A man is seen reading the newspaper by the road side along Penang Road in George Town. ― Picture by KE Ooi

KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 12 ― A recent survey by the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism (RISJ) showed over half of Malaysians do not trust the news that they read and are of the view that media organisations in the country are not free from “undue political influence”.

The Reuters Institute Digital News Report 2016 released earlier this week gave a detailed analysis of digital news and media use across Hong-Kong, Malaysia, Singapore and Taiwan with patterns and comparisons across other Asia-Pacific regions including Japan, Australia and South Korea, and selected European and North American markets (the UK and the US).

The report said that 61 per cent out of Malaysians polled in an online questionnaire disagreed that news media in Malaysia are independent of undue political or government interference.

Only 13 per cent perceived news media to be free from any influence while 28 per cent neither agreed or disagreed on the matter.

“Across all markets covered in the main report and the pilot study, significant numbers disagree with the statement that ‘the news media in my country is independent from undue political or government influence most of the time’ ― that is, they see news media as subject to undue political influence. But there is substantial variation, from figures around 30 per cent in many markets to figures over 50 or even 60 per cent in cases like Malaysia, South Korea, and the US,” the report said.

Comparatively, respondents from countries like Hong Kong and Singapore feel that their news media was free from political influence, with 28 and 33 per cent respectively disagreeing with the the statement in question.

Similarly, a significant 51 per cent of Malaysians polled believe that local news media are not free from commercial influence compared to just 13 per cent who feel otherwise and the 36 per cent who were on the fence.

Trust in news

The study also showed how respondents from different countries viewed the news they read in terms of trust. In this respect, countries like In Hong Kong, and especially Singapore scored higher compared to Taiwan and Malaysia.

For Malaysia, 29 per cent of respondents said they do not trust the news they read, as opposed to 18 per cent of respondents from Singapore and Taiwan. The number who openly expressed distrust in the news they read was higher in more developed nations like South Korea (30 per cent) and the US (38 per cent).

The report also pointed out the close link between news published and the journalists as well as the media outlets that present them, with higher levels of trust again recorded in Hong Kong and Singapore, and lower levels of trust in Taiwan and Malaysia.

Only 22 per cent of Malaysians and 23 per cent of Taiwanese nationals polled agreed that journalists can be trusted “most of the time”. In comparison, 39 per cent of respondents from Hong Kong and 35 per cent from Singapore had trust in journalists in their reporting of the news.

These figures are also reflective of the trust countries had in their local news organisations. In Malaysia, 29 per cent of respondents did not trust the editorial independence of media organisations, similar to South Korea (44 per cent) and the US (40 per cent).

“This is an indication of how strong brands associated with editorial values can enhance the credibility of the work of individual journalists.

“Again, there are higher levels of distrust in Malaysia than in any other market covered in the pilot study, more akin to what is seen, for example, in South Korea,” the report added.

Social media as the main source of news

In Malaysia, the report said that social media is considered the main source of news, overtaking television, radio or print news in terms of reach among internet users.

“Here, Malaysia in particular stands out as a country in which social media are not only widely used for news, but also the most frequently named main source of news. In Singapore, social media are tied with television and newspapers in the number of people who name them their main source of news.

“In both these markets, television is mentioned far less frequently as a main source of news than in most other markets, and newspapers significantly more frequently, a testament to the strength of titles like the Straits Times and Today in Singapore, Sin Chew and The Sun in Malaysia,” the report said.

The study was conducted online, and was commissioned by the RISJ to understand how news is being consumed in a range of markets in the Asia-Pacific region.

The report combines data from RISJ's main Digital News Report with a full survey fielded by YouGov using an online questionnaire at the end of January/beginning of February 2016 across 26 countries and an additional pilot study with a selection of the same questions and a smaller sample size conducted across an additional four markets in AsiaPacific in April 2016 ― Hong Kong, Singapore, Taiwan, and Malaysia.