The Hong Kong University Public Opinion Programme (HKU POP) has released the results of a survey into the credibility of the local news media.
The results are not good, with responses indicating that the trustworthiness of news media has dipped to a new low.
HKU POP director Robert Ting said in a statement, “compared to seven months ago when the Umbrella Movement just started, the general credibility rating of the news media has dropped by 0.12 to 5.72 marks, which is a new low since October 2006.”
While 0.12 points isn’t so bad, the survey also shows that fewer people are satisfied with the level of perceived press freedom in Hong Kong. The figure fell a significant 13 percent from the 30 percent mark recorded last October.
Among the 1,024 respondents, only a third believe the freedom of the press is fully exercised, and roughly the same amount thinks press freedom has been misused and abused since last year.
Almost 30 percent say the media have done a good job in reporting responsibly, although the percentage of those who believe otherwise grew six percent to 32 percent. This could be because more than half (52 percent) believe that the media practices self-censorship.
It’s true. We were going to say how awful the Beijing government is today, but decided not to.
In terms of where people are most likely to get their news from, television still reigns supreme with 78 percent of respondents tuning in to get their current affairs fix. Just goes to show how lazy people are.
The revelation is the internet (whoop!), which jumped eight percent to finally supersede print as the second main source of news for the first time ever.
With respect to the perceived trustworthiness, however, television news is still in a class of its own, with 42 percent giving it the thumbs up. Print comes in at second place, registering only 19 percent, while internet lags behind at 10 percent.
Obviously that 10 percent are all Coconauts.
Photo: Kevin Dharmawan for Coconuts Media
