My thanks first and foremost to the many activists and journalists within Sri Lanka who helped me on this journey.

Then of course to my supervisor, Susan Harada, for all her support and patience. To Roger Martin, for helping make this site what it is.

I am indebted to the Carleton Master of Journalism program for providing me with an outstanding educational experience and to the many instructors who made it so. This project was also made possible by funding from the Government of Ontario in the form of the OGS as well as the Norman Paterson School of International Affairs and the Department of Journalism for the joint funding of the Bill McWhinney Award for International Development.

But all the money in the world could not buy the endless support I received from my cohort. This would not have been completed without them.

Special mention to Adam van der Zwan and Jensen Edwards who, as my roommates, were unfairly subjected to my slovenly ways but served out their sentence with admirable grace and empathy.

This Master’s Research Project is the culmination of two years of a life lived in Ottawa (plus some time in Sri Lanka, of course). It was an era of countless ups, downs, feathers in cap, black eyes, trysts, heartbreaks, and snow. It was a time and place I will not soon forget.