Viability of Online Newspapers in Activating the Sri Lankan Public Sphere

Home , Ada Derana, Daily Mirror (Sri Lanka), Daily News (Sri Lanka), Lankadeepa, Lankadeepa (Ceylon)

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Volume 6 Skcem&e*. 2010 VIABILITY OF ONLINE NEWSPAPERS IN ACTIVATING THE SRI LANKAN PUBLIC SPHERE.

Theodore A. Fernando

It is the mandate of the Fourth Estate in a democracy to disseminate information and facilitate dialogue among people on contemporary issues of significance. Globally, the advent of the internet also means that there would be an unprecedented revolution in democratic communication, free of regime based controls, triggering a paradigm shift by challenging the traditional top down elitist model of communication. To what extent has this materialized in Sri Lanka? An extensive literature review on the subject coupled with the content analysis of online newspapers and Sri Lankan web news sites and interviews conducted with some of the senior editors and persons in charge of the main newspapers help to answer the specified questions. Though there are 54 online newspapers and news web sites in Sri Lanka, the findings of our study show that this mode of communication has a long way to go to reach maturity; nevertheless we recognize theoretically its great potential in democratizing a society with diverse and conflicting viewpoints. Prevailing attitudinai and institutional constraints both politically as we/// as institutionally prevent online newspapers and websites from utilizing interactive features that will bring in a more bottom up dialogue and an egalitarian communication environment. Most of the online newspapers in Sri Lanka engage in 'Showelware', just transplanting their print edition in the web. Key features of the online newspapers such as, hourly dissemination of news, hypertextuality, personalizaton, functional and adaptive interactivity, and the virtual community model are yet to be used in a appropriate manner. However, the newspaper editors have not understood the potential that the online journalism offers in maximizing the capacity of the Political and Public Sphere.

I. INTRODUCTION

The proponents of the internet assert that one of its central characteristics is to converge different media forms into networks and enable varied modes of communication. Taking into account the criteria of audience size and the type of reciprocity between communicators, it is argued that computer-mediated communication provides one-to-one, one-to-many and many- to-many models of communication. In this way, the internet plays with the boundaries that have traditionally delineated personal, interpersonal and mass communication (Burnett & Marshall, 2003; Rice, 1999).

Along with other numerous state-of-the- art inventions, the diffusion of the internet during the recent past has created a substantial online newspaper industry around the globe. As of April 20001, more than 4,400 newspapers provided online services worldwide, of which 3,161 were based in North America, 1634 in Europe, 269 in South America, and 214 in Asia (Editor &

Latest figures could not be found.

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Publisher Interactive, 2000). The first online newspapers appeared only a few years ago in 1995, and since then both academics and media practitioners have speculated on the nature of the online press (Nielsen, 2000 & Boczkowski, 2002). Many radio and TV stations too, offer online news sites now. By the year 2000, one in four web users was reading news online, according to the Nielsen/Net Ratings survey (Donatello, 2002). The Chicago Tribune takes the credit for being the first ever local online newspaper, which first delivered its content electronically in text form in 1992 (Singer, 1998). The tremendous economic potential and theoretical implications make the emergence and continuing growth of the online newspaper industry worthy of media research and scholarly attention.

Ideally, along with content-sharing, online newspapers as a distinct medium are technically capable of producing interactive, multimedia content such as online forums, searchable news archives, links to related stories, frequent updates, and web casting. However, many online newspapers are accused of producing shovelware by simply moving whatever is published in the newspaper onto the web without significant repackaging of the content for the new online medium. In many instances, online newspapers consist of multimedia content, interactivity, immediacy and other media characteristics, which altogether constitute a specific digital genre. However, in some cases, as already explained, the online editions in the web are not more than electronic versions of the parent newspaper. Some others are hybrids of printed newspapers and the original content. But, there are some online news sites which contain large amounts of original material created by a separate staff. Katz, (1999) believes that the future of journalism is found on the Internet and that online news will one day become the mainstream journalism. He further notes that the old model of a few people providing information to many is "breaking down" in favour of many providing to many.

As Chung, (2007) states, the use of interactive features of the internet has the potential to trigger a paradigm shift, in mass media by challenging the traditional uni-directional flow of messages through features that provide bi-directional or even multi-directional communication. In the same vein, Gunter, (2003) predicts that while the online users may still be rely on journalists to produce a digestible copy, the end users no longer have to depend on journalists to tell them what they can or should read.

Since the concept of interactivity is an important aspect of communication, it is desirable to distinguish two types of interactivity put forward by the communication scholars, namely the distinction between human interactivity and medium interactivity. This may also be referred to as user-to-user vs user-to medium (system, document) interactivity or interpersonal vs content interactivity (Massey & Levy, 1999). Several scholars have identified this distinction as important (Lee, 2000; Outing, 1998). Stromer & Galley, (2000) also recognized this separation between the two types of interactivity in their research on political candidate websites. They consider human interactivity to be more interactive than medium interactivity because it more closely resembles face-to-face interpersonal communication,

According to Oeuze, (2003), the interactive options on websites can be subdivided into

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Volume 6 2kcem6et201C three types: (1) navigational interactivity, which means that the user is allowed to navigate in a more or less structured way through 'Next Page' and 'Back to Top' buttons or scrolling menu bars; (2) functional interactivity, which means, a user can participate to some extent in the production process of the site by interacting with other users or the producers of a particular page or site by means of direct mail, links, bulletin board systems and moderated discussion lists; (3) adaptive interactivity, which means that every action of the user has consequences for the content site as the site's programming adapts itself to the surfing behaviour of every individual user, and 'remembers' users' preferences, allowing them to upload, annotate and discuss their own content, offering chat rooms and personal customization through smart web design.

In the context of 'interactivity' as a key feature of online newspapers, as discussed above, let us focus on the core area of this research in the following section.

2. ONLINE NEWSPAPERS IN SRI LANKA

With the advent of the internet, terms such as E-Democracy, E-Resistance, E-Commerce, E- Research, E-Governance, E-Medicine, E-Channeling, E-Money, E-Banking and E-Papers have become buzz words even in developing countries like Sri Lanka. As advocated by its proponents, the internet has the potency to become a new catalyst for political freedom, democracy and social change. Moreover, the internet has the potential to transform the face of public communication, more specifically the public sphere, through interactive, collaborative and many-to-many communication. Yet, has it happened in Sri Lanka or is it happening? Is the dream of participatory communication realized? If not, why? In the context given above, this preliminary paper is an exploratory study on the development of the online news services by Sri Lankan newspapers and other electronic journals of Sri Lanka. Since online newspapers are a new medium for mass communication, there have been few studies on them.

A project called LEARN (Lanka Experimental Academic and Research Network) by the University of Moratuwa in Sri Lanka in 1990 made the first step towards launching the connectivity between academic and research communities in Sri Lanka and the internet. To cite the Central Bank reports, the so called Internet Age in Sri Lanka officially began in 1995 when Lanka Internet Services (Pvt) Ltd provided the first commercial and unrestricted internet facility via a local server based in Colombo. The e- market in Sri Lanka has grown in leaps and bounds, since there are over 30 companies currently holding licenses for Internet Service Provision. Also there have been over 823,000 fixed access (Sri Lanka Telecom) telephone lines in service. According to the available figures, in the year 2008 alone, there were 77,100 internet users in Sri Lanka, for a total population of 21,128,773. However, this means, percentage vice, only 3.7% are using the internet.

J* RESEARCH FOCUS

This paper aims to explore two aspects of the development of online newspapers in Sri Lanka: (1) Is the public sphere further strengthened by the arrival of online newspapers?; (2) VISTAS

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What are the contents and how do they operate in the country? More specifically, this paper will try to address the following questions: (a) How many online newspapers and journals are there in Sri Lanka? (b) Which type of communication model do they belong to? (c) What are the reasons for newspapers starting an online version? (d) How do the online newspapers operate in terms of manpower, structure, management and newsroom set up? (d) How are online newspapers delivered? (e) What are the prominent formats of online newspapers when compared with the traditional tabloid and broadsheet newspapers? (f) What are the perceptions of some of the journalists in Sri Lanka, about the online newspapers and their ability to strengthen the public sphere in the country? (g) Are the traditional print journalists in Sri Lanka using the web to enhance their knowledge and skills in their profession of journalism?

Amartya Sen, (1999), who advocated contemporary economic development from the perspective of human freedom strongly advocates that true development consists of the removal of various types of "unfreedoms" (poverty as well as tyranny, poor economic opportunities as well as systematic social deprivation, neglect of public facilities as well as intolerance or over activity of repressive states) that leave people with little choice and little opportunity of exercising their reasoned agency. In the context of Sen's holistic philosophy, the potential significance of the internet has become very evident.

As explicated above, by its very nature, the internet constitutes a new mode of two-way communication and provides citizens with an interactive, non-hierarchical and removes constraints that used to control the traditional mass media. Computer communication systems have the potential to process vast stores of information rapidly, transmit information to a broad or narrow range of people, receive responses, and generally monitor the state of the organization and community in which one is participating. Accordingly, assumptions about the inherently democratizing potential of the internet are based first and foremost on its architecture and technical characteristics. Robbies, (2001) identified the four key characteristics of the internet as being its non-hierarchical architecture, interactive features, global dimension and natural resilience to any form of control.

Entman (1989) states that technology today provides more and new opportunities for an active citizenship than people are prepared to accept. The Utopian rhetoric holds that new media technologies will speed up the further democratization of post-industrial society (Papacharissi, 2002). Therefore, most scholars are also of the view that the internet and related technologies can promote and encourage personal expression and promote citizen activity (Bell, 1981; Kling, 1996; Negroponte, 1998). The increase of political groups online will further reflect political usage of the internet (Bowen, 1996). Therefore, according to these scholars, online participation will increase political participation and pave the way for a new democratic Utopia. Accordingly, the alleged decline of the public sphere lamented by academics, and the learned members of the public will be halted by the democratizing nature of the internet and its new state of the art technologies. In the above context, it is important to find out whether the internet and its usage will revolutionize the political sphere or whether it will go along with the present status quo (Cappella & Jamieson, 1996,1997; Fallows, 1996). VISTAS

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4. THE PUBLIC SPHERE

On hearing the theme 'public sphere', one could imagine an open exchange of political thoughts and ideas, such as those that took place in ancient Greek agoras or colonial era halls. Trie concept 'the public' connotes democratic ideals that call for the participation of the citizenry in public affairs. According to Dewey,{1927) inquiry and communication are the basis for a democratic society, and he highlights the merits of group deliberation over the decisions of a single authority. Hebermas (1962,1989) traces the development of the public sphere in the 17th and 18th centuries and its decline in the 20th century. More specifically, he sees the public sphere as a domain of one's social life in which public opinion could be formed out of rational public debate (Habermas, 1991,1973). Consequently, informed and logical discussion could lead to public agreement and decision making, thereby representing the best traditions for democracy. In other words, the forms of public communications online have been understood or predicted to be part of the process of realizing the public sphere - a space where democracy can be enacted - allowing ordinary people to analyze how shared democratic values and identification as democratic citizens are achieved and maintained; how political/civic cultures are generated-essentially to imagine how civil society can organize democratically for politically progressive ends (Habermas, 1989,1992; Downey & Fenton, 2003). Through these forms of online activism, the internet has become a home to mediated activity that seeks to raise peoples' awareness, give a voice to those who do not have one, offer social empowerment, allow disparate people and causes to organize themselves and form alliances, and ultimately to be used as a tool for social change.

5. CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK

As explained at the beginning of this paper, the emergence of online newspapers according to scholars is the result of the convergence and influence of a number of factors. Technically, it is the result of the convergence of computer and database technologies, news-gathering and multimedia production skills, and other communication devices. In most countries it is influenced by the self-interests of the media practitioners and audiences, and their need for interactivity. In most cases, it is also constrained by the interaction of the economy and market, and the laws and policies, norms and cultural values of a society.

In studying online communication, practitioners and academics have come up with some preliminary models (Li, 1998). For example, Bruner (1998) proposed three practical models: (1) the broucherware model, in which online communication is simply a transplant of off-line print material; (2) the show-biz model, in which the communicators use fancy techniques to engage the readers that may have nothing to do with the main message he/she wishes to convey; (3) the utility model, in which true interactivity and prompt and useful services are provided. Bruner believes that the last model is the ideal one for online communication. Deuze, (2003) identified four types of online journalism in general, namely, mainstream news sites, index and category sites, meta and comments sites, and share and discussion sites, that can be seen on a continuum ranging from purely editorial content to public connectivity. He further noted that most news media can be categorized as mainstream news sites with the content VISTAS

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Volume 6 2>ecem&e*2ClO presented as original or aggregated and which generally offer extensive editorial content and limited forms of interactive communication. Moreover, according to him, mainstream news sites offer 'only' or 'mainly' navigational interactivity that allows the users only to navigate a site through buttons or scrolling menu bars.

In index and various category sites, online journalists offer deeper links to existing news sites elsewhere on the World Wide Web. Meta- and comment sites are about news media and media issues in general. The fourth type, namely share and discussion sites, facilitates the need for people to connect with other people worldwide, unhindered in real time. Online journalism utilizes this potential of the internet in that it facilitate platforms for the exchange of ideas, stories and so forth, often centered around a specific theme highlighted by the media from time to time.

Further, according to Oeuze, online journalism can be defined as journalism as it is produced and designed exclusively for the World Wide Web, which is also known as on line. He further points out that online journalism can be functionally differentiated from other types of journalism by using its technological component as a determining factor in terms of a (operational) definition. Accordingly, an online journalist has to make decisions as to which media format or formats best convey a story (multimediality), consider options for the public to respond, interact or even customize certain stories (interactivity), and think about ways to connect the story to other stories, archives, resources and so forth through hyperlinks (hypertextuality). More importantly, this is the 'ideal typical' form of online journalism, as promoted by an increasing number of professionals and academics worldwide. In doing so, Deuze holds that scholars and professionals alike use the discourse of the internet's unique qualities as a way by which to define online journalism as something different to other journalisms as a 'fourth' kind of journalism next to print, radio and television.

6. METHODOLOGY

Using the above theoretical framework as a guideline, the objective of this study is to examine online newspapers and online journals in Sri Lanka from both macro and micro perspectives. In order to achieve this objective, the information gathering methods specially employed inculde in-depth interviews with journalists, browsing of the internet, content analysis and survey studies (names of the online newspapers in Sri Lanka, and web news sites are given in the appendix). The interviews were conducted from October 2009 to December 2009. The subjects were drawn from all of the internet newspapers in Sri Lanka, using a Yahoo directory of local online newspapers and the Google search engine. The interviewees were chosen from the editorial staff of the most popular newspaper groups in Sri Lanka, such as "Lake House", "Times Group" "Sumathi News Paper Group", "Upali Newspaper Group" and "Virakesari Group", those who were responsible for the online operations. Specifically the following aspects were scrutinized: the organizational structure, working environment, operations, editorial procedures, use of computer software, daily management, and communication between the news teams and external parties. VISTAS

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More specifically, a content analysis was carried out of all online Sri Lankan newspapers, which were defined as those sites on the world wide web that: (1) publish five days or more a week; (2) serve mainly to disseminate news. The search for and verification of online newspapers in Sri Lanka was done in three steps. First, a directory of Sri Lankan online newspapers and journals was compiled through a search of "links" to other online newspapers in such well known site knows as "online newspapers1". The search produced 54 publications that met the definition of this study. In the second step, two search engines "Google" and "Yahoo" were used to search for online newspapers in Sri Lanka. These two search engines paved the way to find the ABYZ3 news linjts, which is hosted by the name of ABYZ. This is a portal to online news sources from around the world. It is primarily composed of newspapers but also includes many broadcast stations, internet services, magazines, and press agencies. According to the ABYZ NEWS Links, there are 31 local internet news media and 13 Sri Lankan newspapers on the internet. All these news sites are located in Colombo, and only the Uthayan newspaper is operated from Jaffna, which is the capital of northern Sri Lanka. Further, according to Wikipedia", there are 10 Sinhala newspapers. Out of these two are owned by the state, and the rest are owned by private operators. There are 12 Sri Lankan English newspapers on the internet and 2 are owned by the state while the others are private. According to the same source, there are 11 Tamil online newspapers in Sri Lanka. Further, there are 26 Sri Lankan news web sites in the net. Each of those newspapers was checked to see whether it had an online version. In the final step all the links and URLs of online newspapers found earlier were checked by logging to their sites. However, it was observed that some of the links and URLs {Uniform Resource Location Services) were either disconnected or indirect. A full list of the online newspapers is given in the appendix.

The major variables used in the content analysis included locations of the online newspapers: homepage loading time, date launched, type of newspapers, nature of newspaper (newspaper extension, news service/organization or pure online publication), availability of databases, search engines, multimedia functions and links, percentage of additional information other than what was transferred from the print version, number of text items on home, number of graphics on home, front/major events page, number of stories on home, front/major events page linked to background information and multimedia resources, number of multimedia stories on home, number of non-news services (such as free email and software downloading), and number of advertisements on home plus number of front/major events on page one. Using the theoretical modes explained above, the researcher tried to look at the most salient features of Sri Lankan news websites to scrutinize and find out which group they belong to. Broadly, sites were explored to findout the degree to which they offer interactive features, such as hyperlinks and discussion boards which encourage viewers to participate in the public sphere advocated by Habermas.

1 http://www.onlincnewspapcrs.com/srilanka.htm. 1 http://www.abyznewslinks.com/about.htm. * http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List.

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7. FINDINGS

There are about 40 active online newspapers in Sri Lanka. In addition to this, all the major newspaper groups in Sri Lanka have their online presence. However, except the Times group all the other groups just transport their print edition in PDF format to the web. Therefore these papers can be called "shovelware". Only the privately owned "Daily Mirror" and "LankaDeepa" have unique web editions, and they are considered the most visited sites in Sri Lanka. According to the information provided by the newspaper company, on a given day the "Daily Mirror" on tine edition gets 4,945,407 average hits per day. Average page views per day is 423, 246. According to the @ Alexa Web information company and their criteria, the Sinhala daily, 'Lankadeepa.lk* is related as one of the top browsed sites in Sri Lanka, and in their ranking it is the 21st out of 100 most popular sites. The Government owned "Daily News" has an e- paper and arrangements are being made to have a unique online edition soon. At present, it is being delivered in PDF format. Except in the "Daily Mirror" and "LankaDeepa", most of the Sri Lankan online newspapers have navigation, and interactivity - functional interactivity and not human interactivity as envisaged by scholars as discussed in this paper. The "Dally Mirror" and "LankaDeepa" have feedback links after the most important news items and feature articles. On an ordinary weekday at 12.00 A. M. "LankaDeepa" online edition had 581 users trying to browse it from the four corners of the world. Browsers can read the readers' reactions instantly and if they wish they can comment further. Web video is available on certain important topics that all considered newsworthy and frequent updates are done as newsworthy events unfold every hour. The Tamil daily," Virakesarr also has its own web paper, and an e-paper; but one has to register with the newspaper to read it online. The site boasts that it has 50,000 viewers around the globe. When interviewed, newspaper editors of "Siyatha", "Lakbima", "Daily News", "Divaina" and "Island" group said that they intend to launch their own online edition soon. At present there are about five to six people who are familiar with software and information technology work on these online editions; they are sometimes called web technicians or web journalists, and their main job is to transform the print edition of their newspaper group to the web using software such as "Front Page", "Green viewer", "Linux", "Photo Shop" and other major software such as "Flash". Some online newspapers, specially "Daily Mirror" "Lanka Deepa" and "Daily News" have SMS facility linked to mobile phones. According to some of the editors interviewed, in the case of Tamil and Sinhala language online viewers, certain difficulties may be encountered if they do not have the necessary fonts to read the newspaper. Though there are facilities to download fonts, it requires certain computer literacy and compatibility of the system and the hard disk. All major newspapers have archives which can be considered as a positive feature, since it especially facilitates verification and dialogue, most importantly media accountability.

Though the researcher wanted to interview the majority of the main online newspaper editors and website producers in Sri Lanka, it could not be done due to the unavailability or lack of access to the persons responsible for these sites. Though all of the Sri Lankan websites visited by the researcher had an interactive feature titled "About Us", when browsed by the researcher, there was no response. Only a mechanical response was received about their own site history and e-mail address of the webmaster without revealing his or her identity. However,

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the key interviews with the leading newspaper editors in Sri Lanka, revealed that they did recognize the necessity of incorporating human interactivity into their sites. Some were cautious about having more interactive features and their own personal e-mail addresses saying that some people in Sri Lanka use it for personal abuse.

0. PERCEPTIONS OF nmRACTTvnr PROMOTING PUBLIC SPHERE

All of the editors and site producers responsible for the major newspapers in Sri Lanka, interviewed by the researcher agreed that interactivity on line directly and indirectly promotes the public sphere to be a positive feature of online news. "Siyatha" newspaper editor, (Siyatha, is one of the privately owned weekend newspapers newly launched) said "1 consider interactivity very important, but rarely do people write back. An online activity center promoted by the government of Sri Lanka to promote e-learning said "At present most of these e- learning centers are used by a few Sri Lankans to send and read e-mails, and to have internet chats with friends..." He further said that the majority of Sri Lankans lack access to computers and they do not have computer literacy. According to him, "E-channeling however, is very popular in Sri Lanka".

The local editor of "Lanka Deepa" online newspaper, when interviewed about interactivity and the public sphere said, "Most of our people do not like to get into trouble by speaking or expressing their views publicly. Why get into trouble unnecessarily? Mind your own business and wait... seems to be their attitude towards the public sphere." He stated that their online version is visited by the Sri Lankan diaspora communities living outside Sri Lanka, and at present their site is the most visited site. They have a feedback feature, and most people who browse their website send feedback instantly or by online chats. According to him, "Online interactivity is a great feature and people should be encouraged to participate more actively. Maybe due to lack of computer literacy people in Sri Lanka are still not used to this feature."

The Daily Lakbima newspaper editor had a different view of interactivity within the public sphere. He said, "The majority of people in our modern society are silent with regard to public activism. Even the university academics themselves are silent on many public topics. Forget about online, some even do not even like to write to the print media. Most of the intellectuals and academics prefer to be interviewed, rather than write on their own." In his opinion, interviews are not quite successful. Due to different constraints in interviews, they are able to present only ten percent of their opinions. The balance gets lost due to many reasons. According to him, "Our exam- oriented culture does not give space to think or engage in public matters. People are busy struggling to cope with daily and routine activities. That is very unfortunate, but we are getting used to it".

The editor of the government owned daily Sinhala newspaper "Dinamina" observed that his online newspaper was just a copy of the print version and there were only few interactive features. "We do not provide the e-mail addresses of our journalists, but if people are interested they could write to the web master."

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However, most of the editors and the media personnel responsible for Sri Lankan online newspaper editions understood interactivity in terms of technology, namely medium interactivity. This means interacting only with the computer which is the medium of the online news. Though some of them were of the opinion that the human-to-human exchange between online newspaper personnel and online producers is paramount, many were only interested in the mechanics of interactivity and not in the public sphere promoted by human interactivity. The importance of learning, mastering and making use of chat forums and message boards and blogs did not appear in their conversation at all.

9. PRODUCTION STANDARDS

Production standards in terms of design and technological level were also addressed by the researcher. Along with "Daily Mirror" and "LankaDeepa" online newspapers, news web sites such as "Asian Tribune" (a regional web site), "Ada Derana", "Lanka Web", "Lanka Truth", and "Lanka E News" could be considered as advanced sites, while all others were basic or medium standards. "Ada Derana" also has a broadcast which and it is available in Sinhala, Tamil, and English. Of the main characteristics of online journalism identified by Deuze, (2003), Some, namely hypertextuality, multimedaility, interactivity, were not present, in most of the Sri Lankan online sites. The content analysis of the Sri Lankan online newspapers showed that almost all of them have to improve to achieve hypertextuality, an ideal online journalism envisaged and promoted by scholars (Bardoel, 2000; Bardoel & Deuze, 2001). The well recognized characteristics of online papers mentioned by scholars, which include 24 hour up dating, personalization etc are still to be introduced to the majority of the Sri Lankan online newspaper sites. According to Bardoel (2002), hypertextuality means "offering information about information" and this feature was not available in most of the local sites.

In answering the question as to the use of the internet as a reporting tool, majority of the editors agreed that web facilities were more freely available as an information source and to provide checks and balances to enhance their writing. Of course, some senior editors in Sri Lanka were visibly nervous about the potency of the internet and its expansion of technical elements. This was obvious when, instead of replying and discussing the questions posed to them, they referred the researcher to the IT department which was located outside the traditional print journalism desks. However, most of the editors of print editions pointed out that online journalism was not a challenge to them, and in fact it would cater to different types of audiences than the traditional print audiences. According to some of them, in Sri Lanka, most people read the hard copies of the newspapers for pleasure, especially weekend papers. According to them, online newspapers cater to busy and computer literate people. Unfortunately, in Sri Lanka, computer literacy is not quite prevalent and downloading fonts to read local papers is a major constraint.

In answering the research question as to what communication model 5ri Lankan online newspapers have adopted, it was found that the under Quasi-interactive model proposed by Bruner in 1998 as illustrated at the beginning of this paper was used. As mentioned by Zhou He and Jian-hua Zhu, (2002), the Virtual Community model is the ideal model for online VISTAS

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communication. The features of this model help to distinguish online newspapers from traditional newspapers.

/ 0. CONCLUSION

As the literature review of this research reveals, online journalism has the potency to challenge the traditional and established forms of journalism. News objectivity, reader empowerment, journalistic accountability and transparency, the right to reply, access to audience, new and creative ways of telling stories are some of the new forms of communication that the internet has brought into online journalism. By looking at online journalism, namely, shovelware which merely transports to the web the main traditional newspapers in Sri Lanka, one can say that at present, most established media personnel have made room for some degree of interactivity in their own online papers, but opted to continue with the traditional mass media top down model. As envisaged by the academics and scholars, the possibility and the dream for online newspapers and other sites in Sri Lanka providing a new platform for public debate or public sphere have not been realized to its full potential. The interviews that the researcher had with some of the editors also revealed that even though they whole heartedly welcomed the development of online newspapers in Sri Lanka most of them failed to see it other than as an extension of traditional journalism. Hence, there is an urgent need to train some of the senior journalists in the country on major features of online journalism and its potency to enhance democracy.

The interviews with the journalist of popular main newspapers further revealed that at present most of the online newspapers in Sri Lanka are managed by information technology literate people and not by web journalists per se who have undergone some of the special web journalistic skids training articulated in this paper. Therefore, there is a need to devise online journalism by the universities and other leading journalism training institutions in Sri Lanka. Though, there are advanced and popular Sri Lankan online daily newspapers such as privately owned "Daily Mirror" and "LankaDeepa," given the reader options available, the journalistic quality of most of the Sri Lankan online newspapers and websites is still questionable and remains to be improved qualitatively. In comparison with the internally acclaimed online newspaper sites, high quality news and comments are scarce in the online newspapers in Sri Lanka. Since at present most of them are not market driven and offered free of charge, the newspaper owners and establishments seem reluctant to invest the money required to improve the quality and the content of local online newspapers. Presently, only the advertising space generates some income to the online newspapers and particularly in the front page, considerable space is allocated for online advertisements. Though there are few expatriate and diaspora websites such as "Lanka Academic", "Asian Tribune",and"Lanka Sun", small local and regional publishers are lacking and a viable business model is very much needed in Sri Lanka. Compared with the English language online newspapers, only a few Sinhalese and Tamil online news sites are found in the web and this research revealed that 24 hour updating is unavailable in the majority of the papers visited by the researcher. Computer literacy, availability of computers, font downloading due to technical reasons and sometimes snail paced internet speed, are also major constraints as articulated by some of the interviewees. As stated by a Communication

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Velum* 6 Zkcantet 2010 researcher and a senior colleague at the Open University of Sri Lanka, "...though infrastructure facilities are provided for broadband in Sri Lanka, modern personality who welcome new innovations as envisaged by Rogers (1995) are wanting or not wholeheartedly promoted by the so- called 'traditional and conservative society in Sri Lanka.

Due to the small number of journalists and web technicians interviewed and lack of access to face to face interviewing of web news producers in Sri Lanka, the possibility of generalizing the findings of this research is limited. However, according to the researcher's knowledge, this is the first time that an attempt has been made to analyze online newspapers in Sri Lanka and their impact on the public sphere. As an exploratory research attempt, this research paper certainly helps to understand the present state of online journalism in Sri Lanka, how it is different from traditional journalism and what needs to be done in order to promote public space for dialogue.

Future researchers may address questions such as, how different audience members view and are affected by interactive features of online journalism; how do they define interactivity? how do they use special and key features of online journalism? and finally are they empowered? As the literature review of this paper suggests the internet has changed the profession of journalism in three ways: (a) it has the potential to make the journalist's role an essential intermediary force in a democracy which is more or less superfluous; (b) it offers the media personnel a huge watershed of resources and many technological capabilities to work with; and (c) it has created a unique type of journalism on the internet. Since the present trend is more towards community journalism, which is also known as civic or public journalism, online journalism has all the ingredients for bringing in interactivity, personalization and convergence to a new breed of journalism, indeed a fourth type of journalism.

Table l. The Categories of Online Newspapers Observed in the Study National Daily Comments Comments. Newspapers and weekend papers.

Dinamina (Sinhala) Print version is Has archives, no personal e-mail State-owned. transported to the accounts, updated daily, can Web, (Shovelware) write to the Web master, and space is given for advertisements.

LankaDeepa (Sinhala) Has its own online Has archives, comments can be Privately owned version, relayed, and they are published, advanced no personal e-mail. Space given technology, and for advertisements. video

Divaina (Sinhala) Print version is Has archives, no personal e- Prh/ately owned. transported to the mail, but writing to the Web Web, (Shovelware) Master is possible, space for advertisements is available. VISTAS

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National Daily Comments Comments. Newspapers and weekend papers. Lakbima (Sinhala) Print version is transported Has archives, no personal Privately owned. to the Web, (Shovelware e-mail, but writing to the Web Master is possible, space for advertisements is there.

Daily Mirror (English) Has its own online version, Has archives, comments

Privately ownedt advanced technology, and can be relayed and they are video published, no personal e- mail. Space is given for advertisements.

The Island (English) Print version is transported Has archives, no personal Privately owned. to the Web, (Shovelware) e-mail, but writing to the Web Master is possible, space for advertisements is there.

Lakbima News (English) Print version is transported Has archives, no personal Privately owned. to the Web, (Shovelware) e-mail, but writing to the Web Master is possible, space for advertisements is there.

Vtrakesri (Tamil) Has its own online version. Has archives, comments Privately owned. Advanced technology, and can be relayed and they are has a video published, no personal e- mail, need to register with the paper to browse.

Thinkaran (Tamil) Print version is transported Has archives, no personal to the Web, (Shovelware) e-mail, but writing to the Web Master is possible, space for advertisements is there.

TbinakuraHTamU) Print version is transported Has archives, no personal to the Web, (Shovelware) e-mail, but writing to the Web Master is possible, space for advertisements is there.

Udayan (Tamil) Has its own online Has archives, comments can version, be relayed and they are advanced technology and published. video. They hope to have Sinhala and English versions soon.

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National Daily Comments Comments. Newspapers and weekend papers.

Muslim Guardian Voice of Sri Lanka Has more regional news, (English) Muslims and also, bilingual.

Silumina Print version is Has archives, no personal transported to the Web, e- mail, but possible to (Shove I ware) write the Web Master, space for advertisements is there.

Sunday Island Print version is Has archives, no personal transported to the Web, e-mail, but possible to (Shove I ware) write to the Web Master, space for advertisements is there. Sunday Lanka Dee pa Has its own online Has archives, comments version. can be relayed and they Advanced technology, are published, no personal and video e-mail. Space is given for advertisements.

Sunday Observer Print version is Has archives, no personal transported to the Web, e-mail, but possible to (Shovelware) write to the Web Master, space for advertisements is there.

Sunday Lakbima Print version is Has archives, no personal transported to the Web, e-mail, but possible to (Shovelware) write to the Web Master. Space for advertisements is there.

Siyatha Print version is Has archives, no personal transported to the Web, e-mail, but writing to the (Shovelware) Web Master is possible. Space for advertisements is there.

Sunday Island Print version is Has archives, no personal transported to the Web, e-mail, but possible to (Shovelware) write to the Web Master. Space for advertisement is there.

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National Daily Newspapers Comments Comments. and weekend papers.

LANKA (Privately owned) Print version is Has archives, no Published on Sundays. transported to the personal e-mail, but Web, (Shovel ware) writing to the Web Master is possible. Space for advertisements is there. RIVIRA (privately owned) Has archives, no Has advertisements, Weekend paper personal e mail Updated weekly. addresses.

Weekly newspapers Budusa rana Shove I ware, updated Needs Sinhala fonts to weekly. read,

He la diva Weekend paper, shovel Updated weekly, no ware. archives. It has advertisements.

Lakresa Printed from London. It It has archives, has advertisements, no personal e- mail.

Lanka I rid a (privately Published weekly. It Updated weekly, owned). hasarchives

Nation (privately owned) Weekend paper, has No personal e mails. It archives, has advertisements.

Navaliya (Upali group Weekly women's paper Has advertisements, owned) updated weekly, no personal e-mail addresses.

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Table 2

Rivira, (A privately owned Has archives, no personal e It has advertising space. weekend paper mails, showe 1 ware type. Daily updates Sannasa Online paper. It has It has updates, no advertisements personal e mail addresses. SP urn ina (Go vernme nt Showelware, It has It has archives, and a owned) advertisements, no weekly update. personal email addresses. Sunday leader (privately Online version, has It has advertisement owned) archives. space, no personal e - mail, addresses. Sunday Times (Privately Online version, updated It has Advertisements, e - owned.) often. mail comments, video forum ts available

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