Major stories in the Sinhala and Tamil press: Mar.3 – 9

Signposts the differences and nuances in reporting between Sinhala and Tamil language newspapers.

Over the past week the Sinhala and Tamil press converged in relation to five main stories. The five stories were on the: (i) former president Ranil Wickremesinghe’s participation in the Head to Head interview with Al Jazeera English; (ii) 2025 Budget; (iii) deployment of police officers to arrest former Inspector General of Police (IGP) Deshabandu Tennakoon; (iv) reported rise in organised crime and its alleged impact on undermining national security; and (v) plans to hold the local government elections. There was only one main story featured exclusively in the Sinhala press. It was on the plans for an exposition of the sacred tooth relic in Kandy. The Tamil press exclusively featured four main stories, and they were on the: (i) protests by the families of missing persons and their demands for justice; (ii) commencement of the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) session and Sri Lanka’s response; (iii) internal tussles within Tamil political parties including the ITAK; and (iv) issues faced by the Hill Country Tamils.