As we continue to mark the 20th anniversary of the U.S. invasion of Iraq, we look at how the corporate U.S. media helped pave the way for war by uncritically amplifying lies and misrepresentations from the Bush administration while silencing voices of dissent. Longtime media critic Norman Solomon says many of the same media personalities and news outlets that pushed aggressively for the invasion then are now helping to solidify an elite consensus around the Ukraine war. “In the mass media, being pro-war is portrayed as objective. Being antiwar is portrayed as being biased,” he says. Solomon is author of War Made Easy: How Presidents and Pundits Keep Spinning Us to Death and the forthcoming War Made Invisible: How America Hides the Human Toll of Its Military Machine.

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Sri Lanka’s media divide along language and ethnic lines.

Privately-owned networks have the lion’s share of the TV audience. Non-state media often engage in political debate and criticise government policies.

The state runs two TV stations, radio networks and newspapers in Sinhala, Tamil and English.

At the height of the civil war Sri Lanka was one of the world’s most dangerous places for journalists.

Despite the pledges given by President Sirisena in 2015 to investigate past attacks on journalists, nearly all the crimes of violence against journalists remain unpunished, Reporters Without Borders (RSF) said in 2018.

RSF said political control over media ownership is a major concern and has the potential to undermine pluralism and impartiality.

There were some 8.9 million internet users by July 2022, comprising 41% of the population (Internetworldstats.com). The web is a popular and growing medium for news.

There were major restrictions to online connectivity and social media platforms during communal violence in early 2018, said US-based Freedom House.

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Though money actually can buy happiness, that really only works up to a certain point. Like, more money can definitely make you happier if you’re struggling to make ends meet, but if you’re already comfortable, the positive effects of making more drop off fast. And the same goes for our spending. 

As Paige explains it, “We tend to think that there is a linear relationship between how much we buy and how much we spend and how happy we are going to be, and it’s simply not the case. So, don’t buy into the lie that social media is feeding us that more is better.”

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