The Other War: Sri Lanka'S Recent Struggle For Media Freedom

Rajiv Weerasundera began his career in journalism as a reporter at the Sun newspaper in 1985. He has been contributing regularly to The Sunday Times since 1989. Having qualified as a doctor, he is also a university lecturer. At present, he is practicing as a psychiatrist in Australia. The events recorded in this important and timely book reflect a very difficult and dangerous time for the press in Sri Lanka. The then President of Sri Lanka, Chandrika Kumaratunga, accusing a leading Sunday newspaper, The Sunday Times, and its editor of scandalous gossip, forms the backdrop of this story of how politics, the media and the law interacted with each other in Sri Lanka in the nineties. It was a time when physical violence and being charged with criminal defamation were among the occupational hazards of being a journalist. It is also a tale of legal wrangles, constitutional conundrums and a saga of political intrigue. But the story does not end there....