KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysians are bucking the global trend as far as the media is concerned, according to a recent study by international market research firm Ipsos.
The results showed that Malaysians trust traditional media such as newspapers, magazines, television and radio more now compared to five years ago.
In a statement, Ipsos said trust in media sources varied greatly across individual countries. While globally, trust in traditional media was on the decline, this was not the case in Malaysia.
Around 79 per cent of Malaysian respondents think newspapers and magazines have good intentions, whereas only 50 per cent globally agree.
For television and radio, 77 per cent of Malaysians trust their intentions, compared to just 52 per cent globally.
Traditional media also trumped online media, but only slightly. The study showed that 70 per cent of Malaysian respondents think online news is trustworthy, as opposed to 49 per cent worldwide.
“Malaysians report that they trust the media more now than five years ago, and the increase in trust is particularly strong for traditional media such as newspapers, TV and radio.
“Country patterns remain stable for trust in different news sources, with Malaysia ranking among the highest along with India, Saudi Arabia and South Africa, while Hungary, Serbia and Poland are often found among the lowest.”
Ipsos Malaysia managing director Arun Menon said the increase in trust in the media was obvious in the data after the 14th General Election and the country had a change in government under Pakatan Harapan.
“It is interesting how whilst the rest of the world is declining in terms of their trust in the media, Malaysia’s trust has increased. This was obvious in the data post the 2018 elections.
“Malaysians also do tend to trust news coming from sources that they are familiar with, giving traditional media an edge over online news platforms.
“This is important for the community to take note as what we say and pass on to the people we know matters, hence we would need to be cautious and careful as to the source and type of information that we passed on,” he said.
The global study done in 27 countries online involved 19,541 adults under the age of 74. Around 500 Malaysians were involved in the survey.
The study also found that people believe fake news is prevalent in the information they receive via different sources.
At the global level, 52 per cent believe there is a great deal of fake news in newspapers and magazines, as well as on television and radio, while 62 per cent are sceptical of the information received from online news websites and platforms.