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How SL’s academia and media are falling short on UN Sustainable Goals

15 Aug 2021

  • Webinar calls for better understanding, research, and collaboration to foster public understanding
By Sumudu Chamara Though the United Nations’ (UN’s) Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) should be part of a run-of-the-mill, everyday discussion, the contribution extended by Sri Lankan academia and media to convey SDG-related knowledge and ignite a discussion about the same is inadequate and needs to be developed. However, that is not all that is lacking; policymakers and lawmakers also have an extremely vital role in this process, and they need to be held accountable. These sentiments about the role of media, academia, and policy/law makers were expressed by columnist on sustainable development and Chaos Theory (Pvt.) Ltd. Chairman Niresh Eliatamby during an online discussion held last week about the role of media and communication in achieving SDGs, where he emphasised that SDGs have more to do with the planet’s present than the future. The discussion was joined by UN Development Programme and SDGs Strategic Communication Advisor Adam Rogers; The World We Want Founder and Global Strategic Communication Consultancy CEO Natasha Mudhar; PVBLIC Foundation and P3 Smart City Chairman Sergio Fernandez de Cordova; and UN in New York Department of Global Communications Outreach Division Civil Society Unit Hawa M. Diallo as panellists, while television personality Sasanka Dias joined as the moderator. As a “blueprint to achieve a better and more sustainable future for all”, the UN, in 2015, set up 17 SDGs to be achieved by 2030. They are: No poverty, zero hunger, good health and well-being, quality education, gender equality, clean water and sanitation, affordable and clean energy, decent work and economic growth, industry, innovation and infrastructure, reducing inequality, sustainable cities and communities, responsible consumption and production, climate action, life below water, life on land, peace, justice, and strong institutions, and partnerships for these goals.  Eliatamby explained the connection between the lack of academia’s contribution on SDGs, lack of media institutions raising awareness about SDGs, and policy/law makers who take decisions with no regard to SDGs: “What the situation I described means is that our universities are at a very low level in terms of research and in terms of the lecturing staff. These issues further compound the problem of the mass media, because there is no proper academic world backing and pressurising about issues which are important to SDGs. As a result, we have policymakers who are not very well educated that make ad hoc decisions without proper access to well-researched academic articles or articles that support policy decisions.”  He opined that academia should do its part to forge a stronger link with the media, similar to developed countries where such links maintained by academia, especially universities and research organisations, are very strong.  He explained: “Unfortunately, when it comes to Sri Lanka, the situation is different. We have a fair number of universities, but they are focused on churning out graduates of the bachelor's level who do not do a lot of research. You can get a bachelor’s degree in Sri Lanka without publishing any papers, so there is not a lot of focus on research and fewer people go into postgraduate degrees. The vast majority seems to be MBAs, so again, there is not a lot of research being done that can be published either in the media or in academic journals.” Adding that this situation has resulted in citations of Sri Lankan authors being in an absolutely pitiful state, Eliatamby noted that there are very few citations from Sri Lanka, which means that there is very little proper research that is up to international standards. The highly politicised nature of Sri Lankan media – which in turn results in media institutions focusing more on matters pertaining to politics, entertainment, and sports – is one of the reasons why they have not being able to play their role in raising awareness among the public about the SDGs, and owing to this situation, media institutions do very little when it comes to covering areas relating to scientific, progressive, developmental, social, and environmental matters, according to Eliatamby. He opined that this situation prevails in all types of media including social media, not just mainstream media. “The media seem to be going in the wrong direction. When one analyses why the situation is such, we can see that one of the major reasons is that negative news all around the world seems to be what the general public wants. It is sensationalism, and these are not thought-out, researched pieces. I am not simply blaming the electronic media and social media, for that is something that has occurred over decades. I have covered all types of media, and negative news is prevalent everywhere. When you talk of SDGs, you have to talk about positive aspects, i.e. what is good about it and why it is important, which is developmental journalism. “Unfortunately, we are in an era of shallow journalism, and all over the world, especially in countries like Sri Lanka, there is far too much coverage on society, politics, and violence. All that is, of course, a reflection of the society as a whole. But when it comes to the developmental journalism aspect, we have fewer and fewer journalists going into those areas, because it takes a lot of time to conduct research. For example, to interview someone on SDGs, the journalist has to do a background research before the interview and spend several hours on it. However, in order to interview a Cabinet Minister or a sports personality on something, it does not require the same effort to research, and it is too easy.” Speaking extensively about journalists’ role and capacity, which he said directly affects SDGs-related media reporting, he opined that media institutions need to have some kind of standards regarding the level of qualifications of the people they hire as journalists, and said that journalists should have had at least a six-month diploma or preferably a one-year diploma before going on to educate the general public. This training, however, needs to be recurrent, as the knowledge and qualifications a person gains today may not be as accurate and relevant in a few years, and media organisations should collectively set standards regarding the suitability of the people they hire, he opined. “There is a huge dearth of media training in Sri Lanka, and most media organisations simply do not bother about training – they just throw their new recruits to the frontline. A couple of months’ on-the-job training with some of the senior people, and then they are on their own. Journalism and all forms of media is a profession and you need to study its academic, professional side and its technical side. I would say that there in Sri Lanka, there are very few journalists who are actually properly qualified, and unfortunately this seems to be going in the wrong direction, because we find that most of the coverage on SDGs is coming from older journalists. It should not be that way; it should be the younger ones. Unfortunately, they are not getting the proper training and therefore, they do not get what positive developmental journalism is. “Global media is setting a wrong example, while local media is not getting trained, so we have a serious problem here. There is a very little difference between journalism and lecturing – both involve gathering information and teaching people. When you are writing a newspaper article or doing something for the television news, you are the messenger/teacher, and therefore you need to understand what you are teaching.” Meanwhile, explaining the importance of understanding what methods of communication suit different countries/areas, Madhur said: “The written form of communication is not generally the most popular form. Radio, for instance, is still the primary form of communication in a lot of developing nations. Illiteracy should never be a boundary to receiving communication. It can be done through visual forms, cinema, text, or through mobile phones. In terms of understanding and communicating the SDGs, there are unlimited ways, and you just have to unlock these possibilities and opportunities to communicate.” During the discussion, adding to the idea of learning from other countries that have done a better job in promoting SDGs, which was raised by several speakers, Diallo noted that while this is important, it is also crucial that media institutions design their programmes regarding SDGs in accordance with the realities the audience experiences in their local context, such as common issues or common needs. She called this a way of “knowing the people”, which she said would help convey messages in a more effective and efficient manner. Endeavouring to build a proper communication method with local communities should also focus on preventing miscommunication, according to her. Speaking of the role of media institutions in raising awareness about SDGs-related matters, Eliatamby added: “The term SDGs sounds very complicated. But all it means is building a sustainable future. What is expected of the media is to bring SDGs into our context and teach what relevance each SDG has in our life. That is what the media’s job is; informing and educating.” He noted that this job, however, cannot be left for politicians and policymakers to do, and it has to be a massive movement, as initiated by some countries. He opined that even though such movements, and the achievement of SDGs, are possible in Sri Lanka as well, this sort of endeavour requires the media’s contribution in educating their readership/viewership. With regard to the role of lawmakers and policymakers, Eliatamby said that investigative journalism plays a certain role in ensuring that lawmakers are held accountable concerning making regulations. He explained: “Lawmakers should be held accountable, and in countries like Sri Lanka, we do not have enough analysis of what our lawmakers, i.e. Parliament members, are actually doing. We pay them, we put them up on exalted pedestals, and after a few years in office, they get pensions for life. What are they doing? Are they making laws? Many of the laws that affect the average Sri Lankan every day are laws dating back about 100 years, when the British were here. The British have changed their laws many times, but we are still keeping them. That is because our lawmakers do not feel the need to upgrade society. Instead of doing that, they focus on their own petty agendas and interests.” This is, according to Eliatamby, one thing young journalists writing about SDGs can work on. He added that obtaining information about what lawmakers have done about SDG-related aspects such as society, justice, and global warming, and the support they have given such, is easier now than before, owing to the development of technology. “Unfortunately, such matters are not researched enough, either by academics or by journalists,” Eliatamby stressed, adding that such endeavours would have paved the way for the country to question what the lawmakers have done and have promised to do. According to him, even though such things happen in some countries, the situation in developing nations such as Sri Lanka is not the same.  During the discussion, Rogers expressed opinions similar to those expressed by Eliatamby regarding accountability on the part of lawmakers, noting that the media has a huge role in ensuring that government officials are held accountable, and that the same applies when it comes to SDGs as well. In response to the moderator’s question regarding what qualities or recommendations should be taken into consideration when formulating a communication strategy to raise awareness on SDGs, Rogers explained that first and foremost, it is important to know the target audience and to be clear as to what needs to be communicated in order to inspire a shift in thinking or in behaviour.  Noting that the strategy employed to effectively convey knowledge must be action-oriented, he said that it is important to always have a two-way communication strategy, where the audience gets the opportunity to express their feedback. One-way communication, he said, is basically propaganda or a diatribe, which does not really constitute an effective communication strategy. When asked what concerns and topics Sri Lanka’s media personnel should look into when discussing SDGs, especially in terms of raising awareness about the urgency of climate change, Sergio raised the importance of giving the young people a voice, which he said could be achieved by having targeted conversations with regard to climate change. However, these endeavours should not be limited to raising awareness, and should include engagement. To do that, Sergio proposed that communication methods regarding SDGs be two-way conversations instead of one-way conversations. He explained that it would help to have an in-depth discussion that focuses on discussing problems as well as suggestions to resolve those problems. This discussion about SDGs took place in a context where the entire world is facing a crisis due to the Covid-19 pandemic, which has further highlighted and even widened the divides and inequalities the SDGs are designed to address. However, as the panellists pointed out, since communication plays a vital role in achieving SDGs, the existing commutation methods need to be streamlined to ensure that the proper message is conveyed to the proper communities in a way they can grasp. In the Sri Lankan context, however, the role of media is also associated with the academia as well as law/policy makers, and thus the issues faced include the lack of proper research, as well as a level of reluctance by the media to work towards holding law/policy makers accountable. In short, we require more effort from journalists and researchers, as well as a level of collaboration between the two for better communication strategies, to help us fulfill our responsibilities towards the SDGs, and beyond.


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