Media monitoring report of post tsunami coverage

IN Books | 19/02/2005

Media Unit, Centre for Policy Alternatives, Colombo

SHORT REVIEW OF SRI LANKA RUPAVAHINI CORPORATIONS ( SLRC) NEWS TELEACASTS ON TSUNAMI RELATED ISSUES BETWEEN 01-07 JANUARY 2005

For the purpose of this review SLRC alone was selected since it is the main public television channel. There was general consensus in the country that the government and opposition should work together to meet the widespread disaster caused by the tsunami, of 26th December 2004.

Against this backdrop, the SLRC news coverage of tsunami relief operations and the involvement of the government and opposition was reviewed in respect of the period 1-7 January. The number of news items and duration of news telecast pertaining to different parties and individuals were taken into consideration.

News categories monitored relating to political parties

1.Government

I. President¿s statements and engagements.

II. Prime Minister¿s statements and engagements.

III. Ministers and deputy minister`s engagements and statements.

IV. Alliance Party Representatives and Provincial Council Ministers and members
engagements and statements.

2. Opposition

I. Opposition Leader¿s statements and engagements

II. Hela Urumaya statements and engagements

III. UNP statements and engagements

IV. Sri Lanka Muslim Congress statements and engagements

V. Tamil National Alliance statements and engagements

Government - opposition joint activities were regarded as instances of consensual politics.

News categories monitored related to general post tsunami coverage

1. National Conflict and Tsunami Tragedy

2. Geological Survey and Mining

3. Government activities during the Tsunami disaster.

4. Foreign Aid.

5. National Reconstruction

6. Victims of the Disaster.

7. Problems of Relief distribution and related issues

8. Children affected by the Tragedy

9. Fisheries

10. Tsunami hit LTTE held areas.

11. Arrival of Foreign Dignitaries and Representatives of International Organisations.

12. Activities of Civil Society Organisations

13. Others.

(Charts have been omitted from this summary.)

Few conclusions

1. In its post Tsunami news telecasts SLRC functioned in a partisan way. It fell short of the standards for public service broadcasting which can be expected of it as a public institution.

2. As demonstrated in our previous study on general election coverage, SLRC coverage of the tsunami disaster relief effort promoted the image of the Government.

3. SLRC news telecasts did not allocate adequate time to those affected by the Tsunami to voice their needs.

4. Despite the relatively high level of devastation and destruction in the North and East, SLRC accorded these areas low coverage when compared with the coverage of the South.

Recommendations.

As the Centre for Policy Alternatives has repeatedly pointed out , urgent steps have to be taken to transform the State Media into a people oriented one, so that the valuable public service media contribution can be made towards the functioning of democracy in Sri Lanka. Such a course of action would be a decisive step towards consensus building amongst all parties. It will be invaluable in ensuring the participation of all communities and groups in Sri Lanka, that is essential for the Post Tsunami reconstruction and rehabilitation drive.

This report is available on our website www.cpalanka.org. For further details contact Sunanda Deshapriya, Head, Media Unit at sunanda@cpalanka.org