The media

Sri Lanka has an extensive English-language media, including a multitude of newspapers and radio stations. Numerous journalists were threatened, abducted or even murdered throughout the Rajapakse era, and although the situation has eased under president Maithripala Sirisena, government control of sections of the media remains an ongoing fact of island life.

Newspapers, magazines

Sri Lanka’s English-language newspapers include three dailies – The Island (island.lk), the Daily Mirror (dailymirror.lk) and the Daily News (dailynews.lk) – and three Sunday papers, the Sunday Observer (sundayobserver.lk), the Sunday Times (sundaytimes.lk) and the Sunday Leader (thesundayleader.lk). The last of these was particularly known for its outspoken criticism of the Rajapakse government, which led to the killing of its editor Lasantha Wickramatunga in 2009, and it remains the most outspoken and interesting of all the island’s papers. The Daily News and Sunday Observer, by contrast, are both owned by the government and tend to toe the party line of whoever is currently in power.

There are also several good, independent online resources for Sri Lankan news. The Colombo Telegraph (colombotelegraph.com), run by a group of expatriate journalists, and the “citizens journalism” website groundviews.org are both particularly good, while theacademic.org has comprehensive links to Sri Lanka-related news stories across the web.

There are also a fair number of English-language magazines available. The long-running Explore Sri Lanka has decent, tourist-oriented articles about all aspects of the island, while the business-focused Lanka Monthly Digest (lmd.lk) also sometimes runs interesting general features on the island. Hi!! magazine (hi.lk) – Sri Lanka’s answer to Hello! – is essential reading for anyone seeking an insight into the Colombo cocktail-party circuit.

Radio

There are a surprising number of English-language radio stations in Sri Lanka, although reception can be hit and miss outside Colombo. Most stations churn out a predictable diet of mainstream Western pop, sometimes presented by hilariously cheesy DJs. The main broadcasters include TNL Rocks (99.2 and 101.8 FM; tnlrocks.com), Sun FM (98.7 FM; sunfm.lk), Yes FM (100.8 FM; yesfmonline.com), Lite FM (87.6 FM; lite87.com), E FM (88.3 FM; facebook.com/efm.lk), and Gold FM (93.0 FM; goldfm.lk), which dishes up retro-pop and easy listening. One Sinhala-language station that you might end up hearing a lot of (especially if you’re travelling around by bus) is Shree FM (100.0 FM; facebook.com/shreefmlk), beloved of bus drivers all over the island and offering a toe-curling diet of Sinhala pop interspersed by terrible adverts. For a more interesting selection of local music, try Sirasa FM (106.5 FM; sirasa.com.

Television

You’re not likely to spend much time watching Sri Lankan television. There are three state-run channels – Channel Eye (English), Rupavahini (Sinhala) and Nethra (Tamil), plus various local satellite TV channels which offer a small selection of English-language programming – though this is a fairly deadly mixture of shopping programmes, children’s shows, pop music, soaps and the occasional duff film. Rooms in most top-end (and some mid-range) hotels have satellite TV, usually offering international news programmes from the BBC and/or CNN along with various channels from the India-based Star TV, including movies and sports.

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