• Journalist Beena Sarwar on documenting Sri Lanka’s economic crisis through ‘Democracy in Debt’

Beena Sarwar, a journalist from Pakistan who is currently based in the United States, recently had her documentary ‘Democracy in Debt: Sri Lanka Beyond the Headlines’ screened at Scope Cinemas, Colombo City Centre. The documentary, which is supported by the Pulitzer Centre, looks at the impact of Sri Lanka’s economic crisis from the commercial capital of Colombo as well as the agricultural village of Dutuwewa.

In conversation with The Daily Morning, Sarwar spoke about the challenges she faced while making the documentary, but also her experience in print media that shapes the work she does today. This experience spans over 30 years, with Sarwar’s career in media starting with an internship after the completion of her Advanced Level Examinations. This was in 1981. She then studied abroad, returning with a degree in art and literature.

Despite the internship and two uncles in media, Sarwar felt these weren’t reason enough for her to become a journalist. She joined an advertising agency as a designer, while freelancing with a newspaper, but soon rejoined print media at The Star.

“Journalism is like an addiction. I worked in Karachi for some years and then got married and moved to Lahore, freelancing there for a year. A new paper was starting up called The Frontier Post, where I was features editor,” she said. She went on to join The News on Friday, which later became The News on Sunday, when then Prime Minister Mohammad Nawaz Sharif changed the weekly holiday from Friday to Sunday.

“I think for people in countries like ours where there is so much inequality, injustice, and political instability, you can’t be just a journalist. If you are doing journalism properly, then you are also an activist, because you are on the side of fighting for what’s right,” Sarwar said, explaining that she didn’t think one can be objective as a journalist. “I think you can strive to be fair and you must be fair to all sides, even those that you disagree with vehemently.”

Sarwar’s activism comes in the form of volunteering with the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan. Asma Jahangir, among many others, was one of her mentors who got her involved in the Pakistani peace and human rights movements. “Looking back, all these experiences have changed me and my work, and everything is coming together now in what I’m doing and what I’ve been doing for the last three years: the Southasia Peace Action Network and Sapan News Network.”

Sarwar went on to share what went into making ‘Democracy in Debt’ and her transition from print media to filmmaking.

Following are excerpts from the interview:

How did ‘Democracy in Debt’ come about and why did you choose to focus on Sri Lanka?

I moved to the United States in 2011, but a year before that, I made my last documentary, which was about the student movement my father led as a medical student in Pakistan in the 1950s. He passed away in 2009 and while the documentary was not about him, people said we should document it before all involved in it die. There was no record of this student movement anywhere. It’s not in textbooks. It’s not in the government narrative. It’s only known to a few people.

I had already done a lot of research when my father was alive. I had been speaking to him and there were some others who had interviewed him. I had a lot of material and worked with a friend who was a videographer at the BBC.

Then I got married again and moved to the United States. I was trying to settle down; my daughter was in school, and I was adjusting to life in a different country, so I had not made any documentaries since.

We feel that this region is geographically and culturally one region. The South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) has been a very important body which is not being allowed to function now due to hostility between India and Pakistan, because of which the whole region is being held back. If trade, travel, and tourism were able to take place, we would all be able to boost each other’s economy and be a whole lot further much faster.

In 2021, we started the South Asia Peace Action Network and on the last Sunday of almost every month, we have a discussion online on some issue, such as youth and climate activism, gender violence, and the rise of incarcerated individuals.

We were having these discussions and I was sending out press releases to all my editor friends in the region, because I thought it was important to present a report and not just have a discussion. Then I thought: instead of only sending press releases, why don’t we do proper reports, getting somebody to write about it independently?

I also did a story about a Pakistani family stranded in India. I would normally have sent it to one or two media outlets in Pakistan and India but I thought of sending it to the editors I was sending the press releases to, calling it a Sapan News Network syndicated feature. It was in August 2021 that we started Sapan News Network, which covers South Asia, the Indian Ocean, and the diaspora, which I think means the world, because our diaspora is everywhere.

I came to Sri Lanka in 2023, having not visited for many years. When I came back, we went to the northeast and spoke to many people in Colombo. It was a very interesting time because Sri Lanka was just coming out of the economic crisis. I saw how people were coping; I was impressed by the QR codes they had for fuel rationing. I was brainstorming with friends, thinking about how to present it, as yes, the crisis was over, but the people were still coping.

A lot of the work we do is beyond the headlines, providing context, nuance, and understanding.

I teach at a college in Boston, and one of the topics I teach is global journalism, which is different from international reporting. Global journalism is where you take a topic or issue and address it in a way that is relevant beyond that time, space, and place. It’s not reporting on but reporting with and letting people have a voice. It’s very anthropological, ethnographic, and immersive.

When I started this work in Sri Lanka, the documentary was not the first idea. The first idea was to do a series of reports, and when I was looking at funding, somebody suggested the Pulitzer Centre, so I applied. I wasn’t hearing back and then the Dutewewa farmers’ angle came up. While brainstorming with friends and discussing it, we realised it would be a shame to only do a series of print reports; because the area is so very beautiful, it would be nice to do a video report.

I went back to the Pulitzer Centre and said I was changing the proposal, but that would mean doubling the budget. I think that’s what got them interested. They didn’t give me the entire amount I needed, and I was $ 3,000 short, so some friends chipped in. I completely overestimated or underestimated myself, I’m not sure which it was. I forgot how long filmmaking takes. And I didn’t take into account the heat and the humidity, which I was not used to.

How important was it to present different narratives in the documentary?

It was so important. One of the things I tell my students is journalists are – and it’s an ethnographic term – insider outsiders. We are part of society, but we have to take a periscopic view. We have to step back and take a long view.

Three things I always tell my students is you have to look at the process, look at the context, and take the long view. Don’t just report on a house burning down. Talk about the context around it. Look at the history and look at what’s coming up ahead. It’s important to talk to the so-called ordinary people.

You have your own prejudices and stereotypes and you have to be aware of those and keep your journalistic ethics and integrity.

What do you think about the way journalists reported on Sri Lanka’s economic crisis?

Some ordinary persons voices were there for sure, but I think when this kind of crisis happens, there is a lot of hysteria around it. And then everybody moves on to something else, so it’s important to follow up on stories. It’s important to not just look at the crisis as its happening but also what happens after the crisis.

And not just in Sri Lanka. In Bangladesh, for example, it will be important to follow up on the factory fires that killed so many people. And similarly in Pakistan. And to see the patterns that link us and identify those patterns. That’s a very ethnographic thing to do.

And to be observational, you don’t have to give your opinion. You don’t have to judge. You don’t have to stereotype. You can state the facts and show the patterns, and that is a higher level of journalism than just giving a laundry list of what happened.

Since everybody with a smartphone is producing news, one of my students said everybody should think like a journalist, but they don’t have the training. Since she said this 3-4 years ago, I’ve been wanting to put something online that people can look at as a standard, a checklist, and as a self-accountability pledge, where instead of constantly pointing fingers at others, you can be accountable for yourself.

Since you started in print media, what pushed you towards documentaries and how do you tackle the different platforms?

I must say I much prefer print. In 2000, I was awarded a Chevening Fellowship. I wanted to diversify my skill set so I thought of learning about TV documentary. I applied and got admitted to the Goldsmiths, University of London, but I didn’t get admitted fully – I had no experience in documentary-making and they said they were taking people with some experience. I was on the waitlist, but somebody dropped out and I got an email from the tutors saying I could join if I got some training over the summer. And so I joined. My daughter was four years old at the time and I went there as a single parent.

The first film I made for the course was the story of a kathak dancer, ‘Naheed’s Story’ or ‘Naheed ki Katha’.

When I came back to Pakistan, in 2001, 9/11 had just happened so I did a few reports for television, including when Noam Chomsky came to Pakistan.

Pakistan’s first 24/7 news channel was starting up at this time. They launched in 2002 and it was by the same media group I had been with before, and said I’d like to join. They said I’d have to undergo training so I underwent more training in scriptwriting, production, presentation, and editing. It was a very good team that gave us that training. I was part of the founding team and made a lot of video reports. It was very satisfying because it made a lot more impact a lot faster than print, but it takes a lot longer to make and it’s a lot more work.

Are you planning on working on more documentaries or reports on Sri Lanka?

‘Democracy in Debt’ had a component which is in my original proposal about another story. I had done some of the interviews and footage for it, and I was planning on including it in the film, but it wasn’t fitting so I took it out. That is pending and I have worked on the script, but it needs a little bit more body. It’s a bit one dimensional right now, and so I have to work on that and find funding.

I have several other stories, not all of them on video, that I want to do as well.

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