The Silk Road Journal by Mahika Ming

The Peoples Republic of China (PRC) allocated more than USD 831 billion on education in 2020 which is an increase of more than 5.5% from the allocation in 2019 (more than 4% of national GDP). In the PRC most media organizations are under the purview of the ministry of education as media plays a key role in educating the public.  The old Chinese saying “To dig a deep well, you begin with a shallow pit” is from the "Liu Zi · Chong Xue," which is a Chinese book written approx. 1,500 years back. The long term far sighted role of the media in shaping the thinking of a nation is clearly explained in the saying.  Educating the public is extremely important in a conflict sensitive nation such as Sri Lanka as it can show the progressive non violent path to the public who get mislead by petty politics and regional power agendas.

PRC’s Xinhua news agency celebrated 90 years recently and the first radio station created by the Communist Party (CPC) in 1940 commenced broadcasting with the XNCR name for the first time 80 years ago. Letters XNCR as per Chinese sources stands for: X – International call sign of China's radio services then, NCR - New Chinese Radio). XNCR was the predecessor of PRC’s National Radio (CNR) which is a member of the China Media Group (CMG). The British Radio initiative in Sri Lanka then Ceylon is in its 96^th year. The old “Radio Ceylon” was given a new legal standing as the “Sri Lanka Broadcasting Corporation” in the late 1960s. It is important to check if the acts of parliament passed then are updated to meet international standards to take Sri Lankan radio forward. Since the PRC initiated their radio network expansion internationally, Sri Lanka has been working very closely with them. The first frequency modulated (FM) radio in Sri Lanka was introduced 32 years ago. Few years later the private sector was also allowed to operate FM radio channels. Technology has developed to a level where the public now remember radio as only a number (frequency) and not as an equipment as in the bygone decades. Sri Lanka should relook at the vision of radio administrators such as the late Neville Jayaweera and also learn from countries like China on how to use the radio to usher peace and sustainable development in the 21^st century.