The Young Researchers Forum 2012 20th & 21st January, 2012 Western Province Aesthetic Resort, Colombo

Session: Crime, Violence and Justice Date: 21st January, 2012 Time: 11.15am-12.15pm
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The Young Researchers Forum 2012 The Romanticization of Crime in News Broadcast in Post-War Sri Lanka Dinidu Karunanayake dinidukarunanayake@gmail.com With the end of the thirty-year war between the Sri Lankan Government and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Ealam (LTTE) in May 2009, a tendency is seen in Sri Lankan media to romanticize crimes. This is very obvious in the practice of news reporting in television channels, both state and private. Evening news broadcasts that attract a majority of viewers seem to prioritize graphic depictions of crime. This study intends to focus on the treatment of crime in the Live @ 8 news telecast that is reportedly very popular among Sri Lankan television viewers.

Despite their appalling nature, reports on death and destruction in the war oftentimes seem to provide a form of voyeuristic pleasure to readers/audiences. This was evident in Sri Lankan television viewers reception of war reporting in the audio-visual medium-television. In spite of the fact that news of death and destruction is received with apparent grief and woe, viewers seem to respond to such news with a sense of fascination as well.

The abrupt end to the war and the consequent drop in reports of death and destruction in the battlefield however have resulted in a void for the Sri Lankan television viewer. In responding to this vacuum in entertainment, television stations are keen about romanticizing crime, and this is becoming a crucial social political issue in the present post-war Sri Lankan milieu. Romanticization of crime can be best understood as a panacea for the mindset of Sri Lankan television viewers who are grappling with the remnants of a war mentality.

The Young Researchers Forum 2012