Fear of Ethnic Reconciliation: The Reason for Post-War Media Censorship in Sri Lanka

Abstract

This paper looks at why there continues to be high levels of media censorship in Sri Lanka despite the threat to the State declining with the defeat of the rebels. It argues that censorship persists because the government fears if the true stories of the suffering and victimhood of the Tamils should come out through frank discussion in the media, its project of portraying the Tamils as the “other” to continue suppressing them militarily will vanish. The government fears a lack of reason to portray Tamils as the enemy will affect its legitimacy among the Sinhala people and eventually erode its hold on the country.