Challenges Faced by Provincial Television Journalists in Sri Lanka
Abstract
Provincial journalists play a vital role in gathering news from a specific geographical area and sending it to a main newsroom in a particular media station. Moreover, the provincial journalists have to face several challenges in their profession in gathering, sending and publishing news. Therefore, the study is carried out to investigate the challenges faced by the provincial journalists in Sri Lanka in terms of television news using the Motivational System Theory (MST). The interviews were conducted with twenty provincial journalists covering almost all the districts in Sri Lanka. The qualitative data were thematically analyzed. The results showed the personal and institutional factors affecting the news coverage of provincial journalists. In other words, the provincial journalists faced challenges due to several personal and institutional factors. Moreover, at the institutional level, the provincial journalists faced several challenges such as delayed and inadequate payments, working for several media stations simultaneously without having proper payments, low professional recognition, inadequate welfare schemes, training, resources and awareness given by the media stations, no proper recruitment procedure, political influence, newsroom agenda, violating ethical journalism standards, male dominate news coverage and less female representation etc. On the other hand, personal factors such as less qualifications, education, training, resources, motivation and skills are also negatively affecting provincial journalism. Therefore, it is important to establish a proper work culture to uplift the profession of the provincial journalists. Moreover, the responsible parties should provide the required resources, facilities, payments, opportunities, guidance, training, and awareness, proper recruitment procedure to create a professional and encouraging work environment for provincial journalists in Sri Lanka. It is also essential to maintain gender equality and ethical standards to establish a healthy and positive work environment for provincial journalists.
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