Women’s tabloid papers in Sri Lanka; A content analysis

Abstract

Electronic Media is capturing the current society in a considerable speed. However, the tabloid papers have their popularity unchanged among the Sri Lankan women. In the world, the percentage of publishing and selling of women’s tabloid papers in Sri Lanka is very high . In addition, the exchanging of the tabloid papers among the Sri Lankan women is higher than the sale. Through these tabloid papers, women in a direct way, their families in an indirect way and, a substantial amount of the people in the society are influenced. Therefore, it is essential to discuss about the aim, and the influence of these tabloid papers, and the fields, which influenced. Hence, the contents of the papers were analyzed for the reference of the current situation of women’s tabloid papers using the method of content analysis. The women’s tabloid papers which have the highest sale and which have been published for a long period were selected as the sample. Total quantity of 54 news papers named Tharuni, Nawaliya, Sirikatha and Rajina which were published during August to October, 2005 were included in to the sample newspapers. These are the most popular tabloid papers among Sri Lankan women and they have been published continuously for a long period. Interviews with the newspaper editors and the target readers of these newspapers from a selected area were also been used for the data collection. 50 of randomly selected women both married and unmarried, between the age limit of 19 to 55 years were the target reader group. Conclusion is that the contents and the structure of these tabloid papers are directing the Sri Lankan women who are more than half of the total population of the country to the traditional frames instead of directing them towards the developing process of the country.