https://archive.veriteresearch.org/handle/456/6514 2026-07-13T05:01:40Z https://archive.veriteresearch.org/handle/456/8265 A Handbook for Professional Journalism: Reporting on Women, Girl-children, and LGBTQIA+ individuals in Sri Lanka Peiris, Mahoshadi; Media Team, Verité Research This handbook exists to support journalists in recognising recurring patterns in coverage and strengthening professional judgment, so reporting is accurate, fair, and respectful of the people whose lives appear in the news. It focuses on two identity groups that are repeatedly affected by the way they are covered in Sri Lankan media: women and girl-children, and LGBTQIA+ individuals. The handbook is grounded in the pressures media professionals face and provides practical tools to help uphold standards consistently and minimise avoidable harm, even under tight deadlines. The recommendations in this handbook were reached through four areas of work. First, by identifying patterns of unethical reporting in Sri Lankan media through Verité Media and Politics’ Ethics Eye platform. Second, by reviewing principles of Sri Lankan media ethics standards. Third, by drawing on good practices from international standards. Fourth, by understanding the perspectives of Sri Lankan media professionals through discussions with them. The research team comprised of Deshitha Kadiragonna, Chrishari De Alwis, Sajini Wickramasinghe, and Theruni Ranatunga. The handbook was authored by Mahoshadi Peiris and originally written in English. Editorial guidance was provided by Deepanjalie Abeywardana and Dr. Nishan de Mel. The Sinhala translation, ශ්‍රී ලංකාවේ කාන්තාවන්, ගැහැණු දරුවන් සහ LQBTQIA+ පුද්ගලයින් පිළිබඳ වාර්තාකරණය: වෘත්තීමය මාධ්‍යකරණය සඳහා අත්පොතක් (translated by Rathika Fernando and Deepanjalie Abeywardana), and the Tamil translation, தொழில்முறை ஊடகவியலுக்கான ஒரு கையேடு: இலங்கையில் பெண்கள், பெண் குழந்தைகள் மற்றும் LGBTQIA+ நபர்கள் குறித்து அறிக்கையிடல் (translated by Edward Uthayathas and Rochel Canagasabey), are also available here. Additionally, all three versions can be accessed from the the links below. 2026-04-01T00:00:00Z https://archive.veriteresearch.org/handle/456/8178 Proposal for a national media guideline on ethical reporting of women and girl-children Media Team, Verité Research; Politics Team, Verité Research This briefing note proposes national media guidelines for ethical reporting on women and girl children. It draws on the long-standing work of Ethics Eye, which for nearly a decade has monitored Sinhala-language media and documented recurring patterns of coverage that normalise violence, reinforce harmful stereotypes, and discourage survivors from seeking justice. Building on these findings, the briefing note calls on the government to: (i) Draft and adopt survivor-centred national media guidelines and encourage their adoption by mainstream and digital outlets; and (ii) Allocate funds in the 2026 Budget to support training and capacity-building on the guidelines. 12p. - The briefing note was developed in partnership with the Embassy of France in Sri Lanka and the Maldives, to promote ethical media standards concerning women and girl children. It was prepared for the Ministry of Mass Media and handed over to the Deputy Minister of Mass Media, Kaushalya Ariyarathne, by the Verité Media and Politics team. 2025-11-01T00:00:00Z https://archive.veriteresearch.org/handle/456/8173 Ethics Eye : මාධ්‍ය ආචාරධර්ම මාර්ගෝපදේශන සංග්‍රහය 2020 Media Team, Verité Research ශ්‍රී ලංකාවේ කර්තෘ සංසදය මගින් හඳුන්වා දී ඇති වෘත්තිය ප්‍රතිපත්ති මාලාව සහ, මාධ්‍ය හා වාර්තාකරණයට අදාළව ලෝකයේ වෙනත් පිළිගත් ආයතන, අධිකාරීන්, සංවිධානයන් මගින් ඉදිරිපත් කොට ඇති මාධ්‍ය ආචාර ධර්ම මාර්ගෝපදේශනයන් පරිශීලනය කොට, එම මූලාශ්‍ර ඔස්සේ ලබාගත් අසම්පූර්ණ මාධ්‍ය ආචාර ධර්ම ලැයිස්තුවක් එක් මාධ්‍ය ආචාර ධර්ම මාර්ගෝපදේශනයකට සම්පිණ්ඩනය කිරීමකි, මේ. පි. 9 2020-11-01T00:00:00Z https://archive.veriteresearch.org/handle/456/8172 Diversity Impact on Vaccine Equity (DIVE) in Sri Lanka : March 2022 Peiris, Mahoshadi Covid-19 has shed light on ongoing disparities in vaccine access and confidence among different ethnic groups worldwide. Against this backdrop, Verité Media conducted a two-part study on the impact of ethnicity on Covid-19 vaccine confidence, uptake and access among the Sinhala, Tamil and Muslim communities in Sri Lanka. The study was conducted together with Minority Rights Group International as part of the Diversity Impact on Vaccine Equity (DIVE) programme 2021 – 2022. This report is the second and final part of the two-part study. The first report published by Verité Media analysed social media conversations on Covid-19 vaccine confidence, uptake and access in Sri Lanka from January 1 to October 31, 2021. The findings of this report were published in Diversity: Impact on Vaccine Equity (DIVE) in Sri Lanka: November 2021. This second report summarises the main observations from conducting a face-to-face survey on Covid-19 vaccine confidence, uptake and access among different ethnic groups in Sri Lanka. The survey was conducted to triangulate the findings from the first report on analysing social media conversations. It was carried out from December 16, 2021 to January 1, 2022 among 2,476 respondents from 22 districts in Sri Lanka. This report highlights 10 key findings from the survey that relate to Covid-19 vaccine confidence, uptake and misinformation, as well as confidence in the authorities who were involved in the administration and distribution of Covid-19 vaccines in Sri Lanka. This report also details the online campaign that Verité Media conducted to counter misinformation and mistrust in the Covid-19 vaccine in Sri Lanka. The campaign strategy was based on the findings extracted from monitoring social media conversations and the face-to-face survey. The campaign also sought to promote vaccine confidence and uptake among groups that showed hesitancy in relation to obtaining the Covid-19 vaccine. As such, Sri Lanka can significantly improve the competitiveness of its exporters by reducing processing times at the border. A proven method in this regard is the use of Electronic Document (e-document) processing platforms for trade. Currently in Sri Lanka, the benefit of this particular opportunity is being hobbled by the non-acceptance of electronic signatures (e-signatures) despite most of the prerequisites and systems being in place. 15p. - This study was compiled by Verité Media for Minority Rights Group International. This submission includes English, Sinhala (එන්නත්කරණ සමානාත්මතාවය කෙරෙහි වාර්ගික විවිධත්වයේ බලපෑම: ‍2022 මාර්තු), and Tamil (இலங்கையில் சமத்துவமாக தடுப்பூசி வழங்குதல் சார்ந்த பல்வேறுபட்ட தாக்கங்கள்: மார்ச் 2022) versions of the bulletin. First report, DIVE 1, November 2021 can be accessed from the link below. 2022-03-01T00:00:00Z