Browsing by Author "Madushanka, H.A.G."

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Picturing the Sri Lankan War: A Study on the Practice of War Reporting and Photojournalism
(4th International Conference on Social Sciences 2018, Research Centre for Social Sciences, Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Kelaniya, Sri Lanka, 2018) Madushanka, H.A.G.
Photojournalism is a form of journalism that employs images in news reporting. In conflict reporting, the news value of a photo is high. A photo speaks louder than words and war-related news always has a high demand in journalism. In order to examine the picturing of war reporting in Sri Lanka, covering the last period of the 30-year-old civil war, war photographs that were published in daily newspapers from 2nd April 2009 to 22nd May 2009 were selected. The selected all daily national newspapers were in Sinhala, English and Tamil languages. Altogether 1928 pictures from 10 national daily newspapers were analysed. There is a lack of front-line action war photographs and war art photographs published in newspapers. Tamil newspapers published a minimum number of photographs, which amounted to 15% total published photographs about war. Photographs were published 26.2% by the Sri Lanka Army media and the Defence Ministry and 35.2% photographs were published without photographer’s name. The source of those photographs seems to be army media or defence ministry. Altogether 61.4% Photographs published from Sri Lankan army or the Defence Ministry. Newspapers reported Sri Lankan civil war from single perspective using the photographs provided by the above-mentioned sources. In this case, Newspapers have broken the fundamental ethical framework of reporting. Thus, the news photographs report by Sri Lankan newspapers can be considered as a totally one-sided depiction of the war. They report the story using the photographs who given them one part of the war. The contribution by newspaper reporters and provincial reporters was very low. The three-decade war ended. But the quality of photojournalism was below the standards
Satirical News Papers in Sri Lanka: Language and Effectivity
(Department of Linguistics, University of Kelaniya, Sri Lanka, 2016) Madushanka, H.A.G.
The role played by the satirical newspapers in the current society has become significant due to its unique features, especially the language of humour through which the current affairs are communicated to the general public at the same time influencing their opinion. With this study the researcher attempts to examine the styles of language, the visual language and the writing structures employed in the mentioned genre of newspapers. In conducting the research five satirical newspapers were selected under the purposive and judgmental sample and further, qualitative research approach was used. The content of the said newspapers were examined and analysed and it was figured out that the satirical language employed in the newspapers has been more effective as its creative approach has permitted a powerful communication towards the reader.
War Reporting and Photojournalism (Special Reference to Sri Lankan War)
(International Postgraduate Research Conference 2019, Faculty of Graduate Studies, University of Kelaniya, Sri Lanka, 2019) Madushanka, H.A.G.
Photojournalism plays an important role in journalism. War reporting is one of the genres of conflict reporting and War news has a high value. War photographs can describe the incident and deliver the truth more than words. Reporting a war is different from reporting news in civil society. Special skills are needed for war reporting. This study is about war reporting practice in Sri Lanka. How Photojournalists performed duties on the battlefield was studied by the researcher. The reporters who were there at the war zone were identified under two categories and held in-depth interviews. 10 news reporters from Sri Lankan newspapers and 6 news reporters working for foreign news agencies were selected for interviews. Data were analyzed using qualitative methods. The focus of this study was to identify the war photography knowledge of war reporters & the ability to perform the duty on the battlefield. In conclusion, it was proved that the contribution given by the war reporters was less and not up to the standard. In comparison to the foreign news agency reporters, the standard and the ability of local war reporters is not sufficient. Because local news reporters did not have any war reporting or conflict reporting training, updated camera equipment and basic knowledge of conflict reporting. Newspaper companies sent their journalists to the battlefield who were reporting usual political reports. All the war reporters faced Post Traumatic Stress Disorder and they have never met psychiatrists. Local war reporters haven not been to the front line to report the war. They have on duty in the area, which was cleared by the Sri Lankan Army. Local newspaper companies have not paid much attention to their reporters. The findings provede photojounalists must have the particular training for the better reporting.