Template:Did you know nominations/Sunday Observer (Sri Lanka), The Sri Lanka Gazette

The following discussion is an archived discussion of the DYK nomination of the article below. Please do not modify this page. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page (such as this nomination's talk page, the article's talk page or Wikipedia talk:Did you know), unless there is consensus to re-open the discussion at this page. No further edits should be made to this page.

The result was: promoted by PumpkinSky talk 00:13, 16 May 2012 (UTC)

Sunday Observer (Sri Lanka), The Sri Lanka Gazette edit

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... that established in 1834, Sunday Observer is the oldest surviving newspaper in Sri Lanka, except the Government Gazette?

Reviewed: Get Married (film)

Created/expanded by Astronomyinertia (talk). Self nom at 08:34, 22 April 2012 (UTC)

Both articles make the claim that they're about the country's oldest extant newspaper. One of them is wrong. Also, both articles article could use some copyediting. In the article about the Observer, the sentence about the Ceylon Observer being renamed needs a ref, as does the "supplements" section.--Carabinieri (talk) 16:32, 10 May 2012 (UTC)

Conflict regarding the first publication resolved. Did some minor copy editing as well. Referenced the supplements section and omitted sentence regarding the renaming. ASTRONOMYINERTIA (TALK) 19:15, 10 May 2012 (UTC)

I was unable to find the source that makes the claim in the hook. None of the three cited in the lede of the Observer article say that.--Carabinieri (talk) 19:24, 10 May 2012 (UTC)

The Asian Communication Handbook (p. 447) states that the Observer (est. 1834) is the "country's oldest newspaper today". But it also says that Ceylon Gazette (est. 1802) is the country's "first regular publication". Twentieth Century Impressions of Ceylon (p. 301) and The History of Sri Lanka (p. 63) follow the same line. The confusion here seems to be as a result of the feeling that a government gazette is not a normal newspaper. But articles like London Gazette describe them as newspapers. ASTRONOMYINERTIA (TALK) 15:08, 11 May 2012 (UTC)

I did some copyedits. Grammar is good enough now, although fresh eyes may help. Date, length, tone etc. fine. Well sourced, including the hook, but the hook is a bit awkward. I suggest using ALT1 below instead. Aymatth2 (talk) 13:23, 12 May 2012 (UTC)

ALT1 ... that the Government Gazette (1802) and Sunday Observer (1834) are the oldest newspapers in Sri Lanka?

I re-read the sources and I think you're right, Astronomyinertia. It bugged me a little that the sources in the Observer article said that it was the country's oldest newspaper. The problem does appear to be whether or not a government gazette counts as a newspaper. In, short I agree with Aymatth2 that this nomination is ready.--Carabinieri (talk) 14:04, 12 May 2012 (UTC)

Thanks Carabinieri for the review, and Aymatth2 for the copyedit! I'm good with ALT1. ASTRONOMYINERTIA (TALK) 14:26, 12 May 2012 (UTC)

I'm concerned that some of the wording in these articles might be too close to that of their sources. Compare for example "criticize the government and represent the interests of the planters" with "criticize the government and came to represent the interests of the planters". Nikkimaria (talk) 17:15, 13 May 2012 (UTC)

Addressed the concern. Hope now its fine. ASTRONOMYINERTIA (TALK) 17:36, 13 May 2012 (UTC)

The fix looks good to me. Aymatth2 (talk) 16:27, 15 May 2012 (UTC)