Abstract
This chapter will explore the role digital technology has played in journalism in Sri Lanka, an island that is largely considered to have enforced restrictive media policies during its armed conflict, which ended in May 2009, and thereafter. Sri Lanka has traditionally been considered one of the most dangerous places in the world for journalists to work, as its enduring ethnic conflict cut across all aspects of life on the island. The Sinhalese-dominated central government for decades has put in place repressive policies that suffocated any alternative narratives that ran contrary to the government’s war effort; moves that intensified during the final stages of the conflict. Despite this, Tamil media managed to find avenues of resistance and areas in which it could challenge the state’s discourse. This chapter will explore how digital technology assisted Tamil efforts in breaking through restrictive media policies and provided new grounds and tools for those who have and continue to challenge repressive politics in Sri Lanka.
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Nandakumar, T. (2017). Digital Technology, Journalism and Politics in Sri Lanka’s Ethnic Conflict. In: Tong, J., Lo, SH. (eds) Digital Technology and Journalism. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-55026-8_8
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-55026-8_8
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