Nirasha Piyawadani is a freelance journalist in Sri Lanka who covers stories on human rights, peace, migrant workers, gender-based myths, social issues on sexual and reproductive, media literacy, and climate and environmental issues. During the pandemic, Nirasha was a research assistant for the ICFJ-UNESCO Global Study: Online Violence Against Women Journalists from 2020 to 2021. She has been selected as a scholar for the International Visitor Leadership Program on Edward R Murrow Program for Journalists, conducted by the United States Department of State Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs from February - March 2021. She studies Enhancing the Protection of Women Journalists and Women’s Human Rights in the Context of Shrinking Democratic Space in Asia conducted by Women (UN Women) Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific, and the Office of United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) Regional Office for South-East Asia.
Piyawadani covered the issues facing marginalized communities during the pandemic. In this interview, she reviewed what it is like to practice journalism in this region, especially the challenges facing freelance journalists and women journalists. Ethnic tensions, job insecurity, political corruption, and discrimination against minorities and women, are a few issues highlighted in this conversation.