TamilNet is an online newspaper that provides news and feature articles on current affairs in Sri Lanka, specifically related to the erstwhile Sri Lankan Civil War. The website was formed by members of the Sri Lankan Tamil community residing in the United States and publishes articles in English,[1] German and French.
TamilNet was founded in 1995 by a group of Tamil diaspora professionals, including computer programmer K. Jayachandran from Norway, a systems analyst from the UK and several “dotcom” entrepreneurs from the United States to counter what they thought was a biased Western press coverage of the Sri Lankan conflict. In 1996 the journalist Dharmeratnam Sivaram was invited by the group to reform their website after being unable to attract visitors. In 1997 TamilNet was relaunched along the lines laid down by its now editor Sivaram to make it a professional ‘neutral’ wire service:
village-based Tamil reporters were to be trained in the techniques of conventional Western reporting. All factual assertions were to be triple-checked and double-sourced, all interviews (if possible) recorded, and all nationalist rhetoric was to be removed from the site. There would no longer be funny numbers, patriotic poems, pictures of martyred LTTE fighters, or invocations of Eelam, the hoped-for Tamil state. Instead, the tone would be the flat, unemotional, supremely confident...monotone of international journalism and of much social science.[1]
TamilNet reporters are on the ground mostly in the provincial villages of the North and East of Sri Lanka, where reporters are supplied with digital equipment. Reports are generated in Tamil and emailed to bilingual translators and editors in United States, Europe, Australia or to Colombo, Sri Lanka. This network of on the ground reporters has allowed TamilNet to circumvent Sri Lankan government's censorship laws.[1]
Mark Whitaker, an Associate Professor of Anthropology at the University of South Carolina and research collaborator of former senior TamilNet editor Taraki Sivaram, argues that TamilNet merely shares the Sri Lankan Tamil nationalist ideology of the LTTE and is not an arm of the organization. For instance, he says TamilNet had once fired a sub-editor who had become an activist for the LTTE. He also says TamilNet has faced complaints and "extreme displeasure" from both the Sri Lankan Government and the LTTE. Whitaker also says the LTTE has been deeply unhappy of "undue" coverage given on TamilNet to criticism of the organization by international human rights organizations. However, Whitaker believes much of the criticism directed at TamilNet by the LTTE is off public view, since the LTTE considers such moves as weakening Tamil nationalism.[1]
According to ARTICLE 19, a global human rights organization with a specific mandate and focus on the defense and promotion of freedom of expression and freedom of information worldwide, the news website although some claim it has an LTTE bias, it has over its ten-year life span, earned a reputation for providing alternative news and opinions with a particular focus on the North and East of the country, operating under the banner of "Reporting to the World on Tamil Affairs". It is relied upon as a credible news source by journalists, civil society and the diplomatic community both within Sri Lanka and globally. Over the years, the site has endured various threats and attacks, including the gunning down in April 2005 of editor, Sivaram Dharmaratnam.[4]
Criticism and Counter-Criticism
Experts in the field argue TamilNet's accuracy of its reporting has "rarely been successfully challenged that such charges ring hollow". According to V. Sambandan, Sri Lanka Special Correspondent for the Indian English daily The Hindu, "facts and figures are double sourced, checked and are considered 100% credible".[1]
However a Sri Lanka analyst for the prominent Indian English daily The Hindu, whose chief editor N. Ram was awarded the Sri Lanka Rathna and is noted for being virulently anti-LTTE,[11][12] states "TamilNet (www.tamilnet.com) is the unofficial mouthpiece of the Tigers in English. It is a kind of news agency chronicling the conflict as perceived by the LTTE. The site is a `must hit' for any serious Sri Lanka watcher. A senior official in the Sri Lankan Presidential Secretariat told Frontline, "My first port of call on the internet is TamilNet. Though it is brazenly pro-Tigers, it is a good guide to know the mind of the Tiger leadership tucked away in the safe havens of the Wanni jungles.".[13]
Threats and murders
It has been alleged that members associated with various Sri Lankan political parties have threatened reporters of TamilNet with arrest for "treason", and once hinted, that "uncontrolled extremists might be inspired to perform some extra-judicial killing".[Extra Judicial killing][1] (See additional information here)
In 2004, Ramasamy Thurairatnam, a correspondent for the Lakehouse press group and the TamilNet.com news website, claimed that his life was in danger because a local warlord's supporters have formed death squads whose job is to eliminate those who don't support their point of view in the civil conflict. Due to the same threats the BBC’s Tamil and Sinhalese services have stopped broadcasting reports from their correspondents in eastern Sri Lanka.[14]
The LTTE has accused the government of complicity in his murder,[22] while the government has denied any responsibility. To the accusation that self styled Colonel Karuna, a government aligned[23][24] regional political party leader and a former LTTE member was personally involved in the murder of Taraki Sivaram, Karuna has categorically denied it.[25][26]
Ban in Sri Lanka
According to Free Media Movement (FMM), a media rights watchdog from Sri Lanka, on 19 June 2007, on the orders of the Sri Lankan Government, all major Internet Service Providers (ISP) in Sri Lanka, blocked users from being able to access the TamilNet website.[27] The FMM said that it is "deeply disturbed" with the news and had the following to say about the ban:
"The ban on Tamilnet is the first instance of what the FMM believes may soon be a slippery slope of web & Internet censorship in Sri Lanka. It is also a regrettable yet revealing extension of this Government’s threats against and coercion of print and electronic media in Sri Lanka since assuming office in late 2005.... The FMM stresses that the danger of censoring the web & Internet is that it gives a Government and State agencies with no demonstrable track record of protecting & strengthening human rights and media freedom flimsy grounds to violate privacy, curtail the free flow of information and restrict freedom of expression"[27]
When questioned by reporters, Government Minister Keheliya Rambukwella said he was not aware of the shutdown but, "We are looking for hackers to disable the Tamilnet but could not find anyone yet."[28][29] to which FMM responded by saying that it was Cyber terrorism by a government.[30]
The Human Rights group Article 19 in a press release on 20 June 2007, said the following regarding the ban on TamilNet: "Until now, control measures have largely been directed at local media. Applying these measures to the Internet represents a serious escalation which threatens to cut off an important source of independent and alternative news. This not only threatens press freedom but also undermines efforts to address the conflict."[4]
^Extra Judicial killing:Sri Lankans have suffered a spate of extra judicial killings since the beginning of the civil war. The UN and other international bodies have expressed grave concern over the spate of extra judicial killings in Sri Lanka.[32]
Related Research Articles
The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam was a Tamil militant organization, that was based in the northern and eastern Sri Lanka. The LTTE fought to create an independent Tamil state called Tamil Eelam in the northeast of the island in response to violent persecution and discriminatory policies against Sri Lankan Tamils by the Sinhalese-dominated Sri Lankan Government.
Sri Lankan Tamil militant groups rose to prominence in the 1970s to fight the state of Sri Lanka in order to create an independent Tamil Eelam in the north of Sri Lanka. They rose in response to the perception among minority Sri Lankan Tamils that the state was preferring the majority Sinhalese for educational opportunities and government jobs. By the end of 1987, the militants had fought not only the Sri Lankan security forces but also the Indian Peace Keeping Force. They also fought among each other briefly, with the main Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) rebel group dominating the others. The militants represented inter-generational tensions, as well as the caste and ideological differences. Except for the LTTE, many of the remaining organizations have morphed into minor political parties within the Tamil National Alliance, or as standalone political parties. Some Tamil militant groups also functioned as paramilitaries within the Sri Lankan military against separatist militants.
Vinayagamoorthy Muralitharan is a Sri Lankan politician and former militant. Formerly a fighter for the Tamil separatist group, the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), for over 20 years, Muralitharan later rose to prominence after defecting from the LTTE and forming the Tamil Makkal Viduthalai Pulikal (TMVP), a breakaway faction of the LTTE.
Shanmugalingam Sivashankar was a Sri Lankan Tamil rebel and leading member of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, a separatist Tamil militant organisation in Sri Lanka.
Taraki Sivaram or Dharmeratnam Sivaram was a popular Tamil journalist of Sri Lanka. He was kidnapped by four men in a white van on 28 April 2005, in front of the Bambalapitya police station. His body was found the next day in the district of Himbulala, near the Parliament of Sri Lanka. He had been beaten and shot in the head.
Chandra Fernando (1942–1988) was a priest from the town of Baticaloa in minority Tamil-dominated eastern province of Sri Lanka. He was known for his human rights activism. He was assassinated by unknown men on June 6, 1988.
Aiyathurai Nadesan, a prominent and veteran minority Sri Lankan Tamil journalist was shot dead on 31 May 2004 on his way to work in eastern Sri Lankan town of Batticaloa by gunmen belonging to an armed paramilitary group widely believed to be so called Karuna Group.
Relangi Selvarajah was a popular Tamil broadcaster and a one time actress. She was assassinated by unknown assailants on 12 August in Colombo, Sri Lanka.
Eelam War II is the name given to the second phase of armed conflict between Sri Lankan military and the separatist Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam. The war started after the failure of peace talks between the Premadasa government and the LTTE. This phase of the war was initiated by the LTTE who massacred almost 600 Sinhalese and Muslim police personnel after they were ordered by the Premadasa government to surrender to the LTTE. The truce was broken on June 10, 1990, when the LTTE in October expelled all the 28,000 Muslims residing in Jaffna.
The Tamil Eelam Air Force or Sky Tigers was the air service branch of the Divisions of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, who used it against the Government of Sri Lanka. They also called themselves the Tamileelam Air Force (TAF). Though the existence of the Sky Tigers had been the subject of speculation for many years, the existence of the wing was only revealed after an attack in March 2007, during Eelam War IV.
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Brigadier Balraj was a senior commander of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE).
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Kingsley Rasanayagam (1941–2004) was a Sri Lankan Tamil politician and former Member of Parliament. In 2004 Rasanayagam was selected by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) as a Tamil National Alliance (TNA) parliamentary candidate. He represented the Batticaloa multi-member electoral district for the TNA in the Sri Lankan Parliament, for a short period of time between April 2004 and May 2004. In May 2004, he was pressured to resign, by the LTTE because of his close relationship with former LTTE Eastern Province leader Vinayagamoorthy Muralitharan alias Karuna Amman. LTTE chief Velupillai Prabhakaran feared that he would become a patron to the political party registered by Karuna Amman, Tamil Makkal Viduthalai Pulikal (TMVP).
Freedom of the press in Sri Lanka is guaranteed by Article 14(1)(a) of the Constitution of Sri Lanka which gives every citizen "the freedom of speech and expression including publication". But under some government's there was widespread suppression of the media, particularly those critical of those governments. Sri Lanka is ranked 146 out of 180 countries in Reporters Without Borders's Press Freedom Index for 2022
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↑ Sri Lankan Tamil Nationalism: Its Origins and Development in the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries, By Professor A. Jeyaratnam Wilson Publisher: University of British Columbia Press (March 2000) ( ISBN1-85065-338-0)
Nurturing a Nation on the Net: The Case of Tamil Eelam, by Maya Ranganathan, NATIONALISM AND ETHNIC POLITICS; 2002, VOL 8; PART 2, pages 51–66. ISSN1353-7113
Nurturing Eelam on the net: the transmission of nationalist ideologies through Sri Lankan Tamil websites, by Maya Ranganathan, Clayton, Vic.: Monash Asia Institute, 2006 See infor here
"Potential of the Net to Construct and Convey Ethnic and National Identities: Comparison of the Use in the Sri Lankan Tamil and Kashmir Situations", by Maya Ranganathan, Asian Ethnicity: Taylor & Francis Group, 2004
Learning Politics from Sivaram, The Life and Death of a Revolutionary Tamil Journalist in Sri Lanka, by Mark P. Whitaker Publisher: Pluto Press (UK) 2007 ( ISBN0-7453-2353-7)
"Internet and media freedom: Media censorship in Sri Lanka and the emergence of Web-based rebel media" by Kasun Ubayasiri. AsiaPacific MediaEducator, Issue 12/13, December 2002 See info here
"A virtual Eelam: Democracy, Internet and Sri Lanka’s Tamil struggle" by Kasun Ubayasiri in Asian Cyberactivism: freedom of expression & media censorship by Steven Gann, James Gomez and Uwe Johannen See info here ( ISBN0-9749177-5-3)
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