March 4 – March 10, 2024 | Vol.14, #10

In commemoration of International Women’s Day 2024, Manthri.lk looked into female representation in Sri Lankan legislatures from 1931 to the present. For more information, click here

01. BR return reflects RW in the fold
02. The Language Divide
03. The TV coverage of the issues
04. This week’s cartoons
05. This week’s memes
06. Other topics covered in reportage

Past issues can be viewed here

Disclaimer: This week’s TMA is focusing on the return of SLPP National Convenor Basil Rajapaksa to Sri Lanka from the US on March 5.

Event: On March 5, Basil Rajapaksa returned to Sri Lanka from the United States (US).[1][2]

Analysis

Over the past week, the Sinhala mainstream media (TV news bulletins and print media) and social media[1] commentary on Basil Rajapaksa’s return to Sri Lanka from the US diverged from each other. Sinhala mainstream media reportage featured voices both in support of and critical of Rajapaksa’s return. By contrast, social media commentary was predominantly critical of Rajapaksa’s return to the country. Similar to the social media reaction to Sanath Nishantha’s death analysed in TMA Vol.14, #04, the hashtag niwan suwa (similar to Rest-In-Peace) was used in the comments section on Basil Rajapaksa. In Sinhala usage, this is a form of blessing when directed at those who have passed away, but a form of curse when directed at those who are living.

The mainstream Sinhala media coverage of Rajapaksa’s return surfaced a strategic repositioning of two key actors—Basil Rajapaksa and President Ranil Wickremesinghe—ahead of anticipated national elections. The SLPP political voices in support of Basil Rajapaksa, including Minister Prasanna Ranatunga and Piyal Nishantha, were among those who tended to reposition these two actors. This week’s TMA will briefly analyse this strategic repositioning of these two actors.

1. Rebranding of Basil Rajapaksa

As noted in past issues of TMA, in the immediate aftermath of the aragalaya in 2022 the SLPP and the Rajapaksa family experienced a loss of public legitimacy.[2] However, more recently, the SLPP has been strategically positioning itself to appeal to various voter groups. For instance, despite being an integral part of the government, the party has adopted a strategy of selectively criticising government policies (which it is instrumental in adopting through cabinet and parliament), showcasing its dual role in messaging.[3]

As featured in last week’s mainstream media, SLPP supporters of Basil Rajapaksa rebranded him as a ‘strategic’, ‘visionary’ and ‘intelligent’ leader suited to guide the SLPP in preparing for forthcoming national elections. They attributed the electoral success of the SLPP at the 2018 Local Government Election following Mahinda Rajapaksa’s defeat at the 2015 Presidential Election to these characteristics of Basil Rajapaksa. The mainstream media commentary that analysed the SLPP voices examined the repositioning of Basil Rajapaksa to be based on his past successes in boosting the rural economy while serving as the minister of economic development during former President Mahinda Rajapaksa’s tenure.

2. Recasting of Ranil

Last week’s proponents of Basil Rajapaksa, including Minister Ranatunga, were not critical of President Wickremesinghe–the successor of Gotabaya Rajapaksa–but instead were supportive of him. For instance, Minister Ranatunga stated that any SLPP presidential candidate should be ‘more talented’ than the current president. This absence of criticism of Wickremesinghe among the SLPP’s supporters marks a notable shift that has evolved over a period.

The SLPP support base appears to be showing signs of accepting and even accommodating Wickremesinghe. In past elections the SLPP positioned Wickremesinghe as a principal adversary.[4] In contrast, it now positions him as a principal ally within the broader SLPP coalition.

This tectonic shift in the positioning of Wickremesinghe within the support sphere of the SLPP has occurred through a gradual process of accommodation and cooperation since May of 2022 when Wickremesinghe took on the role of prime minister and shielded the SLPP members of parliament from the largest ever display of public outrage against a sitting government (embodied in the aragalaya).

However, when evaluating the effectiveness of the rebranding of Basil Rajapaksa, social media reactions show that the strategy may not be effective in terms of changing public perception, especially among social media users. Social media users ridiculed/mocked Rajapaksa’s return. Wickremesinghe has also been criticised for serving and protecting the interests of the Rajapaksas. Social media commentary has consistently referred to Wickremesinghe as “Ranil Rajapaksa” and as a “Rajapaksa rescuer”.[5] This type of social media commentary suggests that the portrayal of these political figures by the SLPP voices–as featured in the (somewhat politically captured) mainstream media–may not align with the perceptions of the wider public.

[1] In accordance with TMA’s methodology to monitor social media, the TMA team filtered the five posts with the highest interactions on Facebook in Sinhala for the term president, and the names Basil and Rajapaksa from March 3 to 9, using CrowdTangle.
[2] See TMA Vol.12, #15 & 16.
[3] See TMA Vol.13, #40; Vol.13, #42; Vol.14, #01.
[4] See TMA Vol.04, #43.
[5] See TMA Vol.12, #27.

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

Last week’s Sinhala and Tamil press converged in relation to four main stories. The four stories were on the: (i) return of Basil Rajapaksa to Sri Lanka; (ii) increase in the wages of CBSL employees; (iii) challenges faced by SriLankan Airlines including low levels of profit; (iv) appointment of Deshabandu Tennakoon as the IGP. The Sinhala press exclusively featured two main stories, and they were on the: (i) problems in the education system including the use of schools to gain political visibility and the weight of the schoolbags of schoolchildren, and (ii) arrests of former Health Minister Keheliya Rambukwella and Ministry of Health Additional Secretary Dr. Saman Ratnayake as suspects in the alleged substandard medicines scam. The Tamil press exclusively featured four main stories. They were on the: (i) tense situation during the Mahashivarathri pooja at the Vedukkunaari Athi Shivan Kovil in Nedunkerny; (ii) International Women’s Day; (iii) emerging anti-Indian sentiment in the North and East; (iv) book titled ‘The conspiracy to oust me from the presidency’ launched by Gotabaya Rajapaksa.

Do you want to see the divided priorities on a daily basis? Check out FrontPage. It captures the day’s headlines and features succinct summaries of the political news reported in the most widely read Sinhala and Tamil newspapers.

A tense situation at the Vedukkunaari Athi Shivan Kovil: How did TV channels cover it?

On March 8, eight devotees were arrested without any police warrant during the Shivarathri observances at the Veddukkunaari Athi Shivan Kovil. MP S. Kajendren was also reportedly ill-treated by the police. Privately-owned Tamil TV channels IBC Tamil, Dan News and Shakthi TV allotted coverage to the incident. By contrast, no coverage was allotted for the incident on state-owned Tamil TV channels Vasantham TV and Nethra TV, privately-owned Sinhala TV channels Sirasa TV, Swarnavahini, Hiru TV and TV Derana, and state-owned Sinhala TV channels ITN and Rupavahini. For more information, click here

The data on television coverage is based on the monitoring of the primetime news telecasts of selected Sinhala language TV channels uploaded to YouTube. The ITN telecast was unavailable on YouTube on March 4. In the versions uploaded to YouTube, the headlines were not included in the ITN telecast on March 5 and the Rupavahini telecasts on March 5 and 7.

Courtesy of Tamil Mirror, Mar.6, 2024

Courtesy of Virakesari, Mar.7, 2024

Courtesy of Divaina, Mar.9, 2024

Courtesy of Sathi Aga Aruna, Mar.10, 2024

Courtesy of Sunday Lankadeepa, Mar.10, 2024

Tax relief for best friends Let’s chase it (the crow) away

(In February 2022, in an interview on the problem of crows colliding with airplanes at the Bandaranaike International Airport, the then Finance Minister Basil Rajapaksa uttered the phrase “If kaputas (crows) go hit the plane”, where he used the Sinhala word for crow while speaking in English. This created a comic effect which led to him being ridiculed and referred to as “kaputa” on social media.)

What’s important this time is not how I arrived but how I will leave

The prices of food items reduced suddenly!
The government: This is kottu roti, we have reduced by Rs. 5.

1. International Women’s Day
2. Reduction of the electricity tariffs by 21.9 percent
3. Launching of the book titled ‘The conspiracy to oust me from the presidency’ by Gotabaya Rajapaksa
4. The newly appointed COPE and COPA committees
5. Reported abuse of the law by police officials

To view this week’s news summaries, please click here