The Media

There is an interesting thing that happens when you read government run newspapers. It begins to look a lot like 'The Onion'. Literally and figuratively.

We recently met with 2 different media agencies: a newspaper and a blog that is very much like the huffington post.

The blog we met with is called Ground Views and it is a compilation site of articles that discuss various issues that are taking place in Sri Lanka that is not written by the government. They are unique in the sense that it caters to English readers, but that they have a lot of readers in Sri Lanka. The biggest challenge they face is being shut down by the government as a form of censorship.

The newspaper we met with, i can't say its name. But the Editor in Chief is an extremely well connected man who has worked in the past for Presidents. He returned to run his newspaper because he felt, as a journalist, he had to continue to be investigative and impartial.
As for radio and TV, well, haven't really listened or watched it. The TV is mostly in either Sinhala or Tamil and well, the radio, who has time to listen to the radio when there's a TV in your van?

Media holds a special place in the lives of Sri Lanka. Just like in other countries, major newspapers are struggling and are having to find ways to adapt to the drop in advertising, as well as the rise of provincial/regional issues.

It seems that in all aspects of the media, there are those people that want to report the truth, but the government does have an issue with false news spreading worldwide.

So, as we continue on our trip, we hope to either have a TV or radio interview to discuss all of the various programs that we've been having. I'm hoping it will be interesting.