From State to Public Service: Legal and Structural Constraints in the Sri Lankan Broadcasting Sphere
Article Sidebar
Main Article Content
Abstract
In the contemporary world, Public Service Broadcasting plays a decisive and challenging role in creating an informed citizenry through editorial independence, diversity of content, freedom of expression, audience participation, and active democracy. However, in Sri Lanka, the opposite is true, where there are no public service media, but state-owned and privately-owned media enterprises. This paper looks at the absence of public service broadcasting in Sri Lanka, its effect on a democratic society, and its resistance to the initiative. The case study desk review approach was employed to investigate public service broadcasting in the Sri Lankan context. The study finds that in the absence of public service media, citizens tend to consume information reproduced and delivered through a hegemonic media landscape, compiled according to the agenda of radio and television station owners. Such content has been found to be devoid of professionalism, editorial independence, diversity, and pluralism, leading to misrepresentation of facts in the coverage of conflicts, controversial issues, and elections, and by extension the destruction of society. In Sri Lanka, a developing country, state-owned media must be transformed into public service media. The selfish interests of political parties, policymakers, bureaucracy, and trade unions and limited awareness amongst the public makes this task difficult. The study recommended to appoint a public commission to identify processes and actions to transform State owned media to public service media. Nevertheless, suggests to launch a public campaign that would educate the public and influence policy makers’ thinking towards liberating State owned media from government control.
Downloads
Article Details
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
This is an open access journal which means that all content is freely available without charge to the user or his/her institution. The copyright in the text of individual articles (including research articles, opinion articles, and abstracts) is the property of their respective authors, subject to a Creative Commons CC-BY-SA licence granted to all others. IJMCR allows the author(s) to hold the copyright without restrictions and allows the author to retain publishing rights without restrictions.
References
Anderson, C. W. (2012). Professionalization of journalism. In The international encyclopedia of communication. Wiley Online Library. Retrieved December 02, 2022 from https://doi.org/10.1002/9781405186407.wbiecp107.pub2 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1002/9781405186407.wbiecp107.pub2
Barlow, D. (1998). The Promise, Performance and Future of Community Broadcasting. Unpublished Ph.D. thesis, Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, La Trobe University.
Baker, C. E. (2007). Media concentration and democracy: Why ownership matters. Cambridge: University Press. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511810992
Berger, J. (1990). Market and State in Advance Capitalist Societies. In A. Martinelli and N.J.Smelser. (eds.). Economy and Society: Overview in Economic Sociology (pp. 103-132). London: Sage. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/001139290038002006
Cabelkova, I., Strielkowski, W., & Mirrald, M. (2015). Business influence on the mass media: A case study of 21 centuries. Transformation in Business Economics.14(1), 65-75.
Cabrera Blázquez F.J., Cappello M., Talavera Milla J., & Valais S. (2022, February). Governance and independence of public service media, IRIS Plus, European Audiovisual Observatory. Strasbourg.
Centre for Media Pluralism and Media Freedom. (2021). Monitoring Media Pluralism in the digital era. (Report). European University Institute (EUI).
Christians, C. G., Glasser, T. L., McQuail, D., Nordenstreng, K., and White, R. A. eds., (2009). Normative theories of the media: Journalism in democratic societies. University of Illinois Press.
Coates, W.L. (2004). New information and communication technologies and community radio stations. Unpublished Ph.D. thesis, School of Arts, Southern Cross University.
Coronel, S.S. (2008). The Media as Watchdog. In The Role of the News Media in the Governance Reform Agenda. (Working paper No.3.1). Harvard Kennedy School. Retrieved November 2, 2022 from
https://ziaruldela5.files.wordpress.com/2009/09/coronel20watchdog.pdf
Delli Carpini, M. X. (2000). In search of the informed citizen: What Americans know about politics and why it matters. The Communication Review. 4(1), 129–164. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/10714420009359466
Direito-Rebollal, S., Donders.K.(2022). Public service media as drivers of innovation: A case study analysis of policies and strategies in Spain, Ireland, and Belgium. Communications. Retrieved November 2, 2022 from
https://doi.org/10.1515/commun-2021-0003 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1515/commun-2021-0003
Fog. A. (2004, May). The supposed and the real role of mass media in modern democracy. Draft manuscript. retrieved October 5, 2022 from http://www.agner.org/cultsel/mediacrisis.pdf.
Fraser, C., Estrada, S.R. (2001). Community Radio Handbook. Paris: UNESCO.
Garnham, N. (1994). The media and the public sphere. In C.Calhoun. (eds). Habermas DOI: https://doi.org/10.2307/1431942
and the public sphere, (pp. 359-376). Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
Handong, W; Weerasinghe, P.N’ (2007). Visible of Owners Politics in News: A content Analysis on Television in Sri Lanka. International Political Communication Conference Proceeding, Wuhan University, China.
Jayaweera, W., Jayaratna, T. (2003). In search of Solutions; The UCR’s values and standards. Colombo: SLBC & UPC.
Keane, J. (1991). The Media and Democracy. London: Polity Press.
Klaikao, L. (2004). Community Radio in Thailand in 1998-2002: Comparative studies four Community Radio Stations. Unpublished Ph.D. thesis, University of Canberra.
Lowe, G.F., Bulck, H.V., & Donders, K (eds.) (2017).Public Service Media in the Networked Society . Nordicom
Mason, J. (1996). Qualitative Researching. London: Sage.
Mendel, T. (2011). Public Service Broadcasting: A comparative Legal Survey. UNESCO.
Miller, M. L., & Vaccari, C. (2020). Digital threats to democracy: Comparative lessons and possible remedies. The International Journal of Press/Politics. 25(3), 333–356. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/1940161220922323
Norris, P., & Odugbemi, S. (2008, May). The Role of News Media in the Governance agenda: Watch Dogs; Agenda- Setters and Gate Keepers. [Workshop presentation]. Harvard-World Bank Workshop, Harvard Kennedy School.
Pickard, V. (2020). Democracy without journalism? Confronting the misinformation society. Oxford: Oxford University Press. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780190946753.001.0001
Raboy, M.ed., (1996). The world situation of public service broadcasting: Overview and Analysis. In public service broadcasting: Cultural and Educational Dimensions. Paris: UNESCO.
Rao, S & Weerasnihghe, P.N’.(2011). Covering Terrorism: Examining social responsibility in South Asian journalism. Journalism Practice, 5(4), 414-428. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/17512786.2010.550713
Secretariat for Media Reforms (2016). Rebuilding Public Trust: An Assessment of the Media Industry and Professionalism in Sri Lanka. (Report). Colombo: NSMR/IMS.
Silverman, D. (2000). Doing Qualitative Research. A Practical Handbook. London: Sage.
Sri Lanka Broadcasting Corporation Act 1966. No.37.
Sri Lanka Rupavahini Corporation Act 1982. No. 6.
Strömbäck, J. (2005). In search of a standard: Four models of democracy and their normative implications for journalism. Journalism Studies, 6(3), 331–345. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/14616700500131950
Sussman, G. (2012). Ownership in the media. In W. Donsbach, ed. The international encyclopedia of communication. Wiley Online Library. retrieved November 5, 2022 from https://doi.org/10.1002/9781405186407. wbieco031.pub2 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1002/9781405186407.wbieco031.pub2
Tacchi, J., Slater, D., & Hearn, G. (2003). Ethnographic Action Research. New Delhi: UNESCO.
Thomass, B., Fidalgo, J., Grönvall, J., Karadimitriou, A., & Nord, L. (2022). Public service media: Exploring the influence of strong public service media on democracy. In J. Trappel, & T. Tomaz, eds. Success and failure in news media performance: Comparative analysis in the Media for Democracy Monitor 2021 (pp. 187–209). Gothenburg: Nordicom.
Thornley, P.N. (1999). Broadcasting policy in Australia. Unpublished Ph.D. thesis, University of Newcastle.
Trappel, J. and Tales, T. eds., (2021). Democratic performance of news media Dimensions and indicators for comparative studies. The Media for Democracy Monitor 2021 How Leading News Media Survive Digital Transformation: Nordicom.
UNESCO. (1997). Public Service Broadcasting. Cultural and Educational Dimensions. Paris: UNESCO.
UNESCO. (2022). Journalism is a Public Good: World Trends in Freedom of Expression and Media Development. (Global Report 2021/2022). UNESCO.
Vuuren, V.K. (2004). Community Participation in Australian Community Broadcasting: A comparative study of Rural, Regional and Remote Radio. Unpublished Ph. D thesis, School of Arts, Media and Culture, University of Griffith.
Waisbord, S. (2013). Reinventing professionalism: Journalism and news in global perspective. New York: Polity.
Weerasinghe, P.N. (2000). Electronic Media Policy in Sri Lanka. MA Thesis, University of Kelaniya.
Weerasinghe, P.N. (2022). Framing television news: Projection of interreligious tension in Sri Lanka. Revista Română de Studii Eurasiatice, 1(2), 245-280.
Yin, R. (1984). Case study research. California: Beverly Hills.