The inadequacy of Western media theory in third world internal conflicts : the case of military censorship in Sri Lanka Frederick, Howard and De Alwis, Chandrika K. 2006, The inadequacy of Western media theory in third world internal conflicts : the case of military censorship in Sri Lanka, in CGC 2006 : Mapping the new field of communication for development and social change : Proceedings of the Communication, Globalisation and Cultural Identities International Conference, University of Queensland, Brisbane, Queensland. Attached Files Name Description MIMEType Size Downloads Title The inadequacy of Western media theory in third world internal conflicts : the case of military censorship in Sri Lanka Author(s) Frederick, Howard De Alwis, Chandrika K. Conference name Communication, Globalisation and Cultural Identities. International Conference (2006 : Brisbane, Queensland) Conference location Brisbane, Queensland Conference dates 5 - 8 Jul. 2006 Title of proceedings CGC 2006 : Mapping the new field of communication for development and social change : Proceedings of the Communication, Globalisation and Cultural Identities International Conference Editor(s) [Unknown] Publication date 2006 Conference series Communication, Globalisation and Cultural Identities International Conference Publisher University of Queensland Place of publication Brisbane, Queensland Summary Research on media production and on media effects under military censorship has centred primarily on cross-border conflicts being waged by Western regimes. There is a noticeable void in understanding internal conflicts, particularly so within the Asian region. To help address this lacuna, we content-analyse Sri Lankan newspaper samples of two critical military campaigns within the Sri Lankan separatist conflict to gain insight into an Asian internal conflict within the context of military censorship and culture. We discover that supposedly stringent censorship regulations and the rules of the official communication systems have almost no effect on Sri Lankan newspapers, which demonstrate a unique talent to circumvent these strictures. During these bloody internal conflicts, the Sri Lankan press enjoyed freedom of expression, flaunted social responsibility and their watchdog instincts, and, most interestingly for us, demonstrated the failure of the Western propaganda model and other theoretical perspectives. The importance of understanding cultural dimensions before theorizing media behaviour in order to obtain a more rational understanding of the sociology of media is posited by this study. We conclude with discussion of a new model of media censorship which has more relevance in Asian internal conflicts. Language eng Field of Research 150304 Entrepreneurship Socio Economic Objective 970115 Expanding Knowledge in Commerce, Management, Tourism and Services HERDC Research category E1.1 Full written paper - refereed Persistent URL http://hdl.handle.net/10536/DRO/DU:30022223 Document type: Conference Paper Collections: Faculty of Business and Law School of Management and Marketing   Unless expressly stated otherwise, the copyright for items in DRO is owned by the author, with all rights reserved. Versions Version Filter Type Mon, 18 Jan 2010, 13:22:36 EST Fri, 05 Mar 2010, 13:23:06 EST Wed, 07 Apr 2010, 14:08:16 EST Tue, 19 Oct 2010, 12:45:42 EST Thu, 10 Feb 2011, 10:59:47 EST Thu, 10 Feb 2011, 11:00:27 EST Thu, 10 Feb 2011, 11:11:01 EST Wed, 23 Nov 2011, 13:58:37 EST Wed, 23 Nov 2011, 14:00:24 EST Mon, 05 Dec 2011, 08:53:19 EST Fri, 17 Feb 2012, 13:21:47 EST Wed, 17 Sep 2014, 19:06:43 EST Fri, 19 Sep 2014, 13:23:18 EST Filtered Full Citation counts:   Cited 0 times in TR Web of Science Cited 0 times in Scopus Search Google Scholar Access Statistics: 994 Abstract Views, 4 File Downloads  -  Detailed Statistics Created: Mon, 18 Jan 2010, 13:22:36 EST