Trainings & Capacity Building Sessions

Training on Parliament Engagement Strategies - Jaffna and Matara

Manthri.lk supported colleagues from Transparency International Sri Lanka in conducting a training for civil society organisations and interested stakeholders, on essential civic education – including the tools and strategies available to the public to engage with Members of Parliament; both inside the chamber and committees of parliament. These trainings were conducted in Tamil and Sinhala, respectively.

‘Rise up for Clean Politics’ program by the March 12 Movement

Manthri.lk organized a stall for the ‘Rise up for Clean Politics’ programme conducted by the March 12 Movement – a collection of civil society

organisations, alongside the PublicFinance.lk platform. Most of the enthusiasts who visited the stall, were from Sinhala and Tamil speaking communities outside the Western Province. By explaining our role and the insights we have developed over the years, Manthri.lk engaged in essential civic education pertaining to the role of parliamentarians and holding them answerable to the public.

Disabling Democracy: Polarisation in the media and information landscape

On February 21, 2024 the FactCheck.lk, Ethics Eye and The Divide teams conducted a training programme for zonal educators and coordinators in the Central Province at the behest of United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF). In this programme zonal educators and coordinators were educated on several topics, notably on spotting trends in political misinformation with a particular focus on those aimed at ethno-religious minorities.

They also received training in crucial verification tools, enabling them to hold decision-makers accountable more effectively for their public statements. During this programme, the Ethics Eye section focused on discriminatory reporting related to ethno-religious minorities. The training programme enabled the team to educate educators to question unethical media content and to hold the media accountable for such reporting practices. The Divide segment of the training focused on the language polarisation in media reporting, especially on issues that are national concerns.

The success of this training was reflected in the engaging and constructive discussions that occurred between our teams and the zonal educators and coordinators who participated.

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Course on Media Reporting and polarisation: Consequences and countering measures

Verité Media at the request of Transparency International Sri Lanka (TISL) conducted the session “Disabling Democracy: Polarisation in the Media and Information Landscape” for a group of 15 journalists as part of an investigative journalism fellowship program for the website Sathya.lk. This session, held on 18 August 2023, educated journalists about how problematic media behaviour can lead to ethnic and gender stereotyping, perpetuating discriminatory and prejudiced societal attitudes.

A team of presenters from Verité Media, including Deputy Director of Media and Politics Deepanjalie Abeywardana, Team Leader of Verité Media and Manager of the FactCheck.lk Mahoshadi Peiris, and Research Manager Rochel Canagasabey conducted the session.

Disabling Democracy: Polarisation in the media and information landscape

On 3 August 2023, Verité Media held a training course for a group of 37 CSO members at the Taj Samudra Hotel, Colombo. The three-hour session was based on the findings of The Divide, Ethics Eye, and FactCheck.lk and was titled “Disabling Democracy: Polarisation in the media and information landscape”.

During the discussion, members of the CSOs shared their views on how polarised media narratives affect the policies and communities they engage with. They highlighted the impact on various areas, including peace and reconciliation, law, transparency and accountability, media freedom and expression, and the electoral process in Sri Lanka. Additionally, they emphasised the need for increased awareness of media behaviour among the general public.

A session on Factchecking for journalists an interactive session by FactCheck.lk

On 4 July 2023, Verité Media held a training course for a group of 35 journalists from Sinhala, English, and Tamil mediums, at the Ramada Hotel, Colombo. The three-hour session was based on the findings of FactCheck.lk and was titled “A session on Factchecking for journalists an interactive session by FactCheck.lk”.

The session was conducted by Verité Research’s Executive Director and Editor-in-chief of FactCheck.lk Dr. Nishan de Mel, Deputy Director of Media and Politics Deepanjalie Abeywardana, Senior Research Analyst Sureni Weerathunga in the Sinhala language. Interpretation was provided in the Tamil language.

In the discussion on holding high-level public officials and politicians accountable, the journalists advanced several suggestions, including: ensuring investigation of sources and verification process to improve accuracy of their work, the need to have alternative platforms online to publish articles that are not accepted by media outlets due to political affiliations, and educating media owners and editors who are the final decision makers on the content that is featured.

The session successfully fostered a constructive dialogue among the journalists about the increasing necessity of fact-checking in their line of work.

Ethics Eye school seminar series

In 2022, Verité Media’s Ethics Eye team conducted a series of seminars for school students conducted in Elizabeth Moir International School, Methodist College, and Hameed Al Husseinie College. The objective of these seminars was to to spread awareness on media ethics violations committed by Sri Lankan media and to educate youth on international reporting standards, with a special focus on how children, ethnicity, gender and death by suicide is featured in media concluding with a practical session where the student had the opportunity to test out what they learned.

Course on Media Reporting and polarisation: Consequences and countering measures

On November 30, 2022 Verité Media held a training course for a group of 16 journalists from the Sinhala, Tamil and English streams. The course was held at the Mövenpick Hotel in Colombo. The two-hour session was based on findings from The Divide and EE platforms and was titled Media reporting and polarisation: Consequences and countering measures.

A team of presenters from Verité Media, including Deputy Director of Media and Politics Deepanjalie Abeywardana, Research Managers Rochel Canagasabey, Rathika Fernando, and Assistant Research Managers Anupama Nirandi and Edward Uthayathas conducted the course. The Verité Media team followed an interactive approach and used examples to draw out insights from the journalists. The team also highlighted specific incidents around which polarised reporting is regularly observed (e.g., UNHRC, Black July, the end of the war) and invited the journalists to report on the same incidents next time without any polarisation. Verité Research’s Executive Director Dr. Nishan de Mel also participated in the latter stage of the programme and addressed the journalists.