Upali Newspapers – creating a new newspaper tradition

by Bulitha Pradeep Kumara

I have heard many well known seniors in the Lankan newspaper industry saying that The Divayina is not just a newspaper but a newspaper tradition. The birth of that tradition goes back four decades to Oct 04, 1981 at 223, Bloemendhal Road, Colombo-13 where Upali Newspapers Ltd. (UNL) is located.

This year marks the 40th anniversary of The Divayina newspaper founded by Upali Wijewardene, widely regarded as one of the finest entrepreneurs this country has ever produced.

It is no secret that Lake House is considered the Mahagedara of this country’s newspaper industry. Less well known is that Divayina is the University that gave shape to a new newspaper tradition.

The story of creating that tradition goes back a few decades. The government that came to power in 1977 paved the way for indelible socio-economic, political and cultural changes in this country. The JR Jayewardene Government opened the economy paving the way for uncontrolled entry of both good and evil.

Among those changes were creating the keys to open the doors of developing the national media industry. Opening the economy created both a social need and a demand for a vibrantly new, critical and revolutionary media culture.

Wijewardene, a nephew of Lake House founder DR Wijewardene who played a critical role in the independence struggle, began with Chitra Mithra – a comic magazine that gained national circulation. That experiment enabled him to poach the country’s best journalistic talent to form the core group pioneering UNL.

He picked Edmund Ranasinghe to lead the operation and gave him a free hand to select the people he needed. The best journalists in the country at that time were invited to work for the newpaper at salaries of three to four times what they were earning. The pioneers included Dayasena Gunasinghe, Nandasena Sooriyarachchi, Dayaratne Ranasinghe, Upali Tennakoon, Vijita Yapa, Sunil Madhawa Premathilake, Gamini Sumanasekera, Merrill Perera, Dharmaratne Wijesundara, Norman Palihawadane, W.R. Wijesoma and Janaka Ratnayake.

Meanwhile Wijewardene was also experimenting with latest Litho technology for printing. He experimented with the then latest available methods of bromide printing at the new newspaper group. He soon created The Divayina and The Island.

Right from the beginning, Divaiyna gave a lot of space to politics; and that space soon became a platform that created the Jathika Chinthanaya ideology nurtured by writers such as Ven Maduluwawe Sobhitha, Dr Gunadasa Amarasekera, Prof Nalin de Silva, Ven Bengamuwe Nalaka, Ven Prof Bellanwila Wimalaratana, JRP Sooriyappermuma, Gamini Iriyagolla, Dr Gamini Jayasuriya and SL Gunasekera.

Many political forces benefited from the Divaina’s political content. They included the JVP, once at the forefront of the drive for change. It was this public opinion that helped bring in Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga in 1993, Mahinda Rajapaksa in 2004 and Gotabaya Rajapaksa to power quite recently.

Many Journalists including Karunadasa Sooriyarachchi, Chandrasiri Dodangoda, Jayantha Chandrasiri, Kitsiri Nimalshantha, Anura Solomons, Gaiyirika Persusinghe, Narada Nissanka, Daya Lankapura, Chandrasiri Katudeniya, Esala Jayasena, Wimal Weerasekera, Sundara Nihathamani de Mel, Ashoka Gunathilake, Anura Siriwardena, Jatila Wellabada, Shan Wijetunge, Pathma Weragodarachchi, Sisira Paranatantri, Lakshman Piyasena Deepthi Adkiari, Tissa Weerasekera, Sirimal Fonseka and Wasantha Kumara Kethhena come to mind.

The paper also had the services of cameramen including Bandu S Kodikara, Prasanna Hennayake, Chandragupta Weerawardane, Saranapala Pamunuwa, Upali Premaratne, Siripala Halwala, Jude Denzil Pathiaraja, Nimal Dayaratne and Gamini Mendis.

The Divayina is known for the promotion of its own unique and progressive brand of patriotism. It always took an uncompromising stance favouring the national cause that helped save many national interests and assets. It was an ideological guardian in battles for national interests and assets always standing against anti-national forces. It is the only paper that unflinchingly stood for militarily destroying terrorism.

This would not have been possible but for Upali Wijewardene. His wife, Mrs Lakmani R Welgama, took up the challenge after his death with incumbent Managing Director Nimal Welgama standing by her.

The production team from layout and designing to dispatch too have rendered a yeoman service to uphold the aforementioned tradition.

When I said that The Divayina is the university of the Lankan newspaper industry I had in my mind names of editors-in-chief of many large Sinhala national newspapers that later came into being.

They were all Divayina products. These names included Karunadasa Sooriyarachchi, Dharman Wickramaratne, Sisira Paranatantri, Mahinda Abeysundara, Gamini Jayalath, Nayanaka Ranwella, Chaminda Wariyagoda, Kitsiri Nimal Shanth and Sundara Nihathamani de Mel.