This blog is run by the Sri Lanka Export Development Board and is on their official website. The EDB is a state run organization under the Ministry of Development Strategies and International Trade. As the name would suggest, the EDB concerns itself with Sri Lanka’s exporting industries. The blog has been around since 2013 and still is updated regularly with articles on many different topics. These topics range from economic politics, stories on exporting businesses, conferences and events sponsored by the EDB, and the general state of Sri Lankan exports. The site appears well designed and easy to use. The content appears to be articles that have been pulled from other sources. Most, if not all, of these articles appear to be positive and celebratory. Surprisingly, there is no option to leave comments on the blog posts. There is an option to follow the EDB on social media, but there is no social media embedded in the site.
Given that it is a blog run by a state organization, is the blog under pressure to produce only positive content? Perhaps the blog’s sole purpose is to make the EDB look good, for fear that they could lose funding, be replaced, or shut down entirely if they don’t achieve desired results. The lack of negative stories on the state of Sri Lankan exports seems suspicious, unless the Sri Lankan export sector is doing extremely well. They could easily cherry pick articles from news sites, articles on export related successes. This may also be the reason why there is no ability to leave comments, the EDB does not want negative news to reach their blog. Maybe a private interest group would run the blog differently, but maybe they wouldn’t. I guess I can’t really blame them though, their goal is to foster and encourage exports, but the lack of negativity is definitely worth noting. Another thing to note is that this blog is essentially e-governance on behalf of the EDB. While it’s certainly not sophisticated, it nevertheless could have information that is useful for those in Sri Lanka’s exporting industries. If I ran a company that exported goods from Sri Lanka, I would probably visit the blog to keep track of events and news.