Public Awareness Key to Ending Gender Based Violence
On the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women I want to take a look at what progress has been made in raising our awareness as a community about the…
Media and Communications
Shaping a Single Narrative, courtesy the Clergy and Task Forces
The recent appointment of a task force mandated with law reform headed by a controversial Buddhist monk has raised concerns from multiple fronts. Yet, considering recent trends in Sri Lanka, this should…
The Role of the Public in Fighting Racial Nationalism and Religious Extremism
It is not strange to Sri Lanka that race, religion and culture are continuously exploited by politicians to maintain their voter base and to secure their seat in governance. It is a…
Sri Lanka-Bangladesh Cricket Rivalry: A Breeding Ground for Hate Speech and Islamophobia
Last weekend featured a double header at the T20 Cricket World Cup featuring four South Asian nations. The evening match played under lights was between two countries with a difficult relationship, diplomatically…
The Need of the Hour – Twitter Poll
Groundviews currently has a poll running on its Twitter handle to assess which one of two pressing matters requires the public’s attention the most. With the Delta variant of SARS-CoV-2 sweeping across…
Trying to Silence a Fearless Voice: The Case of Tharindu Jayawardhana
Tharindu Jayawardhana is one of Sri Lanka’s most outstanding and promising young journalists. His writings and MediaLK, the news website he founded in 2019, are noted for highlighting some of the most critical…
Harnessing Sri Lanka’s #metoo Moment into a Movement
A few weeks ago Sri Lanka’s own #metoo movement came out in strong condemnation of incidents of sexual harassment that came to light as a number of professionals began to speak out.…
‘Fake News’: Rethinking the Classification
In Sri Lanka, the government recently announced that it would consider enacting laws against the spread of fake and misleading assertions on social media. In light of this development, a public conversation…
Criminalising Disinformation: Neither the Time nor the Place
A public conversation on criminalising disinformation has re-emerged in Sri Lanka. The government recently announced that it was considering new proposals for a law to curb false and misleading statements. This conversation…
Freedom of Expression: Where Do We Stand?
theme “Information as a Public Good” On April 30, when the Indian Supreme Court was hearing a case which it had initiated by itself (Suo Motto) to examine issues relating to the…
Plagiarism: A Plague or the New Normal?
While Sri Lankans are famous for defending their property rights when it comes to land ownership and title deeds, intellectual property is not exactly sacrosanct. From Aishwarya Rai “endorsing” beauty parlours to…
A Crisis in Communications
2020 has been defined by COVID-19; a year in which citizens, governments and medical first-responders found themselves in a whirlwind of unprecedented pandemonium. Adding to the confusion have been patterns of broken…
Ramzy Razeek: An extraordinary struggle for an ordinary life of service upended by an arrest
Image courtesy Ramzy Razik was arrested on April 9, 2020 at his home off Katugasota in Kandy by the CID. The next day, he was produced before the Colombo Magistrate where the…
Freedom of Expression vs. Hate Speech, Fake and Misleading News
Today, 3rd May, is World Press Freedom Day. It is a good day to assess state of Freedom of Expression, and we will focus on importance of ensuring freedom of expression while…
Ekneligoda disappearance – 10 years struggle for truth and justice
Photo by Ishara S.KODIKARA/AFP via Today, 10th January 2020, is 10 years since the disappearance of journalist and cartoonist Prageeth Ekneligoda. It also marks 10 years of struggle for truth and justice…