A ceremony to pay tribute to the country’s most senior journalist Edmond Ranasinghe (93), the founding Editor and Editorial Director of the Divaina newspaper will be held at the Presidential Secretariat on Tuesday, October 3 at 3.00 pm under the patronage of President Ranil Wickremesinghe.
It marks the launch of a program, to pay tribute to senior journalists who have made an invaluable contribution to journalism in the country. This program is a concept of President Wickremesinghe,
The publication of Edmondge Paththara Viplawaya (Edmond’s Newspaper Revolution), which was compiled in recognition of Ranasinghe’s seven-decade media mission, will also be launched.
The keynote address will be delivered by former Editor-in-Chief of the Divaina and Rivira newspapers, Upali Tennakoon who currently resides in the US. This is also the first time that Tennakoon will participate in a public event in the country after the 2009 mob attack on him. Edmond Ranasinghe, who started his media career as a journalist in the Daily News newspaper in 1952, was Deputy Editor of the Dinamina newspaper and resigned in 1973 against the Government’s takeover of Lake House while he was the News Editor of Dinamina.
In 1977, he became the Editor of the Dinamina and later the Editor of the Silumina. During his tenure, the Silumina sold over 300,000 copies, a record which remains unbroken even today.
In 1981, Ranasinghe, who was appointed as the founding Editor of the Divaina newspaper, brought journalism to new heights in Sri Lanka and took it to the pinnacle. Later, Ranasinghe, who was also its first Editorial Director, became the Editor of the Silumina again in 2016 at the age of 86.
