Archive for Media
April 21, 2008 at 3:55 pm · Categories: Media, Peace and Conflict | by Ange
The Media’s responsibility in securing it’s own freedom
Despite my horror for cynicism, I find myself defeated into just that. While I would like to confine my ranting to discourses with my imaginary friend, reading Ruki’s post From the Tiger’s Den to an Open Prison and the comments made to it just tipped the scale on sanity. So I decided to put it out there in the hope that it will comfort the ailing and ail the comfortable.
Given the masterpieces one is fed via some media, one wonders if our media is mature enough to be free.
Take for example the following articles which appeared in the Sunday Observer over the past month.
- Two articles Distorted images - Australian media coverage …
April 14, 2008 at 11:15 am · Categories: Colombo, English, Media, Peace and Conflict, Uncategorized | by groundviews
Groundviews is fully back online after an upgrade of its back-end content management system to the latest version of Wordpress. While the site looks and feels the same, improvements under the hood make it more secure, responsive and easier to use.
There are also several significant new features to the site:
- You now no longer have to register to write a comment. A combination of Akismet and the WP Captcha Free plug-in ensures that bots are kept at bay and legitimate comments make it through. I can attest that the combination has dramatically reduced comment spam. Still not 100% fool proof though - so if there’s a comment that doesn’t appear after 24 hours that you think is in line …
April 1, 2008 at 7:57 am · Categories: Colombo, English, Media, Uncategorized | by Gamini Viyangoda
There may have been some two to three hundred mourners at his funeral. Most of them seemed to have been his close acquaintances or those known to him at least remotely. I don’t know how many scientists or science fiction writers were there to represent the field of Clarke’s scribe. From Sinhala art field there were two, namely Ajith Thilakasena and Sugath Watagadhara, and one politician, Prof. Thissa Vitharana. From the Buddhist clergy, 19 monks appeared remarkably lacking any public figures among them. They had come uninvited and on their own, not to hold any religious ceremony but to pay their last sincere respects to a great rationalist. No rituals and no eulogies. The funeral lasted barely 15 minutes with …
March 21, 2008 at 7:02 pm · Categories: Colombo, English, Media, Peace and Conflict, Politics | by raja
What do enlightened citizens make of the happenings in our country today- the antics of Dr Mervyn Silva, the failure of the IGP and the Polcie to arrest him or even question him and stop his path of inflicint terror on media personnel firstly on Rupavahini workers and now on Sirasa reporters?
Any criticism of the government and its record of violations of human rights media freedom and norms of good governance is met with one answer by Government spokesman. It is a conspiracy with the LTTE by the opponents to discredit the government which is winning the war against the LTTE. It is all a conspiracy by foreign powers to stop the war. Those who stand up against the …
March 20, 2008 at 7:36 pm · Categories: Colombo, English, Media | by groundviews
The news that a retired SLA General is considered as chairperson of Rūpaváhini (SLRC) comes as a terrifying antidote to the remaining freedom of expression in the decomposing democracy in Sri Lanka. The background leading to this decision and the way the current regime has decided to respond is a decisive reflection of the strategies preferred by the rules of Lanka and their advisors.
There is little doubt, that media is one of the most interactive civic passages in any modern secular democracy. It is for this reason that illiberal and anti democratic rulings is often reflected in their desire to manipulate and construct a pretentious freedom. Dictatorship towards media is an early sign of a rule that has a demonstrative …
March 5, 2008 at 5:48 pm · Categories: Colombo, English, Media | by Sanjana
Mainstream journalism in Sri Lanka is not without its lighter side.
The headline of The Island newspaper today offers a refreshingly original take on corruption in Sri Lanka. Sadly, the same story on their website goes with a different title.
February 15, 2008 at 5:55 pm · Categories: Colombo, English, Galle, Media | by Michael Roberts
9 February 2008
2008 saw the second festival at Galle, “Let’s Play with Words.” Those present the previous year remarked that it was more varied and incorporated more Sri Lankan authors, both local and expatriate. Implicit in the title, of course, is the understanding that the focus is on creative literature in English, not French, Sinhala, Tamil or pidgin. Implicit in the title, of course, is the understanding that the focus is on creative literature in English, not French, Sinhala, Tamil or pidgin. Equally implicit, is the bracketing out of social science productions in English or other languages (that “heavy stuff,” you know).
Two blokes remarked that the whole affair was “colonial.” Yes, there was a distinct whiff of the …
February 14, 2008 at 5:51 pm · Categories: Colombo, English, Human Rights, Human Security, Media, Peace and Conflict, Politics | by Nalaka Gunawardene
13 February 2008, Colombo: Earlier this week, a leading Sri Lankan photojournalist was detained, questioned and released by police for taking photographs near a well-known Colombo school.
According to news reports, Associated Press (AP) photographer Gemunu Amarasinghe was apprehended by a group of parents who formed the school’s civil defence committee. They had handed him over to soldiers on duty near by, and he was briefly detained by the Narahenpita police.
It is not clear exactly why the experienced and credentialed photojournalist had to undergo this treatment. This might seem a minor incident in the context of highly dangerous conditions in which Sri Lankan journalists operate today. It was only a few days earlier that the World Association of Newspapers ranked …
February 13, 2008 at 5:20 am · Categories: Media, Peace and Conflict, Politics | by Dr. P. Saravanamuttu
In recent weeks, the public at large has been treated to the unseemly saga of the sacking, reinstatement, cancellation of visa and departure from the island of the Executive Director, International Centre for Ethnic Studies, Colombo, Dr. Rama Mani.
What began as a internal problem of succession and transition within that organisation took on quite sensational and sordid proportions in the ways in which it was handled and in the way in which an internal problem within a premier and long standing civil society institution in this country of international repute, culminated in an alleged threat to national security associated with the concept of the Responsibility to Protect or R2P.
The internal problems of the ICES are not of concern here, except …
January 24, 2008 at 8:55 am · Categories: Districts, English, Media | by groundviews
Groundviews is pleased to announce the immediate availability of its latest content on mobile devices. Go to http://groundviews.mofuse.mobi/ to access our mobile site from Sri Lanka or anywhere in the world.
Groundviews mobile works with Blackberry’s, the iPhone and all recent Nokia, Sony Ericsson, LG, Samsung and other mobile phones capable of and set up for Internet access. Our site does not require 3G or high speed connectivity and is not tied to any mobile operator or service.
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