Journalists and scholars will collect this Saturday, October 11, to discuss the challenges of covering issues in Sri Lanka in the existing international context.
The conference, titled “The media in post war Sri Lanka: supporting democratisation in the era of the ‘War on Terrorism’” will take place at the West London University in London. It aims to create an exchange of suggestions and insights amongst academics and experts on the part of media for counteracting the delegitimisation of democratic process in post-war Sri Lanka in the Age of the ‘War on Terrorism’.
The one-day conference seeks to uncover the challenges, troubles and obstacles faced by media and journalists in upholding international human rights norms and their implications for democratisation in Sri Lanka. As a result, starting with the media, which has a role as a social institution in advertising democratisation, the conference seeks a broader understanding of the problems facing those searching for to promote international human rights norms in Sri Lanka these days.
Journalists, media scholars and media activists from Sri Lanka, India, Europe and North America will present papers at the conference, with the chance for discussion amongst the audience and speakers following the sessions. Speakers contain Professor Rune Ottosen from Oslo and Akershus University College of Applied Sciences, Dr Ibrahim Seaga Shaw, Lecturer in Media, Human Rights and Politics at Northumbria University, Dr. Walid Al-Saqaf, Director of the Master of Worldwide Journalism Programme at Orebro University, Dr Paikiasothy Saravanamuttu, Executive Director of Centre for Policy Alternatives in Colombo, Mr. J.S. Tissainayagam, an award-winning journalist in exile and Dr. Jude Lal Fernando, Assistant Professor in Intercultural Theology and Inter religious Research at the Irish College of Ecumenics, Trinity College Dublin.