Pushpa makes history in a male bastion
Amidst the din in the International Women’s Month of March, history was made at Lake House with no fanfare. Woman journalist Pushpa Rowell was made Editor of Dinamina. The male bastion thus fell with Pushpa becoming the first woman to rise to the rank of the Chief Editor of a Sinhala national newspaper. What’s remarkable about the groundbreaking event is that the appointment had been made purely on merit, was non-political with favouritism having no role to play.
Chief Editor Pushpa Rowell
The hundred and five year old Dinamina is the oldest Sinhala newspaper with a nationwide circulation. Published by Lake House, the cradle of Sri Lanka’s journalism, some of the most erudite editors, following the highest journalistic traditions instilled by the founder D.R. Wijewardene, kept the nation informed through some of the most critical times in the country’s history. Political changes did divert the course. Pushpa however, an Arts Graduate from the University of Kelaniya, had no political affliations and she says for her it was certainly no cake-walk to get to the top.
With no permanent job on passing out of University, Pushpa joined the NGO sector as coordinating officer of the Dutch National Rural Conference. She flew to Holland where selected applicants were taught self-employment in the rural agricultural field. Pushpa’s husband Ranjit Rowell – a Lake House lino-operator in the now defunct Printing Department and later on the VDT Technical staff however, got Pushpa to apply for a clerical post at Lake House. Pushpa got the job and within a year, at an exam held for the clerical staff to enter the journalistic profession , Pushpa emerged first.
In 1978, she joined the Central News Desk and in the same year, she was picked to fill a sub editor’s vacancy on the Dinamina. While working on the subs’ desk, she diverted to other departments as well covering current and even sports events such as the Asian Games in Japan. Her competence in both languages – Sinhala and English stood her in good stead. She got an exclusive interview with Mother Theresa among many current events she covered. By 1984, she represented Lake House at a workshop in Dhaka for women journalists in Asian countries organized by the Thomson Foundation.
Pushpa’s working hours gradually expanded during her 37 years on the Dinamina. She worked from 10 a.m. to around 10 p.m. when she did the nightshift and waited till the newspaper was put to bed. She graduated from sub editor to Deputy Chief Sub Editor and to Chief Sub Editor. Pushpa had worked under eleven Editors and was Associate Editor in the last five years. Mother of a daughter and son who are now both married Pushpa says that she did feel guilty as her devotion to her beloved newspaper made her neglect her home front. But, at the end of the day, she has no regrets on the course she took.
Following the guidelines laid by the Management, Pushpa’s vision is to produce a balanced, non-partisan newspaper which reflects ground realities. She pays special attention to the news pages while business pages come under her careful supervision. Besides assigning the staff, her work involves the coordination of News, Features, Sports, Provincial Desks as well as page make-up and photography. Supplements cover special events when the usual 24-32 paged daily newspaper gets heftier.
Veteran Lake House journalist and former Silumina Editor Tilak Kuruvitabandara says that the production of the daily newspaper six days of the week is a huge responsibility which Pushpa had confidently carried on her delicate shoulders. And he points out that with pledges made of granting women wider representation in Parliament which will bring greater recognition of women’s responsibilities, Pushpa’s appointment cannot be more timely.