https://www.newslaundry.com/2022/06/14/we-tracked-indias-top-business-papers-over-5-days-modi-adani-controversy-barely-figured Tanishka Sodhi 14 Jun, 2022
India’s Adani’s group, its proximity to prime minister Narendra Modi, and its influence over the Sri Lanka government has been at the centre of a political controversy unfolding in Sri Lanka over the last five days. We (newslaundry) tracked India’s top business papers over 5 days. Modi-Adani controversy barely figured Why wouldn’t a business media house report on a controversy involving Modi and the Adani group?
https://www.newslaundry.com/2022/06/14/2022/03/31/why-indian-medias-coverage-of-sri-lanka-crisis-is-partial by Kartik Kakar Senior Sri Lankan journalist Nalaka Gunawardene, who lives in Colombo, points out that “global wire services have been generating impressionistic coverage from Sri Lanka in recent weeks”. An example is the often used short-cut, blaming the “Chinese debt-trap” for the country’s current problems. He points out that this is “simply not supported by data: international sovereign bonds issued since 2007 make up over a third of Sri Lanka’s foreign debt, and borrowings from multilateral agencies are larger than from any bilateral source”. Reducing the explanation to either blaming one country, or the pandemic, paints a very partial picture.
Additionally, Gunawardene says, “I so wish the Indian journalists and broadcasters who visit Sri Lanka for short periods of time on crisis coverage would expand their circle of sources beyond the usual suspects in official and cocktail circuits. We are tired of seeing the same few (well-connected) academics and activists giving the same or similar soundbites for years. Sri Lanka now has a new breed of smart and articulate younger economists, political scientists, international relations analysts and others, who offer refreshing new analyses of entrenched problems. Why not seek out and capture their views, too?”