Former Derana journalist Dilka Samanmali has made a heartfelt and critical statement on social media regarding how her former employer reported the recent murder of social activist Dan Priyasad, particularly the way Derana televised images of Priyasad’s children in their coverage.
Dilka, who spent 18 years with the channel, shared the following unedited statement expressing her deep concern and disappointment:
“Sorry. My beloved Derana…..
A place where I grew up for eighteen years. The Ada Derana brand that was built with the vitality of humanity for many years…
I cannot remain silent about this video.
So sorry…..
I know that even today, the people in the village call our beloved Derana representatives who go to the villages with Derana not as people of Derana but as people of Manusath Derana.
That is because we built Derana with the noble humanity at its core. No matter what anyone says, Derana cannot cover the love of the people with mud. But we must remember that we cannot do everything we want just because we are like that.
A person who has been murdered by criminals, a politician, a targeted person, and the children of such a person can also be targeted in society in various ways.
When Sanath Nishantha died, the tears that the child shed for his father were covered by the media, I wrote my feelings. Even today, I feel the same pain because I am a mother of 3 children.
No matter whose children are children..
No matter whose children are revealed at any time, any news about children should be a careful disclosure. I don’t know who made the decision to publish these pictures in this way. But the tradition we trained in this Derana family is dying. The life spirit we trained is not in this.
No one representing the upper management that I have known for eighteen years has supported such news, such pictures.
Why did Derana publish such a news in this way? If the pictures are necessary, at least cover the face of this little one (including the faces of his sisters) and protect the minimum morality. This applies to every news about children, even if it was written about Dan.
The people who built and invested the capital that Derana had always told us to stand on the side of humanity. My feeling is that the top management, starting from the owner of Derana, gave us complete freedom in our work, not to use it like a beast. Even today, I respect them as someone who has enjoyed that freedom. (I have special respect for Dilith Jayaweera, a political figure, precisely because of the unlimited freedom he gave us. It is difficult to make the society understand that freedom with the media in Sri Lanka, which is not used to it, but if there is anyone who has worked for even a day in Derana, they are witnesses.)
Journalists in the news department still have to answer to the top management and owners for the news coverage they made according to their unanimous decisions. But my brothers in the news department should be responsible for the loss of this vitality. They should be responsible. I—even though I am a member who has left Derana, Derana is still a place that I feel deeply about. Children are something that I feel deeply about. That is why it is your right to accept or reject this idea after writing it. Sorry, dear Derana..”
Dilka’s statement, shared widely across social platforms, has sparked intense public debate on media ethics and the responsibilities of journalists—especially when reporting on grieving families and children. Many have praised her courage to speak out while maintaining respect for the institution she once helped build.
