"අරගලය" අදාළ ද?

Abstract

On May 23, 2023, Dinamina, Lankadeepa, Aruna, and Mawbima reported on an incident where a special task force raided a sex work racket and arrested seven individuals. When reporting, three newspapers Dinamina, Lankadeepa, and Aruna highlighted that the racket was led by an individual associated with the aragalaya (අරගලය) protest movement in the heading when irrelevant to the context of the news, whereas Mawbima did not mention such in the heading. Such media reporting contributes towards the discrediting of the protest movement. The reports also used the derogatory term "Ganika" (ගණිකා) in the heading, which stigmatises those who engage in sex work.