Sunday Observer (Sri Lanka)
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| Type | Weekly newspaper |
|---|---|
| Format | Broadsheet |
| Owner(s) | Associated Newspapers of Ceylon Limited |
| Founded | 1834 |
| Language | English |
| Headquarters | 35, D. R. Wijewardena Mawatha, Colombo 10, Sri Lanka |
| Circulation | 175,000 (February 2012) |
| Sister newspapers |
Daily News Dinamina Silumina Thinakaran |
| Website | sundayobserver.lk |
Sunday Observer is a weekly English-language newspaper in Sri Lanka, published on Sundays. The Sunday Observer and its sister newspapers the Daily News, Dinamina, Silumina and Thinakaran are published by Associated Newspapers of Ceylon Limited (Lake House), a government-owned corporation. The paper, which was established in the present-day format in 1928, has roots that date back to 1834 when Sri Lanka was under the British rule. It is the oldest Sri Lankan newspaper in circulation apart from the Government Gazette. Present Editor is Lakshman Gunasekara.
The British captured the coastal areas of Sri Lanka in 1796 and had consolidated their power throughout the island by 1818. In 1829 the Colonial Office appointed the Colebrooke-Cameron Commission to evaluate the administration of the country under the Governor of Ceylon, Edward Barnes, and to recommend reforms.
The commission's recommendations, presented in 1833, marked the beginning of the modern period of Sri Lanka. One was to launch independent newspapers to limit the sweeping powers enjoyed by the governor. At that time, the only newspaper in circulation was The Government Gazette of Ceylon, which had been published in British-controlled areas in Sri Lanka (then Ceylon) since 1802.
As a result of the commission's recommendations the newly arrived governor, Robert Wilmot-Horton, started to publish a newspaper named the Colombo Journal in January 1832. However it was closed down by the British government in 1833 on the grounds that there was a need for an independent newspaper industry. To fill the vacuum created by the dicontinuation of the Colombo Journal, two merchants of Colombo, G. Ackland and E. J. Darley, founded a biweekly named The Observer and Commercial Advertiser.
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