අදාළ නොවන වාර්ගිකත්වය ඉස්මතු නොකරමු!

Abstract

On May 26, 2023, Ada, Lankadeepa, Dinamina, and Aruna newspapers reported on the death of a woman who went to Malaysia for employment. The reports noted the involvement of another woman holding dual citizenship in Malaysia and Sri Lanka with an illegal foreign employment agency. Ada, Lankadeepa, and Dinamina highlighted the ethnicity of this second woman was a "Drawida kanthawak" (ද්‍රවිඩ කාන්තාවක්) in the news reports, whereas Aruna only mentioned that the woman was a dual citizenship holder. Out of the Tamil language newspapers, only Tamil Mirror reported this incident did not mention the ethnicity of the woman. Ada, Lankadeepa, and Dinamina violated the media ethical guideline to not mention ethnicity of individuals when it is irrelevant to the news as it contribute towards negative attitudes and stereotyping of those belonging to the same ethnicity.