Improving business strategy through politics and public sentiment

Even if organisations invest in increasing their political awareness, they may miss out on another crucial aspect—public sentiment. 

Policies in Sri Lanka tend to change rapidly, and often, overnight. For international and local organisations operating in such an environment, a deeper understanding of political dynamics is essential. Organisations that learn to navigate Sri Lanka’s rapidly changing political environment are better placed to adapt to change, while also spotting risks and opportunities for growth.

Even if organisations invest in increasing their political awareness, they may miss out on another crucial aspect—public sentiment. Organisations that take public beliefs and values into account are better equipped to make decisions that enjoy social consensus, enabling them to gain a competitive advantage or build trust with their target audience. 

Verité Media has channelled its expertise towards developing two products that address the knowledge and sentiment gaps in understanding political events: FrontPage and The Media Analysis. Both products aim to support organisations to make strategic decisions that can benefit current and future operations. 

Frontpage: Ten newspapers. One click.

FrontPage is a daily news bulletin that offers a snapshot into the different political realities between Sinhala and Tamil communities. Our research shows that Sinhala and Tamil readers often come across entirely different news stories that shape what they prioritise, how they interpret issues, and how they respond. 

Every working day, our trilingual team of media and political analysts comb through the front pages of the most widely read local language newspapers to handpick the most pressing issues felt across the nation. The selected summaries are translated into English and directly sent to your inbox or WhatsApp. 

FrontPage is convenient, informative and reliable. Many of our subscribers find FrontPage valuable to devising programmatic interventions that respond to the concerns of diverse demographic groups. 

The Media Analysis: An aperture into the Sinhala mindset

The Media Analysis (TMA) fills a void in mainstream political analysis by assessing the local language media to understand the factors shaping public sentiment. TMA offers cutting-edge analysis and insight into the public mindset by analysing the political and cultural assumptions underlying Sinhala press reporting, TV coverage and social media posts—including popular memes—on topics of national importance. Each issue of TMA also features ‘The Divide’, which shows the divided reporting between the Sinhala and Tamil media on common issues.

The weekly analysis is supplemented by Macro-political Briefings conducted by a team of media and political analysts. The briefings draw insights from diverse sectors—politics, economics, law and media—to provide a holistic understanding of key developments. We welcome questions from participants at the briefings for our Mood of the Nation surveys. The surveys assess whether national decisions enjoy social acceptance or whether certain issues give rise to shifts in public sentiment. 

For over ten years, TMA has been instrumental to formulating effective organisational strategies that consider the impact of national budgets, elections, international relations and issues that are missed out by mainstream media yet shape public opinion. 

Why Verité Media?

Verité Media is part of Verité Research, an interdisciplinary private think tank that provides strategic analysis for decision-making and policy development in Asia. Verité Media aims to educate Sri Lankans on responsible media practices and the critical consumption of information. FrontPage and TMA are two products by Verité Media that draw from Verité Research’s expertise in generating objective and data-driven analyses, and its deep understanding across Sri Lanka’s three main language domains.