Iranama

{{Short description|Sri Lankan Sinhala language newspaper}}

{{Infobox newspaper

| name = Iranama

| logo =

| image =

| caption =

| type = Weekly newspaper

| format =

| owners = Independent Newspapers Limited

| founder =

| publisher =

| editor =

| chiefeditor =

| assoceditor =

| maneditor =

| newseditor =

| managingeditordesign =

| campuseditor =

| campuschief =

| opeditor =

| sportseditor =

| photoeditor =

| staff =

| foundation = {{Start date|1964|df=y}}

| political =

| language = Sinhala

| ceased publication =

| relaunched =

| headquarters =

| circulation =

| sister newspapers = {{Unbulleted list|Chinthamini|Dawasa|Dinapathi|Gitanjali|Rasakatha|Riviresa|Sawasa|Star|Sun|Sundari|Thanthi|Tikiri|Visitura|Weekend}}

| ISSN =

| oclc =

| website =

| publishing_country = Ceylon

| publishing_city = Colombo

}}

Iranama was a Sinhala language weekly newspaper in Ceylon published by Independent Newspapers Limited, part of M. D. Gunasena & Company.{{cite book|title=Ceylon Year Book 1968|publisher=Department of Census and Statistics, Ceylon|pages=317–318|url=http://noolaham.net/project/119/11886/11886.pdf}} It was founded on 1964 and was published from Colombo. In 1966 it had an average net sales of 20,000. It had an average circulation of 40,000 in 1973.{{cite book|title=Sri Lanka Year Book 1975|publisher=Department of Census and Statistics, Sri Lanka|pages=349–351|url=http://noolaham.net/project/120/11908/11908.pdf}}

By 1973/74 the Independent Newspapers publications had become vocal critics of Sirimavo Bandaranaike's government.{{cite book|last1=de Silva|first1=K. M.|authorlink1=K. M. de Silva|title=A History of Sri Lanka|date=1981|publisher=Oxford University Press|page=547|url=http://www.noolaham.org/wiki/index.php/A_History_of_Srilanka|access-date=2015-12-19|archive-date=2015-12-22|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151222104304/http://www.noolaham.org/wiki/index.php/A_History_of_Srilanka|url-status=dead}} The government sealed Independent Newspapers' presses and closed it down on 19 April 1974 using the Emergency (Defence) Regulations.{{cite news|last1=Sirisena|first1=Priyalal|title='Irida Dawasa' publication restrained|url=http://www.island.lk/2003/11/05/news12.html|work=The Island (Sri Lanka)|date=5 November 2003}}{{cite news|last1=Marasinghe|first1=Sandasen|title=Dawasa restrained from publication|url=http://archives.dailynews.lk/2003/11/04/new19.html|work=Daily News (Sri Lanka)|date=4 November 2003}}{{cite book|title=Sri Lanka Year Book 1977|publisher=Department of Census and Statistics, Sri Lanka|pages=365–366|url=http://noolaham.net/project/148/14702/14702.pdf}}{{cite book|last1=Richardson|first1=John|title=Paradise Poisoned: Learning about Conflict, Terrorism, and Development from Sri Lanka's Civil Wars|date=2005|publisher=International Center for Ethnic Studies|isbn=955-580-094-4|page=362|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-sIRxpjfd-EC}}{{cite book|last=Rajasingham|first=K. T.|title=Sri Lanka: The Untold Story|url=http://www.atimes.com/ind-pak/DA19Df06.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20020213084644/http://atimes.com/ind-pak/DA19Df06.html|url-status=unfit|archive-date=2002-02-13|chapter=Chapter 23: Srimavo's constitutional promiscuity}} Independent Newspapers resumed publication on 30 March 1977 but the three-year closure had taken its toll.{{cite news|title=Another Sinhala newspaper launched|url=http://www.sundaytimes.lk/080810/FunDay/fundaytimes_2.html|work=The Sunday Times (Sri Lanka)|date=10 August 2008}} Faced financial problems Independent Newspapers and its various publications closed down on 26 December 1990.{{cite book|last1=Karunanayake|first1=Nandana|editor1-last=Banerjee|editor1-first=Indrajit|editor2-last=Logan|editor2-first=Stephen|title=Asian Communication Handbook 2008|date=2008|publisher=Asian Media Information and Communication Centre, Wee Kim Wee School of Communication and Information, Nanyang Technological University|location=Singapore|isbn=9789814136105|pages=446–460|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Wo9YWvrWFcIC|chapter=18: Sri Lanka}}{{cite news|title=Special events which took place in history from December 20 - December 26 |url=https://archives.sundayobserver.lk/2009/12/20/jun01.asp |work=Sunday Observer (Sri Lanka) |date=20 December 2009 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151222130711/http://www.sundayobserver.lk/2009/12/20/jun01.asp |archive-date=22 December 2015 }}