Abstract:
Newspapers remain as an effective medium for circu-
lating information among the public in the North of
Sri Lanka and have the potential to influence public
opinion and people’s behavior regarding sustainable
use of groundwater. This study investigated the extent
and scope of newspaper coverage on the subject of
water security in the Northern Province of Sri Lanka.
Three newspapers, namely, Yarl Thinakkural, Uthayan,
and Valampuri were chosen on the basis of readership,
circulation in print form, and for being daily local or
regional papers in Tamil. The content analysis of 1214
articles published in 2019 and 2020 in the three papers
indicated that as much as 80% of space in the papers
was allocated to reporting general news items and
events in the community related to new water projects,
rain and floods or drought events and announcements
of allocation of irrigation water for farming. Only 20%
of newspaper space was taken up by non-news articles
including advertisements related to water. We conclude
by saying that the effect of these newspapers on their
audiences would merely be to inform rather than to set
agendas or frame the discourse in society, let alone
persuade readers enough to make changes. The study
revealed the significant potential that exists for newspapers to shift their culture of simply reporting of
facts in a dispassionate way to one of environmental
journalism with a degree of advocacy in view of the
critical nature of the security of groundwater in the
Northern Province.
