• Note inability to pay staff salaries, decreased ad revenue, reduced printing 

It was revealed at the meeting of the National Council Sub-Committee on Identifying the Short- and Medium-Term Programmes related to Economic Stabilisation held yesterday (15) that it had been difficult for certain print media organisations to pay salaries to permanent staff and that the economic crisis had decreased newspaper printing by 60-70%, while the amount of money allocated for advertisements has decreased by approximately 70% due to the increase in the production costs of the companies.

Journalists present at the meeting stated that in the face of the current economic crisis, they have to face many challenges when running a media organisation in Sri Lanka. These journalists were present to discuss the problems faced by the media organisations in the face of the economic crisis and related solutions, as well as proposals under the sub-committee chaired by MP Patali Champika Ranawaka. 

It was also revealed that due to the power cuts during prime airtime, the number of commercials received by television stations has decreased, and that in the current economy, they have to bear high costs for the production of programmes.

Journalists representing the print media pointed out that due to the increase in production costs including the shortage of paper, there has been a major setback in the publishing industry including newspapers. They also pointed out that because of this situation, the pages of the newspapers had to be limited, and the prices increased.  

They further pointed out that due to the reduction of newspaper pages, there is no space for the news by regional journalists and that they have not even been able to make payments.

Print media journalists pointed out that the circulation of newspapers among the people has been greatly reduced due to economic issues, and the non-publication of local news, etc.

In addition to the economic crisis, it was also revealed that the newspapers and radio channels have had to face a big challenge due to the current digital media trends including social media.

It was further expressed that the Government should make a joint effort to reach one goal with all the media organisations to prepare the people to face the current crisis situation. Attention was drawn here to the need to act in the same way that the media acted in times like the tsunami disaster, when defeating terrorism and in overcoming the Covid-19 crisis. 

Journalists representing mainstream media organisations such as television and radio channels and newspapers, as well as the web media and social media were invited to this meeting.

Ranawaka said that based on these facts, he is expected to include the proposals related to the media sector in the next report and to submit them to the National Council.