Groundviews
Description
Sri Lanka’s first and award winning citizens journalism website uses a range of literary styles and media – from prose and poetry to satire, photos, podcasts and video to amplify critical perspectives on culture, humanitarianism, media freedom, human rights, peace and democratic governance.
What we deliver
Perspectives, news and analysis that mainstream media cannot or will not publish or broadcast.
Whom we deliver
Based on a blog, user interactions are encouraged in the form of comments and trackbacks. The site has registered over 7,687 substantive comments to date.
Why is the project unique?
There is no other comparable citizen journalism site in Sri Lanka. Our reach is both local and global, and our content is now on the radar of key policy makers, government, the diplomatic community, bilateral and multilateral donors and the UN. There is no other media website in Sri Lanka that is mobile / PDA friendly, with access through these devices as easy as reading the content from a browser on a PC. There is no other media website that uses a combination of prose, poetry, satire, photography and video to flag issues that are critical to peacebuilding, human rights and democratic governance in Sri Lanka. The website is a catalyst for progressive debate on highly contentious issues. The editorial framework for commentary excludes vicious and vituperative input, thereby maintain a standard of engagement that encourages the respect of difference and the diversity of opinion. This makes the site appealing to a broad constituency ranging from government to NGOs, from domestic voices to those in the diaspora, from youth to elder statespersons and diplomats and importantly, those from every community and ethnic group in Sri Lanka.
Roadmap
Groundviews features stories that are vital pegs of hope, diversity and coexistence. They are those that will possibly never make it to mainstream media. Ordinary citizens, weary of violence, write them. Artistes, human rights and media activists, academics, young bloggers and thinkers – none of them with any journalism background or training, write them. However, there is no guarantee that it will foster a new social movement in support of peace, even when to do so is to risk one’s life. There is no guarantee it will secure peace and support real world conflict transformation initiatives. There is no guarantee that hate speech will not take over the timbre of online debate. Ironically, the more Groundviews is successful in fostering new voices in support of peace, the more it will be a target of concerted attacks to prevent it from growing further. And it is here that our greatest challenge lies. Not in the technology itself, but in the creation of a social and political movement, fostered by citizen journalism mediated through new media and new technology, that is able to maintain, in some small way, the hope of a just and lasting peace in Sri Lanka, even when the world around is going to hell. And it is this hope that fuels Groundviews, not as a simplistic magic bullet against terrorism, but as an increasingly important vehicle for ordinary citizens to record their views in support democracy as the only way through which terrorism can be effectively combated.
Contact
Sanjana Hattotuwa
Centre for Policy Alternatives (CPA)
24/2, 28th Lane, off Flower Road,
Colombo 7, Sri Lanka
URL/Website – http://www.cpalanka.org
