Document details

Sri Lanka Media Audience Study 2019: Consuming News in Turbulent Times

International Media Support (IMS) (2020), 63 pp.

CC BY-SA

"Across various demographics, Sri Lankan audiences highly value news and current information. More than three quarters (77%) identified news as being very important, and another 18% said it was somewhat important. National news on current affairs had the highest level of audience interest (76%), followed by national politics, local current affairs, national level entertainment news, national weather, local politics and national level sports. There was limited interest in economic and business news, and even less in international news. Audiences have a good sense of what good journalism means to them. Among the many attributes of good journalism highlighted by participants were: trustworthy, evidence-based information; clear and accurate; timely and relevant; balanced and unbiased reporting with a sufficient level of detail; respecting privacy; drawing from multiple sources; ethical use of sensitive visuals; and never advocating racism or violence. Most people turn to two, three orfour newssources on a regular basis apparently to guard against being misled by media biases and manipulation [...]" (Executive summary)
1 Introduction, 10
2 Methodology, 13
3 FINDINGS, 16
Value of news: How important is news and current information? 16
What qualities do audiences want to see in news coverage? 19
News sources: A mix of mass media, social media and non-media, 21
How much do audiences trust their news sources? 35
Audiences devising their own verification strategies, 38
Geography shapes news media use and audience perceptions, 41
Perceived biases in the news, 43
News consumption in times of crisis: Easter Sunday terror attacks of April 2019, 46
Social Media blocking in times of crisis, 49
What do audiences think of media freedom and access to information? 52
4 Conclusion, 55
5 Recommendations, 57