Literature & Media
Jaffna has had a media sector from the mid 1800s. The first known English and Tamil weekly called, Uthayatharakai in Tamil or Morning Star was published jointly in 1840 by American Ceylon Mission and the Weslyan church. In 1863 the Ceylon Patriot was published by a local advocate as a weekly. The Jaffna Catholic Guardian and the Hindu Organ were published by Roman Catholic and Hindu organisation to present their religious interests between 1876 and 1889 respectively. The first Tamil monthly was Sanmarkapothini which was published in 1884.
These early journals were followed by number popular newspapers in Tamil such as Eelakesari and Eelanadu. Jaffna was also the seen the publication of journals committed to the growth of modernistic and socially purposive literature such as Bharati and Marumalarchi in 1946. Now defunct English weekly Saturday Review was an influential news magazine that came out of Jaffna. During the civil war many publishers, authors and journalists were assassinated or arrested and the media heavily censored. Since the 2000s Jaffna is served by newspapers such as Uthayan, Yarl Thinakkural, Valampurii and Thinamurasu.
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