The question of press freedom has been up in the air recently. Though the phone-hacking scandal was deplorable, it was not nearly on the lips of every man on the street as the liberal media seemed to suggest. Sadly, and perhaps inevitably, suggestions of government regulation of the press were mooted by David Cameron in the immediate aftermath of the phone-hacking scandal. It must be emphasised that a bad free press is always better than a good controlled press.

Therefore, the recent production at the Arcola Theatre in Dalston is very apt in its timing. On the Record, directed by Michael Longhurst, interweaves the experiences of five real-life investigative journalists from around the world fighting corruption, violence and trying to get the big story, in a single 90-minute act.
The play invites us to admire rather than scrutinise the brave reporting of these five individuals – the Mexican journalist Lydia Cacho, who tries to expose a child pornography ring, Russian reporter Elena Kostyuchenko, who has run-ins with the mafia, Sri Lankan brothers Lal and Lasantha Wickrematunge and their exposé of corruption, Israeli journalist-cum-Palestine resident Amira Hass and American war photographer Zoriah Miller.

Although the play attempts to give equal weight to each of their stories, this constant change in the audience’s focus does raise initial difficulties in upping the dramatic tension. The attention of the audience is kept predominantly by verbatim material, with the dramatic only entering near the climax of the play.
When it does, it is captivating. Nathalie Armin’s pulsating portrayal of Lydia Cacho is epitomised by the hard-hitting scene where Cacho is abducted and abused by captors in the police’s pay. This is matched by Zoriah Miller (Hugh Laurie look-a-like, Trevor White), who is disembedded from the US military after taking photos of dead American soldiers after a suicide bombing – the play’s big set piece, in a very stripped-down set design by Chloe Lamford.

There are only a few props used, such as a few television screens mounted around the set, a few desks to represent the office space at the Wickrematunge brothers’ Sunday Leader and Elena Kostyuchenko’s paper Novaya Gazeta. There are a number of drop-down microphones from the ceiling too, but in the intimate atmosphere, it is mainly the spoken words that matter most. The audience’s imagination also helps paint a more vivid picture than any special effects could.
And certain phrases in the actors’ respective speeches do resonate, evoking some strong emotional responses from the audience. Typically, Amira Hass (Kika Markham) states that the ‘taste of privilege is disgusting’ in relation to the Israeli occupation of Palestine, while Zoriah Miller derides the state of modern-day journalism as an entertainment industry.

The interchanging narratives quickly reach a balance, as the actors seamlessly slot into the background when one plotline takes the lead. This is especially well done by Selva Rasalingam, who plays Lasantha Wickrematunge, but later transforms into Lydia Cacho’s kidnapper near the denouement.
The play was criticised by the Daily Telegraph’s Dominic Cavendish for not including the various illegalities at News International. This reviewer, for one, is glad that the writers Christine Bacon and Noah Birksted-Breen decided not to attempt a late rewrite and include a story (albeit important) that has now bored us all.

The News of the World did plough funds into investigative journalism in the UK, one of the few papers to do so. While the stories they went for weren’t exactly always ground-breaking but mainly gossip-based, the journalists explored in On the Record pursued serious, game-changing stories, often at the expense of their own safety.

The death of Lasantha Wickrematunge, which occurred in 2009, is explored through the play. In certain corrupt, non-transparent societies, such as the Sri Lanka, the journalists at the Sunday Leader were reporting on, reporters get little legal or financial aid. The charity English PEN, committed to press freedom and against censorship, is one of the leading lights in attempting to provide help to those in such situations. English PEN have also expressed concern regarding the safety of another Sri Lankan journalist, Prageeth Ekneligoda, who has now been missing for well over 500 days, having expressed support openly for the opposition during the 2010 Sri Lankan General Election.

The play ends celebrating the achievements of these journalists, but for some, the story is still ongoing. As recently as June, English PEN state that Lydia Cacho had received anonymous death threats by telephone and email, following her return from an event in Chihuahua state in northern Mexico. It is thought to be linked to her revelations of names of alleged traffickers of women and girls – the work which her narrative in On the Record is focused on.
There have been even more recent attacks on journalists in Mexico, such as the abduction and murder in Veracruz state of Notiver journalist Yolanda Ordaz de la Cruz, whose decapitated body was found on 26 July 2011, two days after she was abducted by gunmen.

Charities such as English PEN continue to try to help writers in danger, but as Lal Wickrematunge says: ‘When I’m writing articles, I’m not scared at all. I’m on a high. It’s such a rush. The fear comes later’. It is exactly that attitude that needs to survive if a truly free press is to be attained in countries like Sri Lanka and Mexico. The values promoted by the journalists whose stories are explored in On the Record are the best way of arguing for zero-censorship on journalism, both here in the UK, and abroad.

Run over.