ABSTRACT
This chapter explores the two faces of the Sri Lankan media during the country's recent moments of transition. It discusses the steady decline of Sri Lanka's mainstream media during the country's post-war years and explains such decline in terms of the corresponding rise in the state's repression of media institutions. The chapter also discusses the emergence of an alternative media in Sri Lanka and focuses on the linkages between global digital activism and the proliferation of digital activism in Sri Lanka despite state repression. It examines the distinct role social media played in the regime change of January 2015 and further argues that social media, as a political space, can endure even under the most arduous circumstances. In 2008, Sri Lanka was described as one of the ten most dangerous places in the world for journalists. The chapter offers a historical account of this period to examine the circumstances in which the mainstream media became subservient to the state.
