Help Dimuthu’s journey to Columbia Journalism School!

Jeevan Ravindran is organising this fundraiser.

Donation protected

100% of contributions go directly towards Dimuthu’s tuition and living expenses at Columbia Journalism School

Emerging Through Crises…

In 2021, Sri Lanka as a nation was teetering on the brink of bankruptcy. In 2022 The nation declared bankruptcy.

In late 2021, Dimuthu lost her full-time job, her sole income and then her place of lodging one after another. Yet, she defied all odds to rise up as a leading journalist from the region/ Sri Lanka – a country that ranks 150 in the Press Freedom Index of 2024.

As the economic crisis reach its climax in 2022, she worked through 13 hour power cuts, state of emergencies, social media bans, mass protests, and political unrest to accurately report critical stories from the ground to prominent international publications such as the Guardian, Foreign Policy, Deutsche Welle, South China Morning Post, Context News, Rest of World, and BBC programs.

Earlier in life, Dimuthu went through acute financial challenges – she doubled-up as a full-time journalist, and a part-time content writer to finance her bachelors.

Her Dedication…

She is dedicated to uncovering untold stories geared towards creating multi-layered social and commercial impact.

In addition, Dimuthu has a track record of bringing these stories to the attention of policymakers, researchers, corporate thinkers, and entrepreneurs to build solutions. Examples include:

Impact of predatory microfinance lending and climate impact on women farmer community - demonstrated the hitherto unseen link between climate change and debt, and persuaded the authorities to add the large finance companies to the microfinance regulatory bill
The impact of blast fishing - A researcher from the University College London is now exploring building a machine learning based solution framework for minimizing impacts and maximizing the alternatives
Rallying private entrepreneur and international donor community after the economic crisis in Sri Lanka to cover financial, and humanitarian needs. Read the stories here, here and here.
Enforced disappearances in Sri Lanka during the island's civil war and 1980s political uprising, and how family members are seeking justice and reparations. Read here, here and here.
Coverage of the tragic Easter Sunday attacks of 2019 that killed close to 300 people in three churches and three hotels in Sri Lanka, and left many others with lifelong scars. Read here and here.

her journalism career spans close to a decade, and she has published close to a 100 in-depth stories just from 2022, to date.

Why Study Data Journalism Now?

In uncovering the truth, many a time, in developing countries, data is scarce or is censored. But, the trained eye of a data-journalist can uncover these trends by mapping seemingly unlinked data with ground insights.

Dimuthu used to believe that it was not possible for a non-traditional coder to pursue data journalism at a graduate level. But, Columbia has changed this!

At Columbia Journalism School she would learn more persuasive storytelling that could create greater impact via data-driven deep dives. Undoubtedly, the impact she could create and her capacity to give-back to the community will increase exponentially!

A Life-Changing Opportunity

Being accepted to Columbia University’s master's in data journalism is a life altering opportunity for a young woman from Sri Lanka, which many deemed impossible.

She has been fortunate to receive a 60% scholarship from the University.

But, she is unable to cover the rest of the costs, and won't be able to make it unless she secures additional funds in time for the visa application!

Program Costs

Total Program cost: £134,096.23

-Tuition and fees: £103,429.56

-Living expenses: £30,666.67

-Scholarship: £77,609.62

(Which will go into covering part of the tuition and fees)

Financial Gap: £56,486.61

(Your contributions will support this amount)

Recognition

Dimuthu has never had a formal journalism education, but despite this, she:

Is the first-ever Pulitzer Center grantee from Sri Lanka,
Is the winner of the 2024 Developing Asia Journalism Award by the Asia Development Bank (ADB).
Was nominated for the Young Journalist Award by Thomson Foundation and Foreign Press Association of London.
In 2024, she was the sole South Asia representative for the Reham al-Farra Memorial Journalism Fellowship of the United Nations.
Her work appears on the best media hubs -The Guardian, BBC, Foreign Policy, Deutsche Welle, South China Morning Post.

Giving Back - The Stakes are High!

Sri Lanka has an underdeveloped media industry, and no opportunities to study data journalism – one of the newest specializations in the industry – at undergraduate or graduate level.

Educating the next generation:

At Columbia, I will be learning data journalism from industry leaders. As the first Sri Lankan who will be study data journalism at graduate level, I will train Sri Lankan journalists on data journalism.

I will also collaborate with a local university to set up the first data journalism program in Sri Lanka, to provide hands-on training on using data for more evidence-based reporting with an additional layer of credibility and accuracy.