Draft chapter. Reproduction prohibited

        Gunaratne, S.A. (Ed.). (2000)
          The Handbook of the Media in Asia. New Delhi: SAGE Publications .

National profile

1.1 Geography

Sri Lanka (Ceylon) is located 7 degrees north of the equator, off the southern tip of India. It has an area of 65,610 square kilometers—slightly larger than West Virginia. Forests and woodland cover 32 percent of the land area. The highest point is the 2,524-meter Mount Pidurutalagala.
 

1.2 People

Sri Lanka has a population of 19.1 million, 23 percent of whom live in urban areas. The ethnic composition is Sinhalese, 74 percent; Sri Lankan Tamils, 12 percent; Indian Tamils, 6 percent; Moors, 7 percent; Burghers, Malays and Veddahs, 1 percent. The religious composition is Buddhists, 69 percent; Hindus, 15 percent; Christians, 8 percent; and Muslims, 8 percent. Sinhala and Tamil are both national languages. English, spoken by about 10 percent of the people, is widely used in government. The Indian Tamil population, whom the British brought in the 18th century to work in tea plantations, lives in the central highlands.

 The country’s adult literacy rate exceeds 90 percent. Almost 4.3 million students attended the country’s 10,906 schools in 1996. An estimated 33,948 students—2 percent of the relevant age group—attended the country’s 12 universities the same year (Central Bank, 1997).

Since 307 B.C., when the king of Anuradhapura embraced Buddhism, the majority Sinhalese—descendants of an Indo-Aryan group led by Prince Vijaya who migrated to the island around 500 B.C.—have continued to be adherents of Buddhism. Invasions by Dravidians in South India forced the Sinhalese to shift their capital to Polonnaruwa in the 11th century and further south thereafter. The minority Tamils, Hindu descendants of these Dravidians, settled in the northern and eastern parts of the island. Thus the Sinhalese-Tamil ethnic conflict, which has killed more than 50,000 people since the rise of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam in the early ‘80s, has long historical roots.

The Portuguese captured the southern coastal belt in 1505 and ruled it until the Dutch ousted them in 1658. The British replaced the Dutch in 1796, captured the last independent Sinhalese kingdom in Kandy in 1815, and unified the country’s administration in 1833. They also established a Legislative Council of appointed members in 1833 with the British governor as the presiding officer. Since 1931, people have periodically elected their leaders through universal franchise. The country’s legal system is a highly complex mixture of English common law, Roman-Dutch, Muslim, Sinhalese, and customary law.
 

1.3 Government and politics

Sri Lanka became independent from Britain on Feb. 4, 1948, and it became a republic on May 22, 1972.  On Aug. 16, 1978, the country adopted its current constitution, under which executive power shifted from the prime minister to a president directly elected by the people. Since independence, it has practiced parliamentary democracy, with power shifting periodically between the two major political parties—the United National Party and the Sri Lanka Freedom Party—and their allies. The UNP held power from independence to 1956, from 1965 to 1970, and from 1977 to 1994. SLFP-dominated left-wing coalitions held power at other times.

 Two Sinhalese youth insurrections—the Maoist Janata Vimukthi Peramuna uprisings of 1971 and 1987-1989—and the continuing LTTE insurgency have marred the country’s recent history.
 

1.4 Economy

With the exception of the Maldives, Sri Lanka stands ahead of other South Asian countries on Gross National Product per capita at market prices ($827) and literacy (90 percent). The Gross Domestic Product at purchasing power parity was estimated at  $46 billion, and the corresponding per capita GDP at $2,625 (Asiaweek, December 17, 1999).
In 1977, Sri Lanka shifted its economic strategy from an import-substitution trade policy to a market-oriented export policy.

The country’s most dynamic industries today are food processing, textiles and apparel, food and beverages, telecommunications, and insurance and banking. By 1996, plantation crops made up only 20 percent of exports, while textiles and garments accounted for 63 percent ($4 billion). Economic growth accelerated in the first half of the ‘90s with the GDP growing at an annual average rate of 5.5 percent until a drought and a deteriorating security situation lowered growth to 3.8 percent in 1996. The economy rebounded in the second half of 1996 and recorded a 6.4 percent growth in 1997. The government’s counterinsurgency efforts have caused defense expenditures to overshoot budget targets (World Factbook, 1998). The central bank has recorded a growth rate of 5.3 percent for 1998. The country is now in the World Bank’s lower middle-income classification.
 

2. Development of the press and broadcasting since 1945

2.1 The beginnings

The Dutch set up the first printing press on the island in 1737. The British produced the first regular publication—the weekly Government Gazette in 1802, the year the country became a crown colony.  Perera (1994) points out the country’s press was largely unregulated from its beginnings in 1802 until 1973. The patronage of the colonial government and the commercial interests of the British colonists ensured a high degree of government-press harmony, not conflict, in the early history of the press. Gov. R. W. Horton sponsored the first English newspaper, the short-lived biweekly Colombo Journal, in 1832. In 1834, a group of English merchants started another biweekly, the Observer and Commercial Advertiser, the country’s oldest newspaper today. Several English newspapers came out thereafter, e.g., the Ceylon Chronicle (1837), the Ceylon Herald (1837), the Ceylon Times (1846-1978), the Ceylon Independent (1888), the Jaffna Freeman (1862-1870), the Galle Telegraph (1870-1871), the Kandy Herald (1868-1869), the Morning Leader (1907-1932), and the Ceylon Daily News (1918 onwards). Until the middle of the 19th century, Englishmen published the island’s press in English mainly for Englishmen. Hulugalle (1960) and Gunaratne (1970, 1975, 1982) provide more details on the history of the English press.

The Sinhala press began in the provincial city of Galle with the publication of Lankaloka in 1860. However, Lakmini Pahana, which commenced on Sept. 11, 1862, was the first Sinhala newspaper registered under the Newspaper Ordinance of 1839. Other Sinhala newspapers followed, e.g., Lakrivikirana (1863-1902), Gnanartha Pradipaya (1866 onwards), Sarasavi Sandaresa (1880-1951), Dinapatha Pravurthi (1895-1908), Sinhala Jathiya (1903-1951), Sinhala Bauddhaya (1906-1979), Dinamina (1909 onwards), Lakmina (1912-1956) and Sunday Silumina (1931 onwards). In contrast to the pro-Western, pro-Christian bias of the English press, the Sinhala press “exuded a remarkable pro-nationalistic and pro-Buddhist bias” (Gunaratne, 1975, p. 3). The Sinhala daily press started with the short-lived Dinapatha Pravurthi (Daily News). Lakrivikirana, which started as a weekly in July 1863, turned itself into the second Sinhala daily in 1896. The demise of these two dailies paved the way for H.S. Perera to start the longest surviving Sinhala daily, Dinamina, on Dec. 17, 1909. Three years later, on Sept. 3, 1912, Alexander Welivita started the fourth Sinhala daily, Lakmina, which continued publication for 43 years. Pannasekera (1965-1971) has examined the history of Sinhala newspapers and magazines in nine volumes.

Muthulingam (1997) and Thillainathan (1997) have outlined the development of the Tamil press in Sri Lanka. The early Tamil publications were religious and ethno-nationalist in orientation. Udaya Tharakai (1841) served a Jaffna clientele for more than 130 years.  The news periodical Udayadithan served Colombo Tamils while the short-lived Roman Catholic publication Usaithalu (1845) targeted Jaffna as well. Other early publications included Paliya Narsan (1865), Elangai Pathukaralan (1868) and Alamat Lankapuri (1869). Hindu revivalism was the aim of publications such as Illangai Nasen (1877) and Sivabhimani (1884). The Tamil-speaking Muslim traders started Muslim Nasen (1882), Islam Mithiran (1905-1940) and other newspapers. The national Tamil press emerged with Jaffna-based Eelakesari (1930-1958), and Colombo-based Virakesari (1930 onwards) and Thinakaran (1932 onwards). The last two are the country’s longest surviving Tamil dailies.
 

2.2 The creation of the present system

At the beginning of the post-independence era, broadcasting was a state monopoly and the press was a private duopoly. Over the last half a century, the country’s media scene has changed considerably with the government asserting a dominant role in press operations while conceding the private sector a role in broadcasting operations. Television did not arrive in the country until 1979.
 

2.2.1 Print media

At independence, two private newspaper groups—the Associated Newspapers of Ceylon Ltd. and the Times of Ceylon Ltd.—dominated the country’s press. ANCL, also known as Lake House because of its location by the Beira Lake in Colombo, was the more dominant. It published the country’s largest-circulation morning dailies in all three languages: Dinamina (Sinhala), Daily News (English) and Thinakaran (Tamil). It also published the afternoon daily Observer (English) and, since 1953, the afternoon daily Janatha (Sinhala).  Its weekend papers—Silumina (Sinhala), published since 1930; Sunday Observer (English), published since 1923; and Sunday Thinakaran (Tamil), published since 1948—were also circulation leaders.

 The afternoon daily Times of Ceylon (English), which started as Ceylon Times in 1846, was the flag bearer of the second group. The Times group also published the morning daily Lankadipa (Sinhala), an innovative newspaper started by journalist D.B. Dhanapala in October 1947, and commenced publishing another English daily, Morning Times, in 1954. The latter folded four years later, but resurfaced in 1961 as the Ceylon Daily Mirror, a morning tabloid that continued until 1979. The Times group also tried out a short-lived Tamil daily, Eelamani, in 1972. The group’s weekend publications were the Sri Lankadipa (Sinhala), which started in 1951, and the Sunday Times (English), which began in 1923.

A third newspaper group specialized in the Tamil press. Its flag bearer was the Tamil morning daily Virakesari started in 1930. The group started an afternoon Tamil daily Mithran in 1966, but it ceased publication recently. Now known as the Express Newspapers Ltd., this group ventured into publishing the English weekly Weekend Express in 1995.

The Swadeshi Newspapers Ltd. made an unsuccessful attempt in the 1950s to capture a share of the daily newspaper market. The company was the publisher of the nationalist weekly Sinhala Jathiya, which began in 1903 and became popular under the editorship of novelist Piyadasa Sirisena.  In 1954, it started two dailies—Jathiya (Sinhala) and Guardian (English)—and the Sunday Pictorial (English), all of which incurred heavy losses and folded.

A more successful challenge to the press duopoly took place when the country’s largest book publisher, M.D.Gunasena & Co. Ltd., formed the Independent Newspapers Ltd. Dhanapala left the Times group in 1961 to edit the new group’s flag bearer, the Sinhala daily Dawasa, and its weekend counterpart Rividina (later Riviresa). It also tried out an afternoon Sinhala daily Sawasa The group started newspapers in English and Tamil as well—the Sun (1964) and its weekly Weekend (1965) in English; and the morning Thinapathi (1966), the afternoon Thanthi (1967) and the weekend Chintamani (1966) in Tamil. This group, which had the blessings of the SLFP-led socialist coalition, soon surpassed the Times group as ANCL’s closest competitor.

The country’s newspaper scene changed when the SLFP-led left-wing coalition passed the Associated Newspapers of Ceylon Ltd. (Special Provisions) Law and took over Lake House on July 20, 1973. The law required “broadbasing” the ownership of Lake House, which had been the bastion of support for the right-wing UNP under the ownership of the family of its founder, D.R. Wijewardene.  The first attempt by the SLFP-led coalition to take over Lake House failed in late 1964, when the issue led to parliamentary crossovers and the dissolution of parliament.  The coalition lost the March 1965 general elections thereby prolonging the Wijewardene hold on Lake House for seven more years. Now, more than a quarter-century after the takeover, Lake House remains the faithful “mouthpiece” of the party in power, and no government has taken action to redistribute the shares of the company.

The venerable Times of Ceylon Ltd. closed down on Jan. 31, 1985, after a colorful 139 years of operation (Liyanage, 1993, p. 116). Financial and employee problems, political conflicts and changes in ownership were the main reasons for its demise. Internal conflicts among its directors had enabled the then SLFP stalwart Anura Bandaranaike, son of Prime Minister Sirimavo Bandaranaike, and his cohort Harris Hulugalle to take control of the company in August 1975. Nine days after the UNP won the July 1977 general elections, the Colombo municipal commissioner issued a notice to auction the Times group to recover the taxes the company had not paid. J.R. Jayewardene, the new prime minister (and the soon-to-be executive president) of the UNP government, immediately appointed a competent authority to administer and restore the company. However, despite the government subsidies, the company’s newspapers failed to achieve profitable circulation levels.

 The Independent Newspapers Ltd. closed down on Dec. 26, 1990, after a lifespan of almost three decades (Liyanage, 1993, p. 138). It supported the SLFP at the 1970 general elections because of differences with the UNP government on school textbook publication, a matter of intense interest to the Gunasena & Co. However, the group also fell out with the new SLFP-led coalition government over the group’s lock out of trade union employees (Liyanage, 1993). Taking advantage of the emergency regulations, which had gone into force on March 16, 1971, to counter the JVP insurrection, the government sealed the group’s printing press and re-introduced press censorship on April 20, 1974. Prime Minister Sirimavo Bandaranaike claimed the press was sealed for supporting the opposition’s civil disobedience campaign and for “flouting of emergency regulations preventing the transport of rice” (Gunaratne, 1975, p. 31). The group resumed publication following the expiry of emergency regulations on Feb. 16, 1977. Its newspapers adopted an anti-government stance in the period leading to the general elections of July 1977 in contrast to the government-controlled ANCL and Times groups. However, internal problems, as well as inability to compete with two newspaper groups that emerged in the 1980s with modern printing machinery, led to its demise less than 14 years later.

At the end of the century, three newspaper groups dominate the island’s newspaper scene: the ANCL, which has been under government control since 1973; the Upali Newspapers Ltd., under private ownership, with close family connections to both the UNP and the SLFP leadership; and the Wijeya Newspapers Ltd., also a family concern, with close family connections to the UNP leadership, and started by the previous ANCL owner Ranjit Wijewardene (Wijetunga, 1996, p. 107).

Upali Wijewardene, a successful businessman and cousin of the country’s first executive president J.R. Jayewardene, established the Upali Newspapers Ltd., and on Oct. 4, 1981, commenced publishing two Sunday newspapers— the Divaina Irida Sangrahaya (Sinhala) and the Sunday Island (English); and their daily counterparts, Divaina and the Island, began on Feb. 4, 1982. Upali Wijewardene was known to have political ambitions of succeeding his cousin as the country’s president. He antagonized two UNP stalwarts, Prime Minister R. Premadasa and Finance Minister Ronnie de Mel, because of those ambitions. The new publisher disappeared in a mysterious plane crash in February 1983, and the control of the company passed on to his widow, Lakmini. The actual control, however, passed on to her father, Sivali Ratwatte, the brother of SLFP leader Sirimavo Bandaranaike. Wijetunga (1996) wrote that although this group’s reporting on the party platforms during the 1994 general elections “appeared to be less biased,” the bias against the People’s Alliance “was more apparent in the content.” The group showed “undisguised prejudice and hostility” toward the PA leader, current President Chandrika Kumaratunge, although it supported her mother, Sirimavo (p. 109).

Ranjit Wijewardene, who lost the ownership of ANCL in 1973, re-entered the newspaper business with the establishment of the Wijeya Newspapers Ltd. He had bought the newspaper titles of the defunct Times group and re-launched them beginning with the weekend Irida Lankadipa on Feb. 23, 1986. The Sunday Times followed on June 7, 1987; the daily Lankadipa on Sept. 10, 1991; and the Midweek Mirror in 1995. [The group revived  the Daily Mirror (1961-1979) itself on June 17, 1999.] Wijetunga (1996) reported that the Wijeya group, which was closer to the UNP than the Upali group, “adopted even a more circumspect attitude in its reporting” of the 1994 elections, “perhaps because it was also eager to establish itself as the market leader in the media business” (p. 110).
 

2.2.2 Broadcasting

The broadcasting of the British governor’s speech on 27 July 1924 marked the first official demonstration of the new medium. The Telegraph Department set up a Government Broadcasting Station in December 1925. Broadcasting was only in English until 1931, when Sinhala and Tamil services also began. Experiments in short-wave broadcasting began in 1934. Originally, broadcasting came under the authority of the postmaster general and director of telegraphs (later, telecommunications). Just as elsewhere in the former British colonies, broadcasting in Sri Lanka was a government monopoly until the mid-1980s. A committee headed by Kanthiah Vaithianathan, appointed in 1940 to report on broadcasting, made several recommendations to the then State Council, but preoccupation with the war delayed their implementation.

 Broadcasting improved in 1945, when Britain handed over to Sri Lanka the powerful short-wave transmitters of the South East Asia Command. In 1949, the year after independence, the government merged the Government Broadcasting Station and Radio SEAC to form the Department of Broadcasting, which came to be known as Radio Ceylon. A commercial service, in addition to the original national service, began in September 1950. Simultaneous broadcasting in all three languages of the country—Sinhala, Tamil and English—began in the same year. An educational service began in September 1951. Improvements in transmission occurred in 1955 with the installation of a 10-kilowatt short-wave transmitter in Ekala. Experimental stereo transmission began in 1981.

Broadcasting went through the scrutiny of three commissions after independence —N.E. Weerasoria Commission of 1953, H.A.J. Hulugalle Commission of 1965 and V.C. Jayasuriya Commission of 1970 (Gunaratne, 1978). The UNP government, which implemented the main recommendation of the Hulugalle Commission, passed the Broadcasting Act of 1966 and converted Radio Ceylon into the Ceylon (now, Sri Lanka) Broadcasting Corporation in 1967 on the lines of the New Zealand Broadcasting Corporation.

Today, the SLBC’s home services reach the population through medium wave, short wave and FM transmissions. The corporation has 23 medium-wave transmitters islandwide. It also has eight FM stations in various parts of the country. The Sinhala Commercial Service, which attracts 84 percent of the Sinhala audience, is SLBC’s most popular service. Its Sinhala National Service attracts 23 percent of the Sinhala audience while the Tamil service attracts 15 percent of the Tamil audience (Central Bank, 1998).

Television commenced in Sri Lanka on April 15, 1979, when two private entrepreneurs, Anil Wijewardene and Shan Wickremasinghe, established the Independent Television Network with the blessings of the UNP government.  However, less than two months later, on June 5, the government took over the network over a dispute with the two investors. The network’s location shifted to Wickramasinghapura in 1982.

Meanwhile, the Sri Lanka Rupavahini Corporation Act of 1982 created the SLRC as the apex of the country’s television structure. With headquarters built with Japanese assistance and located next to the SLBC, the new corporation commenced its services on Feb. 15, 1982. Television remained a state monopoly for another decade, until 1992, when the government allowed private investors to enter the field under the control and supervision of the SLRC. (Six private channels were in operation in 1998.)

With a transmitting station on Mount Pidurutalagala and two sub-transmitting stations at Kandy and Kokavil (the latter destroyed by the LTTE in July 1990), SLRC was able to provide its services to 84 percent of the population. It added Namunukula and Sooriyakanda transmission stations in February 1986 to expand its reach. The corporation commenced educational telecasting in 1983, and it set up a TV training institute in October 1984. An agreement with CNN World gave it access to “voiced TV reports.” A dubbing studio came into operation in February 1989 (Central Bank, 1998).
 

3. The press

3.1 Policy and legal framework

Chapter III of the 1978 constitution contains a justiciable Bill of Rights. Article 10 guarantees the freedom of thought, conscience and religion. Article 14 (1)(a) guarantees the freedom of speech and expression, including publication. However, Article 15 (2) states this right “shall be subject to such restrictions as may be presented by law in the interest of racial and religious harmony or in relation to Parliamentary Privilege, contempt of court, defamation or incitement to an offence.” Article 15 (7) goes on to declare that the fundamental rights—right to equality; freedom from arbitrary arrest; freedom from arbitrary detention; freedom of speech, assembly, association, occupation and movement—shall be subject to restrictions as may be presented by law, including the pertinent regulations, in the interests of national security, public order and the protection of public health or morality ... or of meeting the just requirements of the general welfare of a democratic society.  Udagama (1986) says, “The scope of the restrictions are so broad as to render the guarantee virtually nugatory” (p. 27).

The country enjoyed considerable press freedom for the first quarter century after independence. Thereafter, for almost 20 years beginning 1973, the state usurped much of that freedom with laws aimed at taming the press (Gunaratne, 1975; Liyanage, 1993). Udagama (1986) wrote that in the mid-‘80s the press was “almost totally under governmental control” (p. 75). Two controversial pieces of legislation that “had profound consequences for the freedom of the press” were the Sri Lanka Press Council Law of 1973 and the Associated Newspapers of Ceylon Ltd. (Special Provisions) Law of 1973 (Selvakumaran & Edrisinha, 1995, p. 11).

The Press Council Law set up a seven-member council to regulate the press—six appointed by the government with the director of information as the ex officio seventh member. The council has quasi-judicial powers to inquire into complaints against the press. Udagama (1986) asserts that this law “severely curtails the freedom of publication of specific types of information without prior permission of government officials,” which amounts to prior censorship” (p.4). She contends that the prohibition of publishing matters relating to government policy-making, such as Cabinet meetings and fiscal policy, “keeps people in the dark as to the policies that may govern them and also prevents the free discussion of issues that affect the general public” (p. 39). The Press Council Law also “somewhat superfluously makes criminal defamation as defined by S. 479 of the Penal Code an offence” (p. 40).

The ANCL Law called for the vesting of 75 percent of Lake House shares in the public trustee on behalf of the government. The former shareholders could retain the balance 25 percent while in the process of broadbasing no single shareholder could hold more than 2 percent of the shares. The law empowers the public trustee to appoint a new board of directors.
Udagama (1986) points out that although the “purported intention of the government in enacting these two laws was the establishment of a free and responsible press,” what actually happened was “the creation of a press tightly controlled by the government which denied freedom of expression to the press and the public and also freedom of information to the public” (p. 5).  Except for the requirement of registration of printing presses and newspapers, Sri Lanka had no form of government control of the press until 1973. Another exception, however, was censorship during the operation of emergency regulations under the Public Security Ordinance No. 25 of 1947. Civil and ethnic unrest in 1953, 1958, 1959, 1968 and 1971 caused the government, irrespective of the party in power, to implement media censorship under emergency regulations.

The emergency declared in 1971 to suppress the first JVP insurrection continued until 1977. Following the emergencies in 1982 and 1983, rule by emergency powers has become the rule than the exception. The continuing LTTE-led ethnic war and the second JVP insurrection of 1987-1989 provided the justification for the government to rule under states of emergency, with built-in media censorship. The government sealed the printing press of the Independent Newspapers Ltd. in 1974 and the Aththa press in 1982.

Among the other statutes whose provisions impinge on freedom of publication are the Parliamentary (Powers and Privileges) Act of 1953 as amended in 1978, 1980, 1984 and 1987; the Official Secrets Act of 1955; and the Prevention of Terrorism (Temporary Provisions) Act of 1979 (Coomaraswamy, 1981; Udagama, 1986).

Selvakumaran and Edrisinha (1995) provide an overview of the statutory enactments and constitutional provisions pertaining to the media (pp.3-8), as well as a summary critique of the regulatory framework on freedom of expression. The provisions of the Penal Code on defamation (section 479), offences against the state (sections 118 and 120) and offences affecting public decency or morals or religious harmony (sections 285-287 and 291A&B) are relevant to the media. Other enactments affecting the media include the Newspapers Ordinance of 1839, Printers and Publishers Ordinance of 1885, Printing Presses Ordinance of 1902, Obscene Publications Ordinance of 1927, Profane Publications Act of 1958, and Code of Intellectual Property Act of 1979.
 

3.2 Financial aspects: circulation, advertising and marketing strategies

Audited newspaper circulation data for Sri Lanka are not available. Peiris (1997) points out “a glaring mismatch” between the circulation data produced by newspaper producers and newspaper-purchase estimates derived from surveys of household expenditure (p. 83). Data recorded by the Central Bank of Sri Lanka show a dip in the annual Sinhala daily newspaper circulation in the mid-‘90s: 89.3 million in 1989; 97.7 million in 1992; 102.3 million in 1993; 142.7 million in 1994; and 116 million in 1995. On this basis, the average Sinhala daily circulation has been between 370,000 and 450,000 in the mid-‘90s.

The newspaper groups keep the true circulation data a top secret in the hope of attracting advertisers, who have had to increasingly rely on market research for media selection. Estimated circulation data and Lanka Market Research Bureau’s readership data (reported in World Press Trends, 1999) show the top-circulation daily to be the Lankadipa  (circulation, 134,000; readership, 670,000). The other eight dailies in descending order are: Divaina (circulation, 130,000; readership, 650,000), Daily News (circulation, 75,000; readership, 375,000), Dinamina (circulation, 55,000; readership, 275,000), The Island (circulation, 47,000; readership, 235,000), Virakesari (circulation, 30,000; readership, 150,000), Thinakaran (circulation, 29,000; readership, 145,000), Observer (circulation, 19,000; readership, 57,000) and Janatha (circulation, 5,000; readership, 15,000). These figures total to an aggregate daily circulation of 524,000 (2.8 copies per 100 people) and a daily readership of 2.6 million (13.7 readers of dailies per 100 people, which equals 19 percent of the population above the age of 15).  The Sinhala dailies account for 62 percent of the total circulation; the English dailies, 27 percent; and the Tamil dailies, 11 percent.

 Peiris (1997) draws attention to several factors that could explain the country’s slow or negative growth in newspaper circulation: the increasing popularity of the electronic media; the “nationalization” of the country’s dominant newspaper group in 1973; the sharp increase in the price of newspapers since early 1980s; and the ongoing ethnic war in the north and the east (p. 84). At Rs. 6 to Rs. 12 a copy—the equivalent of 9 cents to 19 cents in U.S. currency, the readers find the price of a Sinhala daily relatively high in relation to a per capita GNP of $814. The price of Sunday newspapers varies from Rs. 16 to Rs. 18—the equivalent of 23 to 26 U.S. cents.

Reporting on a national sample survey, Samarasinghe (1997) confirms the rank of Lankadipa (Wijeya) as the “most preferred” Sinhala daily, followed by Divaina (Upali) and the government-run Dinamina (ANCL); the rank of Daily News (ANCL) as the “most preferred” English daily; and the rank of Virakesari (Express) as the “most preferred” Tamil daily; followed by Thinakaran (ANCL) and Thinamarasu. The “most preferred” Sinhala Sunday is the Irida Lankadipa (Wijeya), followed by Silumina (ANCL), Divaina Irida Sangrahaya (Upali), and the new Lakbima (Sumathi). Among the English newspapers, Sunday Observer (ANCL) is at the top, followed by Sunday Times (Wijeya), The Leader (Leader) and Sunday Island (Upali).

Virakesari Vara Veliyeedu (Express) tops the Tamil Sundays, followed by Thinakaran Varamanjari (ANCL) and Eelanadu.
Estimated circulation of the 12 Sunday newspapers in 1998 was 1.28 million (World Press Trends, 1999). This works out to be seven copies per 100 people. The Samarasinghe (1997) survey, however, reported 35.7 percent of the adults claiming to have read daily newspapers regularly and 35 percent claiming to have read the Sundays regularly (p. 271). The estimated Sunday circulation data, therefore, cannot bear credence. The popular belief that more people read the Sundays than the dailies in Sri Lanka needs further investigation. The estimated circulation of the 31 non-dailies was 1.32 million.

 The advertising industry spent Rs. 1.3 billion ($24.2 million) in 1995, Rs. 1.5 billion ($26.6 million) in 1996 and Rs. 2.1 billion ($34 million) in 1997 on the major media. Of that money, the share of the press declined from 40.5 percent in 1995 to 33.8 percent in 1996 and to 30.7 percent in 1997. The share of television increased over the same period: 43 percent, 44 percent and 47 percent respectively. The share of radio also showed improvement: 15.5 percent, 22.2 percent and 22.3 percent respectively (Phoenix Advertising, 1998). In 1998, the newspaper advertising revenue was Rs. 1.14 billion ($16.7 million). The media shared national advertising expenditure as follows: newspapers and magazines 25.4 percent; television, 35.6 percent; radio to 16.6 percent; and others, 22.4 percent (World Press Trends, 1999).

The government-owned ANCL received almost half of the advertising pie allocated to the press. The top advertising sectors were banking and finance, consumer goods, real estate, employment, motor vehicles, alcohol and tobacco, and entertainment. Display advertising accounted for 85 percent and classifieds for15 percent of advertising revenue.

3.3 Structure and organization

In 1998, Sri Lanka had nine dailies, 12 Sundays and 31 non-dailies. The dailies sold 161.4 million copies during the year while the Sundays sold 66.5 million and the non-dailies 68 million. The newspapers employed 1,014 journalists and 2,690 other staff (World Press Trends, 1999).

Three major newspaper groups dominate Sri Lanka’s newspaper industry—the Associated Newspapers of Ceylon Ltd. (Lake House), Wijeya Newspapers Ltd. and Upali Newspapers Ltd. A fourth player is the Express Newspapers Ltd. ANCL is the only group that publishes newspapers in all three languages—Sinhala, Tamil and English. Upali and Wijeya groups publish dailies in Sinhala and English. The Express group has specialized in Tamil newspapers and has recently ventured into publishing an English weekly.

A new player is Sumathi publishers, which started publishing the Sinhala Sunday Lakbima in October 1994. (Lakbima became a daily in 2000.) Another new player is the English Sunday Leader, which made its debut on June 3, 1994. Multi-Packs (Ceylon) Ltd. and Lal Wickrematunge own the Leader Publications (Pvt.) Ltd. The Peramuna became the latest Sunday newspaper in 1998.

Colombo is the center of newspaper publication in Sri Lanka. However, Jaffna was the headquarters of the Tamil daily Eelanadu (established in 1959), which ceased publication in the 1970s in the face of LTTE threats. Other Jaffna-based newspapers—Uthayan, Murasoli, Eelanatham and Eelamurasu (established in 1984)—emerged to promote sectarian interests. Tamil Murasu based in Vauniya and Ceithi based in Kandy were two other Tamil regional newspapers. The LTTE assassinated Eelamurasu owner M. Amirthalingam after taking over his newspaper. The escalation of ethnic turbulence caused these publications to disappear in the mid-1980s or to publish them only intermittently. As a result, the Colombo-based Virakesari has established itself as the major Tamil daily. A new Tamil daily, Thinakkural, began publication in April 1997 on the initiative of a section of Jaffna Tamil journalists, who had worked for Virakesari earlier.

A significant feature of the country’s newspaper scene is the politically oriented alternative press (vikalpa puvathpath) The two famous examples are the weekly Ravaya (Echo), edited by Victor Ivan alias “Podi Athula,” a rebel leader of the 1971 JVP insurrection (Chandraprema, 1991, p. 1), and Yukthiya (Justice), edited by Sunanda Deshapriya, another rebel leader in the 1971 JVP insurrection (Chandraprema, 1991, p. 1).  The popular belief about their influence seems to be misplaced in the light of the Samarasinghe (1997) survey, which showed only 3.1 percent claiming to read such politically oriented periodicals regularly.

The country’s press has another feature: specialized Sinhala tabloids the major newspaper groups put out for various interest groups. They target women, e.g., Tharunee (ANCL), Navaliya (Upali), and Sirikatha (Wijeya); children, e.g., Mihira (ANCL), Wijeya (Wijeya), and Bindu (Upali); sports enthusiasts, e.g., Kreeda (ANCL), and Visura (Ravaya); and movie fans, e.g., Sarasaviya (ANCL). Educational papers, e.g., Vidusara, Samatha, Sadhana and Sathara, are popular among students preparing for the General Certificate of Education (ordinary and advanced level) examinations.

Several political parties also publish their official organs in Sinhala, e.g., SLFP weekly Podujana (People); UNP weekly Siyarata (My Country), and Nava Sama Samaja Party weekly Haraya (Substance). The Communist Party weekly Aththa (Truth), which reputedly was the most popular political newspaper, has ceased publication. Other Sinhala periodicals include Vathmana, Sivdesa, Manahara, Vivarana and Mathota.  Pornographic tabloids, e.g., Sondura, and Navasarana, also circulate in the country.

Eelam People’s Democratic Party backs the Tamil weekly Thinamarasu, which supports the LTTE on some issues. Another Tamil weekly, Navamani, targets the Tamil-speaking Muslim community. Several Tamil Nadu publications are also registered as newspapers in Sri Lanka.

The English press also includes Lanka Woman (Wijeya), Guardian (an independent monthly), Pravda (a political journal), Business Today (a monthly) and Lanka Monthly Digest.
 

3.4 Quality and popular press

Sri Lanka does not have an upmarket or quality press as in the United States or Britain. The English-language press caters to a more elite group of readers, but the newspapers themselves fail to meet Merrill and Fisher’s (1980) standards of an elite press.

Although all three Sinhala morning dailies are broadsheets, both in content and layout they are closer to the popular press. Politically, the Lankadipa (Wijeya) leans toward the pro-UNP sympathies of its owner. However, it is the most independent of the four Sinhala dailies. Most of the Lankadipa journalists came from the now defunct Dawasa group. They have continued to concentrate heavily on the rural readers as they did at Dawasa. Lankadipa is noted for highlighting crime, specially sex-related crime. Lankadipa also puts out seven provincial editions, all of them printed in Colombo. Provincial news pages differ in these editions. Dinamina (ANCL), once the country’s leading daily, lost its standing after the government takeover of Lake House. Its circulation has dipped well below its two competitors. Yet it’s much superior to ANCL’s afternoon tabloid Janatha, which primarily targets the clerical workers in Colombo and the vicinity. Divaina (Upali), which takes a clear anti-government and Sinhala nationalist stand, is popular among the ultra- nationalists and the Buddhist clergy. Divaina vehemently opposes the PA government’s political package for the nation’s Tamils.

The Daily News (ANCL), despite its ownership by government, continues to be the country’s leading English daily. Advertising is heavier in the English newspapers than in the Sinhala press (Karunanayake, 1996). Despite its low credibility, business circles and the more affluent elites prefer the Daily News because it carries much of the public-sector advertising. Its only competitor, The Island (Upali), caters more to a minority of anti-PA intellectuals than to the wider needs of the affluent English-educated. The ANCL’s afternoon daily Observer mainly circulates in Colombo and the vicinity just like its Sinhala counterpart.

The Tamil dailies target three minority communities—the indigenous Tamils, the upcountry Indian Tamils and the Muslims. Most Tamil papers take a Tamil-Hindu stand on issues, and this is particularly so with Virakesari (Express). The pro-government Thinakaran  (ANCL) is more popular with the Muslims in the Eastern Province.

Among the Sinhala Sundays, Irida Lankadipa (Wijeya) stands at the top because of its relatively independent political views and the large space it devotes to political news, gossip interviews with politicians and political reviews.  Divaina Irida Sangrahaya (Upali) follows its sister daily as an anti-PA Sinhala nationalist newspaper. Silumina (ANCL), the country’s leading Sinhala Sunday before the government takeover, has lost its credibility. However, it’s rich in advertising.  A 16-page tabloid named Rasanduna, which concentrates on literary issues, accompanies the paper. Lakbima (Sumathi) has the potential of a quality Sunday.

The English Sundays, with the exception of the pro-government Sunday Observer (ANCL), favor the UNP-led opposition. However, the Sunday Times (Wijeya) often attempts to maintain a degree of political independence. The Sunday Island  (Upali) follows the group’s pro-UNP line. The Sunday Leader is noted for its investigative attacks on the PA government. It also popularized political gossip columns, now a regular feature of all the Sunday newspapers.
 

3.5 Distribution and technology

The newspapers of the four publishing groups have a national circulation. Lankadipa has an extremely wide circulation network that covers every part of the island except some areas of the Northern Province. It is the only newspaper available in some rural areas.

Sinhala Sunday papers are available in the market either on the preceding Friday or Saturday morning. Thus spontaneous news that may develop on Friday or Saturday cannot get into the Sunday edition. Distributors say that even a two-hour delay in early delivery may cost the newspaper about half of its sales. Thus, when a suicide bomber strapped in explosives assassinated President Premadasa on a Saturday afternoon at a May Day political rally in1993, the next day’s Sinhala Sundays were already out without that story.

 The cost of distribution represents about 10 percent of a newspaper’s cover price, which varies from Rs. 6 to Rs. 12. Single copy sales account for 68 percent of newspaper distribution while home delivery constitutes 26 percent and postal deliveries 6 percent. All nine dailies have four-color printing capability (World Press Trends, 1999).

Four of the Sinhala Sundays issue tabloids for “light reading.” The most popular is Ridhma that comes with Lakbima. The tabloid Rasanduna comes with Silumina. Irida Lankadipa issues the 16-page tabloid Sandella. Divaina Irida Sangrahaya provides a tabloid called Meevitha.

 The English Sundays also issue tabloids: Mirror comes with the Sunday Times, Islet with The Island, Now with the Sunday Leader, and the Magazine with the Sunday Observer.
 

4. Broadcast media

4.1 Policy and Legal framework

The constitutional and penal code provisions outlined in the policy and legal framework for the press (Section 3.1) also pertains to the broadcast media as are the other statutory enactments except the Press Council Law and the ANCL Law. The policy and legal framework for the broadcast media are set forth in the Sri Lanka Broadcasting Corporation Act No. 37 of 1966 and the Sri Lanka Rupavahini Corporation Act No. 6 of 1982. Additionally, three 1981 acts—Parliamentary Elections Act, Referendum Act and Presidential Election Act—define the rights of political parties and candidates to use radio and television.
 

4.2 Structure and organization

4.2.1 Radio

 The government-run SLBC dominates radio broadcasting in the country. It offers services in all three languages—Sinhala, Tamil and English. At present, it offers seven home services, three regional services, six community services and seven overseas services.

 The Sinhala National Service is the main home service. The others are the Sinhala Commercial Service, the Tamil Commercial Service, the English Commercial Service, the Regional Service(s), the Education and Sports Service(s). SLBC, with ITN cooperation, launched Lakhanda, a 24-hour Sinhala service, in January 1997 (Central Bank, 1998). This new service uses the successful techniques that MBC Networks’ Sirasa FM has adopted, e.g., audience interaction and use of simpler language.

 The three regional services are the Rajarata Sevaya (centered in Anuradhapura since April 1979) for the North Central Province, the Ruhunu Sevaya (centered in Matara since 1980) for the Southern Province and the Kandurata Sevaya (centered in Kandy since1983) for the Central Province (World Radio TV Handbook 1998).

 The six community services are located in Aralaganwila, Girandurukotte, Kotmale, Maha Illuppallama, Jaffna and Vauniya. These services commenced with the setting up of the Mahaweli community radio in 1981 and its expansion into the Girandurukotte community radio in 1986 (David, 1993). The Jaffna community service commenced in January 1997, the Vanni service (Vauniya) in August 1997, and Pulathisi Ravaya (in Aralaganwila in the Polonnaruwa District) in April 1998. The latter is a new multi-ethnic community service on FM100.7 (Sunday Observer, April 12, 1998).

 The SLBC uses English, Sinhala, Japanese, Nepali, and several Indian languages—Hindi, Kannada, Malayalam, Telugu and Tamil—to broadcast its external services: World Service, Southeast Asia, Asia Hindi, Asia Tamil, Asia English, and Middle East. Hindi accounts for almost 60 percent of external transmission followed by Tamil (16 percent).

Eleven private sector radio-broadcasting services have emerged since the government relaxed its monopoly in 1984. They offer five English services—Capital Radio, TNL 90/101.7FM, Yes FM, Sun FM99.9 and Gold FM89.8; four Sinhala services—Sirasa, Savana, Hiru FM107.9 and Tharu FM96.7; and two Tamil services—FM99 and Suriyan FM103.2.

4.2.2 Television

 The government-run SLRC and ITN dominate television broadcasting in the country. Six ministerial appointees constitute the SLRC, including one representing the SLBC and another representing the National Film Corporation.  SLRC started a second channel in mid-1999 to tap into the TV advertising market.

The government relaxed its television monopoly in 1992. Since then, four private companies have introduced six television channels—MTV and MTV Newsvision, Swarnavahini, ETV, TNL and Dynavision, the country’s first stereo TV broadcast station. (Sirasa TV, which replaced the MTV channel in June 1998, became the first nationwide private-sector TV channel. It planned to televise 18 hours a day. MTV itself replaced the MTV Newsvision channel to concentrate primarily on greater Colombo and Kandy.) In 1999, the Sri Lanka Telecommunications Authority allowed two other private TV services: Comet Cable TV run by Ruhuna 2001 Multivision, a subsidiary of Vancouver-based Rystar; and Channel 9, the country’s first direct-to-home pay TV service, operated by TV and Radio (Pvt.) Ltd., a joint Sri Lanka-Australia venture. In late 1999, the latter planned to introduce digital television linked to satellite communication for the benefit of expatriate Sri Lankans (Sunday Observer, Aug. 8, 1999).

4.3 Program policies

The SLBC Act of 1966 requires that the programs broadcast by the corporation take precautions to maintain good taste or decency and not cause incitement of crime or disorder or cause offence to religious beliefs or public feelings. The act also requires that programs maintain a proper balance in their subject matter and a high general standard of quality. Moreover, it requires that news programs adhere to accuracy and impartiality. However, the act contradicts the last requirement when it also mandates the corporation to comply with the government’s broadcasting policy and implement the general and specific directions of the minister in charge. The corporation, through regulations issued by the minister, can control and supervise the programs of the private broadcasting services as well (Selvakumaran & Edrisinha, 1995).

The SLRC Act of 1982 has similar provisions to those of the SLBC Act with regard to programming. The act requires the corporation to maintain a proper local, regional and international balance in its programs. The corporation can refuse to televise advertisements that are not in the public interest. Those who wish to produce and market TV program material have to register with the corporation, which can refuse such registration. The act authorizes the corporation to exercise supervision and control over foreign and other TV crews producing programs for export, as well as over the use of videocassettes and the production of programs on such cassettes for export. As in the case of the SLBC, the corporation must comply with the general or specific directions issued by the minister (Selvakumaran & Edrisinha, 1995). Mahendra (1996) says that the TV programs show “monotony and biases” because of state propaganda; and that severe censorship has restricted creative standards (p. 225).

In 1982, about 52 percent of the SLRC fare comprised imported English programs compared to 39 percent Sinhala and 9 percent Tamil. By 1996, the share of the Sinhala programs had increased to 53 percent and Tamil programs to 16 percent while English programs dipped to 31 percent. The SLRC’s annual telecasting time in 1996 was 3,825 hours—an increase of 79 percent from 1982. The telecasting time of local programs increased from 59 percent in 1983 to 69 percent in 1996 (Central Bank, 1998). . Rupavahini relays Discovery Channel on digital stereo in addition to its local programs in three languages. ITN relays Deutschewelle in addition to other programs, which are carried on Lakhanda radio as well.

Most private TV stations also have rebroadcast arrangements with international TV services: Sirasa TV relays Sun TV India in addition to local programs, which are simulcast on Sirasa FM radio; MTV relays BBC World; TNL relays Music Television in addition to local programs, which are simulcast on FM 89 MHz; Swarnavahini relays Raj TV and ATN India in addition to local programs; ETV relays Sky News, CNBC Asia, CBS News and ABC News; Dynavision relays CNN and Cartoon Network; and Channel 9 relays Star TV, ESPN Sports, films, news and special programs in several languages. Channel 9 has proposed to keep Sri Lanka in world news daily with a 10-minute news bulletin for international viewers with at least two minutes of internationally important news from Sri Lanka (Sunday Observer, Aug. 8, 1999).
 

4.4 Ownership and financing

The SLBC (radio) and the SLRC (television), which make up the apex of the broadcasting structure in Sri Lanka, are public corporations. The SLRC budget shows that its funding primarily comes from license fees (25 percent) and advertising (67 percent). SLRC claimed a record income of Rs.669.7 million ($9.8 million) and a pre-tax profit of Rs.142.5 million ($2.1 million) for 1998 (Observer, April 25, 1999). The ITN operates as a government-owned business undertaking. Lakhanda, the new Sinhala radio broadcasting service, has become an ITN responsibility. ITN claimed a profit of Rs. 41 million ($600,029) for the 1997-1998 financial year (Daily News, June 7, 1999).

The 11 private-sector radio-broadcasting services operate on commercial lines. MBC Networks (Pvt.) Ltd., a joint venture of the giant Maharaja Organization Ltd. and Singapore Telecom International, runs two 24-hour FM services—Yes FM in English (on 89.5 and 101 MHz) and Sirasa FM in Sinhala (on 88.9, 105.9, 106.1 and 106.5 MHz). As data on advertising expenditure indicate, these two appear to be extremely popular commercial stations. Colombo Communications (Pvt.) Ltd., owned by Livy Wijemanne, also runs two FM services—Capital Radio in English (on 100.4 MHz) and Savana in Sinhala (on 99 MHz), which also functions as FM99 in Tamil. Shan Wickremesinghe is the owner of TNL 90/101.7FM (English), which has been broadcasting for an international audience on the Internet since November 1996. Sirasa FM has followed TNL into cyberspace. Asia Broadcasting Corp., a “contemporary hit radio” station, started two 24-hour radio services—Sun FM99.9 (English) and Hiru FM107.9 (Sinhala)—in July 1998. A $9 million joint UK-Sri Lanka venture, ABC added three more services in September—Gold FM (English), Tharu FM (Sinhala) and Suriyan FM (Tamil).

Trans World Radio, a religious station based in Cary, North Carolina, has a transmitting station, which broadcasts on 882 kHz from Sri Lanka to South Asia in Bengali, Gujarati, Kannada, Malayalam, Marathi, Oriya, Tamil, Telegu and a handful of other languages. Deutsche Welle, Radio Japan and Voice of America have relay stations on the island (World Radio TV Handbook, 1999).

                                   Table 5: Advertising share of radio broadcasters
                                     1995              1996             1997
                                   ($4 million)      ($6 million)    ($7.6 million)
                                    Percent           Percent         Percent
MBC (Maharaja)             58                  59                 51
SLBC                              34                  24                 17
FM99/CCL                       3                  10                  23
TNL                                  5                    7                   4
Lakhanda                           --                  --                   5
Sources: Phoenix Advertising, 1998; Rajapakse, 1997.
 

The six private sector television channels also operate on commercial lines. MTV Channel (Pvt.) Ltd., another joint venture of Maharaja and STI, operates two channels—MTV (renamed Sirasa TV) and MTV Newsvision (renamed MTV). EAP Network (Pvt.) Ltd., owned by E.A.P. Edirisinghe Film & Theatre Ltd., also operates two channels—Swarnavahini and ETV, originally called ETV1 and ETV2 (standing for extra terrestrial television), The original investor, Nihal Wijesuriya, sold the two channels to the Edirisinghes in April 1996 for Rs. 200 million (about $3.6 million). Telshan Network (Pvt.) Ltd., controlled by Shan Wickremasinghe, operates TNL TV (affiliated with TNL Radio). Dynavision Broadcasting Co. (Pvt.) Ltd., a subsidiary of I.W. Senanayake’s IWS Holdings, operates the Dynavision channel. Survey Research Lanka data show that in 1996 Rupavahini had an audience share was 45 percent; ITN, 34 percent; MTV, 12 percent; TNL, 7 percent, and others 1 percent or below (Rajapakse, 1997).

                                          Table 6: Advertising share of TV stations
                                 1995                 1996                    1997
                                ($10.4 million)    ($11.7 million)    ($16 million)
                                   Percent            Percent                Percent
SLRC                            42                   44                       34
ITN                               24                    21                      17
MTV                             18                    21                      23
TNL                                7                     7                         6
ETV1/Swarnavahini         5                     4                       14
ETV                                4                     4                         3
Dynavision                       --                    --                       --
Sources: Phoenix Advertising, 1998; Rajapakse, 1997.
 

5. New electronic media

5.1 Internet and on-line media

Several researchers have drawn attention to the need for a highly literate country like Sri Lanka to join the Global Information Infrastructure to compete in the global economy (Gunaratne, 1997; Gunaratne, Hasim & Kasenally, 1997; Induruwa, 1996; Wattegama & Sreekanth, 1998). Three dailies and six non-dailies have taken advantage of the GII to go online. The first newspaper to go online was ANCL’s Daily News (Sept. 4, 1995) and the first weekly to go online was ANCL’s Sunday Observer (Sept. 10, 1995). Wijeya group’s Sunday Times went online next (Feb. 18, 1996), and the group’s Lankadipa, the first Sinhala daily to start a weekly Internet edition (April 11, 1997), and Midweek Mirror followed. Upali group’s Island and Sunday Island also have an interactive Internet edition. The Express group has set up the first Sri Lankan Tamil newspaper online—the Virakesari Illustrated Weekly (September 1997). The independent Sunday Leader launched its inaugural Internet edition on Dec. 15, 1996. Two of the country’s radio stations have also entered cyberspace: TNL 90FM broke new grounds in November 1996 when it turned into a cyberspace station.  MBC’s Sirasa FM has gone into cyberspace as well.

In 1994, an Internet server in the United States served as the host for Sri Lanka’s first Web site at the University of Moratuwa. However, the country did not have direct commercial Internet access until April 26, 1995. In 1989, University of Moratuwa asked the Sri Lanka government to help set up the Lankan Experimental Academic and Research Network, which became a reality in 1994. Using 64 kbps leased lines based on Internet protocol, LEARN became the country’s first wide-area network to provide end-to-end IP connectivity.  Moratuwa connected its network server to the IP routers at University of Colombo and the Open University. The National Science Foundation  (formerly NARESA) joined the network in July 1996. LEARN, which established a direct Internet connection in 1996, also provides dial-up Internet access to more than 15 academic and research institutes. It is not registered as a commercial ISP.

Lanka Internet Services Ltd. was the first ISP to install a local gateway in Sri Lanka. Sri Lanka now has eight gateways, run by eight ISPs—Lanka Internet Services Ltd., Sri Lanka Telecom, Eureka Online Pvt. Ltd., CEYCOM Global Communications, ITMIN Ltd., Pan Lanka Networking Ltd., Electrotecks Ltd., and Lanka Communication Services (Pvt.) Ltd. The government has no control over the gateways, and the ISPs are free to decide the tariff structures and the communication channels. The vast majority of the country’s Internet users in Sri Lanka are from Colombo and suburbs.

ITU (1997) reported that in 1995 Sri Lanka had seven Internet host computers, which increased to 350 in 1996. Network Wizards’ January 1999 survey (http://www.nw.com/zone/WWW/dist-bynum.html) reported 542 host computers in Sri Lanka—0.29 hosts per 10,000 people. The July 1999 indicated that Sri Lanka had 983 Internet hosts—0.51 hosts per 10,000 people. The number of e-mail and Internet subscribers in 1997 was 9,045 (http://www.lanka.net/trcsl/stats.html).
 

5.2 Telecommunications infrastructure

An advanced telecommunications structure and a reliable and adequate power supply are essential prerequisites for informatization (Gunaratne, 1997; Samarajiva, 1997;). Sri Lanka had paid inadequate attention to this aspect until the late ‘80s. New realities faced the Department of Posts and Telecommunications, which had relied heavily on Telex to transmit messages internationally.

 The post-master general operated and regulated the country’s telecommunications monopoly for a long time. The first step to restructure the telecommunication sector took place in 1980 when the government separated postal services from the telecommunication services. The department faced competition when Datanet (Lanka Communication Services), which had an X75 node in Sri Lanka connected to the global packet-switched system via Singapore, introduced X25 packet switching services in the late ‘80s. The department, as well as Electroteks Network, also had to provide similar services because businesses, such as banks and shipping agencies, demanded them.

The second step was the passage of the Telecommunication Act of 1991, which converted the telecommunication department into Sri Lanka Telecom, a government-owned autonomous corporation, and created the Sri Lanka Telecommunications Authority as the regulatory body (APT, 1998, 1999; Gunasekera, 1994; Ranasinghe, 1996). A third step was the conversion of SLT into a government-owned limited liability company in September 1996 (Central Bank, 1997). Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corp., the Japanese telecom giant, bought 35 percent of the SLT shares for $225 million in August 1997.

 These moves have stimulated the growth of the country’s telecommunication system. SLT-provided connections exceeded 350,000 just before the buyout. Moreover, SLT has taken steps to upgrade the obsolete telecommunication equipment in many of its telephone exchanges, mainly in outstations. Hideki Kamitsuma, SLT’s new CEO, has taken steps for SLT to provide ISDN facilities in the country.

Two companies, Suntel and Lanka Bell, have introduced another facet of telecommunication: Wireless Local Loop technology. By March 1998, the two companies, which hold a duopoly in WLL until 2000, had provided 30,800 telephone connections covering many parts of the island. Suntel’s connections enable access to the Internet at a speed of 14.4 kbps and Lanka Bell’s at 28.8 kbps. Lanka Bell also provides 64 kbps leased lines to corporate customers. Of the four cellular operators in Sri Lanka, only Dialog GSM is based on digital transmission, which enable Internet connections. Sri Lanka is also about to enter the VSAT era. Ceycom Global Communications Ltd. has a license from SLT to provide VSAT.

In 1998, Sri Lanka had 523,529 main telephone lines—a density of 2.84 per 100 people. This represents an annual compound growth rate of 20 percent since 1990 when the country had 121,388 main telephone lines—a mere 0.71 lines per 100 people. In 1998, Sri Lanka also had 174,200 cellular mobile subscribers—a density of 0.94 per 100 people (ITU, 1999).
 

6. Policy trends for press and broadcasting

The People’s Alliance, which defeated the UNP government in August 1994, pledged to ensure the freedom of the media in its election manifesto, which stated:

The PA ... attaches the greatest importance to strengthening the media and providing a framework within which the media can function independently and without inhibition. This entails significant changes with regard to structures on ownership, policy objectives, the legislative instruments applicable, administrative policy in respect of such matters as facilities and the attitude of the government, which are indispensable for a sound media policy. Major constraints arising from provisions contained in the Constitution, the Public Security Ordinance, the Press Council Law, the Official Secrets Act and the Parliamentary (Powers and Privileges) Act, will be removed by amendment of this legislation. Committees of parliament will no longer punish journalists. Action will be taken to broad base the ownership of the Associated Newspapers of Ceylon Ltd., in keeping with the intentions of parliament, as set out in the original legislation. (Quoted in Mudliyar, 1998)

The PA government appointed an official committee—the R. K. W. Goonesekara committee --to report on laws affecting media freedom and freedom of expression. The committee recommended, inter alia, the enactment of a Freedom of Information Act, the setting up of an independent broadcasting authority, and the replacement of the Press Council Law with a Media Council Act. It also called for the repeal of the Official Secrets Act, the outdated criminal defamation law, and the Parliament (Powers and Privileges) Act of 1953 as amended in 1978, 1980, 1984 and 1987. These amendments
had empowered parliament to sit “on judgment on journalists and impose penalties on them” (Daily News, Sept. 10, 1997).

However, after five years in power, the government has not gone beyond repealing (on Sept. 11, 1997) the 1978 Parliamentary Privileges Special Provision Act, which had given parliament the right to fine and imprison journalists.  Instead of
repealing the criminal defamation law, the government has since mid-1995 caused the attorney general to use that law to indict the editors of five newspapers—the Sunday Times, the Sunday Leader, the Island, Lakbima and Ravaya, Although one judge sentenced the Times editor to a suspended seven-year prison term for allegedly defaming the president, another judge acquitted the Lakbima editor on a similar indictment. On the positive side, the Supreme Court in late May 1997 rejected as unconstitutional the Sri Lanka Broadcasting Bill, which would have placed the annual licensing of privately owned audiovisual media under the political control of a government-led authority. The opposition UNP, like all previous parties in the opposition, has continued its agitation against the government’s attempts to muzzle the media. UNP leader Ranil Wickremasinghe has pledged to implement a policy to de-control all state-owned media.

Harassment of journalists has not ceased. Udagama (1996) has described several cases of harassment in detail. The government continues to use emergency regulations to censor the media. Police searched the home of the Sunday Leader editor in September 1995. Even though the PA government had given all electronic media the right to gather and broadcast news independently, it temporarily withdrew the news-broadcasting license of Sirasa FM in April 1996 because the station aired an incorrect report on military action. Police detained a director of TNL in January 1997 under the Prevention of Terrorism Act—an action that led to a massive demonstration by 1,000 journalists. On Feb.12, 1998, five gunmen, suspected to be connected to the security forces, forcibly entered the home of the defense reporter of the Sunday Times and attempted to abduct him. On June 5, 1998, the government clamped down a total censorship on security-related matters and, for the first time, appointed a military censor. The database of the Committee to Protect Journalists shows 68 cases of threats, attacks, expulsion, harassment, censorship, and legal action against journalists and media in Sri Lanka from February 1993 to March 1998.

To curb these negative trends, three media organizations—the Free Media Movement, the Editors’ Guild and the Newspaper (Publishers) Society—issued the Colombo Declaration on Media Freedom and Social Responsibility on April 29, 1998  (Sunday Times, May 3, 1998). The Working Journalists Association was also expected to endorse it. The document, hammered out with “the encouragement of allies within the government and opposition parliamentarians” (Neumann, 1998, p. 60), sets forth the issues that media pressure groups would ask future governments to deal with (see main issues below).

Udagama (1986) wrote that “the blatant abuse of emergency powers by the government of Sri Lanka, especially in relation to media censorship for its own advantage, is utterly reprehensible and is clearly in violation of its international obligations” (p. 74). As the more recent examples show, such abuses will continue to occur irrespective of the political party in power unless well-organized pressure groups take action to force the rulers to keep their pledges on media freedom. The Colombo declaration provides a useful policy framework for press and broadcasting. That framework will be pertinent to the emerging cyberspace-based new media as well.

The PA government has drafted a new constitution, Article 16 (1) of which says: “Every person is entitled to freedom of speech and expression, including publication; and this right shall include the freedom to hold and express opinions and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas either orally, in writing, in print, in the form of art or through any other medium.”  Such a right of information is unlikely to make a difference if other laws and regulations take precedence over it.

Meanwhile, the island’s broadcasting scene is going through rapid change to attract larger audiences. Broadcasters are following the trailblazing techniques that Sirasa FM has adopted to become the most popular service: interactivity with the audience, use of colloquial and simpler language, downmarket orientation, greater attention to sports and music—in short, unabashed commercialization. Lakhanda, which broadcasts islandwide on FM band, also represents the new genre of radio offering. An official associated with it says:

Its programs cater to listeners on a novel concept in that a two-way radio communication process is introduced. Listeners can air their views, their problems, their needs and their complaints at the same time. In addition to a public service broadcasting set up, it is also a commercial service both linked together in one channel. Lakhanda has deviated from the age-old broadcasting pattern by embarking on this two-way process between the listeners and communicators. (M.J.M. Ashroff, Daily News, Nov. 14, 1998)
 

7. Main issues

The Colombo Declaration (April 29, 1998) draws attention to the main issues that Sri Lanka should deal with as it enters the new millennium. The declaration calls for:

1. Adopting a better constitutional definition of freedom of expression, opinion and information, conforming to the language used in the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights or the South African constitution.
2. Avoiding the derogation of fundamental rights under emergency regulations.
3. Adopting a Freedom of Information Act with appropriate exceptions
4. Adopting a new Press Council Act within the ICCPR framework
5. Broadbasing Lake House as set forth in the ANCL Act of 1973
6. Repealing the criminal defamation provision both in the Press Council Law and the Penal Code
7. Repealing the Sixth Amendment provisions that impinge on freedom of expression for the peaceful advocacy of secession.
8. Bringing censorship under emergency regulations within the ICCPR framework
9. Lowering the exorbitant duties on newsprint that make publications costly
10. Creating a genuinely independent broadcasting authority for licensing private and public broadcasting and community radio services, and for ensuring fair presentation of alternative points of view on broadcasting services.
11. Adopting legislation to ensure protection of source confidentiality.
12. Introducing a voluntary code of ethics that includes, inter alia, a right of reply; fair, balanced and accurate reporting of news; and divulging conflicts of interest

An all-party motion calling on the government to present legislation for vital media law reforms was scheduled for debate in Parliament on Oct. 8, 1999. The motion called for legislation to implement proposals for the repeal of criminal defamation laws, the replacement of the press council with a media council with a majority of non-government members, the codification of laws relating to subjudice and contempt of court, and the introduction of a freedom of information act (Sunday Times, Aug. 8, 1999). However, the intervention of an early presidential election late in 1999 delayed parliamentary action. Kumaratunge was re-elected to a second presidential term on Dec. 21, 1999, with 51.1 percent of the vote.
 

8. Statistics

                                   Table 7: Basic data on Sri Lanka

Exchange rate (September 1999)                     Rs.71.75 = US$1
Population (mid-1999 est.)                             19.1 million
Population density (1998)                                290 per sq. km
GNP per capita (1997)                                   US$814
Human Development Index ranking                 90 (out of 174)
Adult literacy                                                  90.7%
Urban population                                            23%
Geographical size                                            65,610 km2
 

The press

                                   Table 8: Circulation data by newspaper group

Newspapers published in Colombo (pop. 1.2 million)
Group         Title                  Estab.     Frequency     Language         Circulation (E&P)   Circulation (WPT)

ANCL      Dinamina             1909       Daily a.m.     Sinhala             140,000                 55,000
                 Janata                 1953       Daily p.m.     Sinhala             15,000                     5,000
                 Silumina              1930       Sunday         Sinhala            254,000                285,000*
                 Thinakaran          1932       Daily a.m.     Tamil                18,500                  29,000
       Thinakaran Varamanjari 1948      Sunday          Tamil                22,430                 45,024*
                 Daily News         1918       Daily a.m.     English              85,000                 75,000
                 Observer             1834      Daily p.m.     English              14,000                 19,000
                Sunday Observer 1923       Sunday         English            120,000              118 ,000*

Wijeya     Lankadipa         1947/1991 Daily a.m.     Sinhala                      --                134,000
                Irida Lankadipa 1951/1986 Sunday         Sinhala             259,172               275,500*
                Daily Mirror       1961/1999 Daily a.m.    English                      --                       N/A
                Midweek Mirror    1995      Wednesday  English                      --                      N/A
                Sunday Times    1926/1987  Sunday        English                      --               125,000*

Upali        Divaina                  1982      Daily a.m.     Sinhala            100,000                 130,000
       Divaina Irida Sangrahaya1981      Sunday          Sinhala                     --                 252,144*
                The Island             1982      Daily a.m.      English               33,000                 47,000
                Sunday Island       1981      Sunday          English               87,000                79,443*

Express    Virakesari              1930      Daily a.m.    Tamil                  48,000                   30,000
     Virakesari Vara Veliyeedu 1930      Sunday        Tamil                         --                   84,500*
                Weekend Express  1995      Saturday     English                        --                      N/A.

Independent
                Sunday Leader      1994       Sunday         English                       --                  75,000*
                Lakbima                1994       Sunday         Sinhala                       --                136,000*
                Thinakkural            1997       Daily a.m.    Tamil                          --                     N/A.
                Peramuna               1998       Sunday        Sinhala                       --                     N/A

Sources: Editor & Publisher International YearBook 1999; World Press Trends 1999; *Peiris, 1997.
 
 

Broadcasting
                                                      Table 9: Radio broadcasting

Group                              Service         Language         Hours/Month         Percent
Government/Public sector
                                        SLBC              Sinhala             2,599                    65.3
                                                                Tamil                   743                   18.7
                                                                English                 637                   16.0

SLBC/ITN                       Lakhanda        Sinhala                 730                   100

Private sector
MBC Network                Yes FM           English               1,400                   67.6
                                        Sirasa              Sinhala                  672                  32.4

CCL                               Capital Radio   English                1,470                  68.6
                                       Savana             Sinhala                  588                  27.5
                                        FM99              Tamil                      84                   3.9

TNL Radio                      TNL 90FM      English                2190                  100

ABC                               Gold FM89.8    English
                                        Sun  FM99.9    English                 730
                                       Tharu FM96.7   Sinhala
                                       Hiru FM107.9   Sinhala                 730
                                   Suriyan FM103.2  Tamil

Source: Asian Communication Handbook 1998
 

                                                   Table 10: Television

Channel                                     Hours per week                                             Hours/Month
                                             Sinhala         Tamil         English         Hindi
Government/Public Sector
     Rupavahini (national)         40.5             10             16                 --             285.0
     ITN (national)                   33.5              5.25        17               5.25             261.4

Private Sector
    Sirasa TV (national)           25.5             31             54.5             3.5             490.7
    MTV (Colombo & Kandy)  2.5            2.5             79.5             --               362.1
    Swarnavahini                     26               30.2            41.5            7.8             452.1
    ETV                                    --                 --             77                --              330.0
    TNL                                 17                2.7             38.8             3               263.5
    Dynavision                           --                 --          143                 --             612.9
Source: Sunday Times, May 24, 1998
 
 

Telecommunications and new media

                                                Table 11: Telecommunication facts

Number of mainline telephones per 100 people (1998)                        2.84
Number of cellular telephones per 100 people (1998)                          0.94
Number of fax machines per 1,000 people (1996)                                0.6
Number of Internet host computers  ( January1999)*                         539
Internet host density per 10,000 people (January 1999)*                     0.29
Electric power capacity (hydro/thermal) (1997)[Central Bank, 1997] 1,515 megawatts

Sources: ITU (1997, 1998, 1999); *Network Wizards (1999).
 
 

Advertising

                        Table 12: Advertising earnings of press, radio and TV

Year             Ad earnings (Rupees)                 Ad earnings (US$)
1995             Rs.1,319,187,350                         $24,167,512
1996             Rs.1,508,808,313                         $26,585,202
1997             Rs. 2,095,998,544                        $33,976,136

Source: Phoenix Advertising, 1998
 
 

9. Useful addresses

Newspaper organizations

·Associated Newspapers of Ceylon Ltd.
P.O. Box 248, Lake House
35 D.R. Wijewardena Mawatha
Colombo 10
Tel. (94-1) 545433
Fax  (94-1) 449069
E-mail: edcdn@sri.lanka.net
URL: http://www.lanka.net/lakehouse

·Express Newspapers Ltd.
P. O. Box 160185
Grandpass Road
Colombo 14
Tel. (94-1) 320881
E-mail: virakesari@lanka.ccom.lk
URL: http://www.ccom.lk/virakesari/

·Upali Newspapers Ltd.
P. O. Box 1942
223 Bloemendahl Road
Colombo 13
Tel. (94-1) 24001
E-mail: island@lanka.ccom.lk
URL: http://www.upali.lk/island/

·Wijeya Newspapers Ltd.
10 Hunupitiya Cross Road
Colombo 2
Tel. (94-1) 4308037 /326247 / 331275
Fax  (94-1) 449504 / 423258 /423922
E-mail: editor@suntimes.is.lk
URL: http://www.lacnet..org/suntimes
         http://www.ccom.lk/midweekmirror
         http://www.ccom.lk/lankadeepa

·Leader Publications (Pvt.) Ltd.
101, 2nd Floor, Collette's Building
D. S. Senanayake Mawatha
Colombo 8.
Tel: 94-1-686047
Fax: 94-1-699968
E-mail: leader@sri.lanka.net
URL: http://www.lanka.net/sundayleader/

·Ravaya Publishers Ltd.
83 Piliyandala Road
Maharagama
Tel. (94-1) 851672-3; 851814

·Sumathi Newspapers (Pvt.) Ltd.
445/1 Sirimavo Bandaranaike Mawatha
Colombo14Fax,: (94-1) 449593

·Eelamurasu
140 Navalar Road
JaffnaTel. (94-21) 22389

·Eelanadu
P.O. Box 44
165 Sivan Kovil West Road
Jaffna
Tel (94-21) 22329
 

Electronic media organizations

(a) Television      Public

·Independent Television Network (ITN)
Wickramasinghepura
Battaramulla
Tel.   (94-1) 864591
Fax   (94-1) 864591

·Sri Lanka Rupavahini Corp. (SLRC)
P.O. Box 2204, Independence Square
Colombo 7
Tel    (94-1) 580136
Fax    (94-1) 580929/ 696806
E-mail: ruvahini@slt.lk

                        Private

·Dynavision Broadcasting Co. (Pvt.) Ltd.
451/A Kandy Road
Kelaniya
Tel. (94-1) 913550-1
Fax (94-1)  910469

·EAP Network (Pvt.) Ltd. (Swarnvahini & ETV)
676 Galle Road
Colombo 3
Tel.  (94-1) 503819
Fax   (94-1) 503788
E-mail: eapnet@slt.lk

·MTV Channel (Pvt.) Ltd.(Sirasa TV & MTV)
109 Collets Building
D.S. Senanayake Mawatha
Colombo 8
Tel.  (94-1) 689324-6
Fax   (94-1) 689328

·Telshan Network (Pvt) Ltd.  (TNL)
Innagale EstateDampe-Piliyandala
Tel (94-1) 575436
Fax   (94-1)574962
 

(b) Radio    Public

·Sri Lanka Broadcasting Corp
.P.O. Box 574, Independence Square
Colombo 7Tel   (94-1) 696329
Fax   (94-1) 695488
E-mail: slbcweb@sri.lanka.net

                  Private
·Colombo Communications (Pvt.) Ltd
.250 R.A. de Mel Mawatha
Colombo 3

·MBC Network (Pvt.) Ltd.
Araliya Uyana, DepanamaPannipitiya
URL: http://www.mega.lk/sirasafm/

·TNL Radio
25 Station RoadColombo 4
URL: http://www.lanka.net/tnl/
 
 

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