BROOKE GLADSTONE: Now here's an example of a radio station that was until recently exceedingly unwelcome in its host country. It is broadcast on the island of mostly Buddhist Sri Lanka by one of the most brutally efficient guerrilla groups in the world. Last February, Sri Lanka celebrated one year of cease fire after 20 years of war between the majority Buddhist Sinhalese and the Hindu Tamils. It left more than 65,000 dead, mostly Tamils. In late April the guerrilla group I mentioned, The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam or LTTE, unilaterally pulled out of a 6th round of talks, putting the ceasefire in jeopardy. For more than a decade its message of rage and rebellion has resounded in Tamil territory over the airwaves of Voice of Tigers Radio. From Kilinochchi, Sri Lanka Miranda Kennedy reports. [AMBIENT SRI LANKAN JUNGLE BIRDS & ANIMALS]

MIRANDA KENNEDY:The road to rebel territory is lined with the charred stumps of palmyra trees and littered with land mines. Passing through the LTTE checkpoint, you leave the democratic nation of Sri Lanka, set your watch back by half an hour, and enter Tamil Eelam which means Tamil homeland. This is the unofficial nation that the Tamil Tigers have fought for two decades to create. [VOICE OF TIGERS MILITANT SONG] The Voice of Tigers blasts from tobacco stalls and coconut stands and from megaphones on trucks carrying workers through the dusty, unpaved streets of Kilinochchi. The Voice of Tigers, or VOT, is the Tamil Tigers' official broadcasting organ. They call it "liberation radio." Tamilchelvan is the political leader of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam. [TAMILCHELVAN SPEAKING IN TAMIL]

INTERPRETER/TAMILCHELVAN: There was a total blackout of the truth about the Tamil people, and the people needed the truth. There was no other alternative. VOT works to promote Tamil art and culture which is generally absent in the state-controlled Sinhala electronic media.

MIRANDA KENNEDY:In Kilinochchi, the LTTE's political capital, everyone is Tamil, and everyone is working for the movement. They are the cooks in the restaurant, the management in the hotels, the teachers in the schools, and they all listen to the radio. [VOT NEWS/PROPAGANDA] The LTTE has always been good at controlling the media. They run a popular Tamil newspaper and carefully monitor the activities of journalists in the region. Since it was founded 13 years ago, the Voice of Tigers Radio has gone on the air every day during the vicious civil war. Now, without stable electricity or even a reliable telephone network, VOT broadcasts news, cultural programs, music and a substantial dose of propaganda for 9 and a half hours a day. During the war, the Voice of Tigers was used to sing the praises of women fighters to try and persuade parents to enlist their daughters. [UP VOT MARTYR'S SONG] For Madi, a 24 year old LTTE lieutenant, the Voice of Tigers represents the Tamil people's shared duty and culture. Like all Tiger fighters, she goes by the name given to her by the LTTE -- only in death will her birth name be revealed, when it is read aloud on the Voice of Tigers. When Madi decided to join the LTTE, she didn't tell her parents. She just disappeared.

MADI: When they saw me firstly, after I took trainings, after I'd become a cadre, they--they cried. Firstly, they cried. But every Tamil family has a duty. They have to free their homeland.

MIRANDA KENNEDY:She wears a vial of deadly cyanide on a string around her neck. Even after more than one year of ceasefire, this is the mandatory ornament of every LTTE fighter. If captured, they will eat the cyanide rather than surrender. And the Voice of Tigers is there to remind them of what they are fighting for. [MARTYR'S SONG UP AND UNDER] The backbone of VOT's programming is Tamil songs written by official LTTE poets and sung by LTTE members.

MADI: These songs are telling about our struggle, about our old history, about our sufferings. [MARTYR'S SONG UP AND UNDER] The sacrificings of our people and our martyrs and of our cadres.

MIRANDA KENNEDY: Like most Tamils, she believes the LTTE saved the Tamil people of Sri Lanka from complete extinction. The Voice of Tigers broadcasts hundreds of martyr tributes, and LTTE leader Villupillai Prabakaran gives his annual address over its airwaves. When Prabakaran gave his first news conference in 20 years to announce the ceasefire, it was broadcast over VOT's airwaves. [CLIP FROM PRABAKARAN NEWS CONFERENCE]

MIRANDA KENNEDY:In rebel territory, Prabakaran has a cult of personality that borders on deification. LTTE members call him "Our Leader" and salute his image every morning. Prabakaran's highly disciplined guerrilla army is fueled by a strong suicide culture. Military analysts believe that terrorist groups like Al Qaeda have studied the tactics of the LTTE, especially their ruthless use of suicide bombers, called Black Tigers. And, as the Voice of Tigers constantly reminds its listeners, becoming a Black Tiger is considered the highest of honors. [UP AND UNDER PRABAKARAN SONG] The VOT staff admits that they broadcast LTTE propaganda but argues that the Sri Lankan government does the same through the state radio and newspapers. To counter their so-called false propaganda, the Voice of Tigers aims an hourly Sinhalese newscast at the LTTE's traditional enemy, the Sri Lankan soldiers stationed in the Tamil region. Thaya Master is a spokesperson for the LTTE.

THAYA MASTER: Example: We are not against the Sinhala people. We are not fighting for the Sinhala land. We are fighting only for our land, our motherland. We are telling the truth to the people.

MIRANDA KENNEDY:During the fighting, the Voice of Tigers jungle studios were attacked dozens of times. Five of their reporters were killed in the field. They could only broadcast for one hour a day. But every evening VOT crackled into the living rooms of Tamil families. Thavabalan is the chief editor of the Voice of Tigers. [THAVABALAN SPEAKING IN TAMIL]

INTERPRETER/THAVABALAN: The Voice of Tigers' message is this war, the LTTE's war, has brought this ceasefire, this peace, the permanent peaceful settlement for Tamil people. We say: this peace process was made possible by the war. So it is the natural development for us to broadcast programs about peace. [VOT SONG UP AND UNDER]

MIRANDA KENNEDY:Banned as a terrorist group in most western countries, the LTTE is now fighting for international recognition as a political party. VOT has moved out of their secret jungle hut studios to a cement building in Kilinochchi. They have traded in their cassette players for newly-purchased digital recording equipment. In January, the Sri Lankan government granted the Tigers a controversial 5 kilowatt transmitter, bringing the Voice of Tigers to the FM dial. They did so on the condition that the Tigers would use the radio to foster understanding about the ceasefire agreement. But as ceasefire negotiations falter, only one thing is certain -- whether for war or peace, the Voice of Tigers will continue to beat its drum on the FM band. For On the Media, I'm Miranda Kennedy in Kilinochchi, Sri Lanka. [UP VOT SONG]

BROOKE GLADSTONE:That's it for this week's show. On the Media was produced by Janeen Price, Katya Rogers, Megan Ryan, Tony Field and Sean Landis; engineered by Dylan Keefe, Rob Christiansen, Wayne Shulmeister and George Edwards and edited by me. [THEME MUSIC UNDER] We had help from Sharon Ball, Andy Lanset and Blake Carlton. Our webmaster is Amy Pearl. Arun Rath is our senior producer and Dean Cappello our executive producer. Bassist/composer Ben Allison wrote our theme. You can listen to the program and get free transcripts at onthemedia.org and e-mail us at onthemedia@wnyc.org. This is On the Media from NPR. Garfield will be back with me next week. I'm Brooke Gladstone. [MUSIC TAG]