Major stories in the Sinhala and Tamil press: May 19 – 25

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 six main stories. The six stories were on the: (i) 16 years since the end of the armed conflict; (ii) reported plans to raise the electricity tariffs by 18.3 percent; (iii) measures taken to establish control in hung local government authorities; (iv) imprisonment of politicians of past governments for alleged corruption; (v) reported agreement between the UNP and the SJB to form an alliance; and (vi) reported shortage of salt. The Sinhala press exclusively featured two main stories, and they were on the: (i) incidents of organised crime in the country and (ii) re-emergence of the risk of COVID-19. The Tamil press exclusively featured three main stories, and they were on the: (i) calls to provide accountability for past atrocities including solutions for enforced disappearances; (ii) calls to revoke the gazette pertaining to reported land acquisition by the state in the North and East; and (iii) recommencement of the excavation at a suspected mass gravesite in Chemmani, Jaffna.