By electing Maithripala Sirisena as
president, Sri Lanka freed itself of the reign of terror imposed by the
Rajapaksa family and its allies. The new government said journalists and
cyber-dissidents would no longer have to fear reprisals for their political views
or for articles on such sensitive subjects as corruption and the military. The
Tamil media – long a target of the authorities, including after the official
end of the civil war in 2009 – have seen a decline in harassment and hope it
will last.