Reporting on Port City Colombo in Sri Lankan Mainstream Media

Pasqual, Mangala Keerthi de

doi:10.4236/ajc.2024.121007

Cited by 1 publication

(1 citation statement)

References 11 publications

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“…While government-owned newspapers mostly lacked opposing frames, supportive frames had an almost even split between private and government-owned newspapers. This differs to other research, such as reporting of the Colombo City Port which is developed by a Chinese company, in which TV news reporting by government-owned channels were supportive of the initiative [ 51 ]. Discourse can however vary across media spaces, beyond the binary division of private and government-owned newspapers.…”

Section: Discussioncontrasting

confidence: 83%

“Ad hoc policy decisions” in the news: Media framing analysis of a pesticide import ban in Sri Lanka

Schölin,

Hashini,

Kanapathy

et al. 2024

PLOS Glob Public Health

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Modern agriculture relies on pesticides to maximise outputs. While many highly hazardous pesticides (HHPs) are banned in places like the European Union due to concerns about harm to the environment and human health, their use continues in many low- and middle-income counties (LMICs). Pesticide suicide is a public health problem unique to countries where HHPs are used, and Sri Lanka has successfully implemented several HHP bans as part of a suicide prevention strategy. On 27 April 2021, the Sri Lankan government announced an imminent import ban of all fertilizers and pesticides which was later revoked in November 2021. The aim of this article was to explore the media framing of the import ban as it pertained to pesticides. Guided by Entman’s typology of frame functions, we analysed newspaper articles from nine Sri Lankan newspapers (N = 102) between 20 April to 31 October 2021. Overall, most framings were supportive of the ban, captured by framings that articulated the ban through a health, environment, and organic farming narrative. Framings that foregrounded farmer or industry livelihoods and the pesticide market were primarily adopted to express opposition to the ban. The presence of frames opposing the ban within media articles increased over time during the study period. There was a greater proportion of opposing frames in private newspapers compared to government (78% vs 22%). Many of the articles analysed described the widespread impact of the ban, but only 11% of articles represented the voices of policy end users. This study adds understanding to the ways communication via outlets like mainstream newspapers may shape public support or opposition to pesticide bans in a LMIC. Mass media is an under-recognised factor in policy implementation and this study may inform planning to implement pesticide bans in other countries.

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Section: Discussioncontrasting

confidence: 83%