The other day, CNN carried a news story, in where Britain’s Prince Harry, in a rare statement issued by Kensington Palace, had warned the Press against harassing his American girl friend, actress Meghan Markle.

Prince Harry has every right to warn the Press, as it is something to do with his personal life.

On the other hand, where Sri Lanka is concerned, warning or threatening the Press has become a common occurrence. It shows utter arrogance; as well as excessive difficulty in stomaching criticism,  when the hidden motives and after-effects of some “dirty” projects, planned by these pseudo-“ good governance” perpetrators is revealed.

According to Christophe Deloire, secretary general of Reporters without Borders, “A threshold is crossed when a head of state lets loose a stream of verbal abuse against media personnel who just do their work.”

These are the teething problems of the so-called CHANGE, which the besieged Sri Lankan political arena will have to experience, that no witch doctor or roving political raju could ever think of resolving.

What will be the result? It is anybody’s guess.

Will the Press cave into these threats and change their ways and behave like “see no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil” monkeys? Or will they act like Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein of the Washington Post during the Watergate scandal, or like some of the Indian newspapers which went against Indira Gandhi’s infamous “Emergency” imbroglio?

And also will the intimidating political higher-ups go the same way as Richard Nixon and Indira Gandhi did?

Again, I must say, it is anybody’s guess!

By ROBOCOP