grab power and does not need to change the system," he said.