Sri Lanka’s survivors see reporters as a way to tell their story to the world

When reporting on the aftermath of a terrorist atrocity like the Easter Sunday bombings in Sri Lanka, international news organisations walk a fine line in order to bring important information to our readers.

Journalists can get a bad rep for flocking – like vultures, so the expression goes – to the scene of bad news, and when this is done intrusively that criticism can be fair. But enter a community like the tight-knit town of Negombo, where it looks like the deadliest of the Sri Lanka bombings occurred at a church mass, and you will find a group of people desperate to talk.

From the carpenter who saw the bomber walk into church and can never unsee what followed, to the local priest who has given 22 heartrending burial rites already and expects another hundred or more, those who are closest to the victims of terrorism are those who most want the world to hear their stories.

These are people struggling to come to terms with an act most of us will never witness: a fellow human strolling into a packed place of worship, stroking a little girl’s head, stepping into the centre of the building and detonating a device designed and tested to kill as many of them as possible.

No wonder one witness told me it must have been the “devil incarnate” – what human being could do such a thing? Answering that question is Sri Lanka’s most urgent task now. The deadly clashes and raids that have come in the past week show the nine Easter Sunday bombers were not alone in their ideological stance. That is why the victims of terror are so keen to talk – they are asking the world to hear them, to help them, and to make sure this never happens to them again.

As journalists, it is our job to be there to tell their stories. And, by questioning the people in power who missed repeated warnings to prevent this attack, to make sure those who are responsible are held to account. More than 250 people were murdered last week, through no fault of their own. We owe it to them to keep paying attention to those who remain.

Yours,

Adam Withnall

Asia editor