Origin and growth of Sinhala newspapers
At a time when intensive studies are conducted in various areas in
mass media and mass communication, there is scarcity of supplementary
readers as well as well formulated research in the field. One grave
necessity of the teacher oriented and student oriented writing by those
who have either worked as professionals in the respective fields of
media culture or those who have had experience either as teachers or
researchers in the field. But unfortunately one finds quite a number of
Sinhala publications written hastily by those who lack any kind of
training.
The Sinhala research study titled Sinhala Puvathpath Prakashanaye
Arambaya ha Vikasaya (from 1860 – 1916) authored by Dr Nihal Ranjith
Jayatilaka is a welcome variant to the normal pattern of publications on
the subject linked to media studies. This is the second volume of two
works presented as PhD thesis for the University of Sri Jayawardanapura,
a few years ago.
 The
research work according to the author Jayatilaka had spurned over a
period of five long years. For quite sometime Dr Jayatilake had been a
bank executive with experiences in fields of marketing and management
which had led to the project of finding how the advertising in the past
had shaped the pattern of mass media with special reference to print
medium.
He had not been a just desk researcher turning over the dusty papers
in the archives. But he had undergone a series of content analysis
taking into account the contents and the techniques gone into the
marketing factors of commodities over the years. In this background,
Jayatilaka had taken pains to uncover some of the so far hidden
historical and cultural aspects that had gone into the making of the
newspapers.
To his credit he holds three main certificates with distinction from
the university education in Social Sciences. He has a diploma from the
Colombo University, MA and a PhD from the University from Sri
Jayawardanapura. The present work runs to five main chapters with three
appendices and a bibliography. The first chapter is an extensive peep
into the necessity for the birth of newspaper in our country. This too
goes to point out that the necessity not only arose as a local
nationalistic interest but also as an alien cultural trend, and
influence as well. The points laid down in the first chapter are further
clarified and exemplified in chapter two taking into account economic,
social cultural and religious factors. Chapter three is devoted to
introduce the pioneer Tamil and English newspapers published locally.
Chapter four is the key chapter of the work which is focused to
examine the main stream of newspapers published in Sinhala during 1860 –
1916. The profiles of the selected newspapers with their banner
headlines and logos are presented in order to clarify the different
trends of printing extant during the period. I felt that the researcher
Jayatilake had taken pains to classify the types of newspapers into
various groups such as national, cultural humorous and popular trend
setting etc. This I felt is yet another starting point for another
researcher who so needs to undertake a project in content analysis of
other embedded materials such as editorials and features.
The language is a changing phenomenon, and it goes hand in hand with
the counter evolutionary aspects, which happens as a necessity. The
language whether it is English or Sinhala has changed over the years
mainly as a result of the social evolutionary factors. Nobody can deny
this truism.
I have come across media persons who hold onto some static unchanging
views as regards linguistic aspects. They more or less disregard the
phenomenon of change. The lesson could be learnt from the Indian
counterpart. For example the Gandhian journalism where English was used
more as a tool of expression over its static factors. English newspapers
edited by Gandhi were known as Harijan and ‘The Young Indian’. Both were
addressed to a bilingual group not only in India but also in other parts
of the world to disseminate the ideology of non violence. Gandhi served
the purpose being a brave stalwart.
Jayatilaka in his work hints the readers about the cross currents
that prevailed in a colonial state where the Sinhala journalists had to
struggle hard and face several challenges of the situation. Jayatilaka’s
effort is a gift to the student and the teacher of media studies.
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