THE local press, especially traditional media formats like newspapers, TV and radio, are more trusted by the public now than they were five years ago, said a market research firm.

Ipsos Malaysia said a recent survey shows that while the rest of the world saw declining trust in the media, the reverse is true in Malaysia after the general election last year.

“This was particularly obvious in the data post-2018 elections,” managing director Arun Menon said in a press statement accompanying the survey report released today.

“Malaysians do tend to trust news coming from sources that they are familiar with, giving traditional channels an edge over online news platforms.”

Malaysia ranks among the highest in trust in the media, topping the list with India, Saudi Arabia and South Africa. Trust in the press was lowest in Hungary, Serbia and Poland.

The report said Malaysians, along with people in India and South Africa, strongly believe the media act with good intentions.

“79% of Malaysians think newspapers and magazines have good intentions (vs 50% globally), 77% trust the intentions of TV & radio (vs 52% globally), and for online new sources the figure is 70% (vs 49%).”

TV and radio have the trust of 68% of Malaysians,  compared with 71% in India and just 17% in Serbia, the survey found.

Trust is slightly lower for online news platforms with 45% saying they trust media on the internet and  50% saying they do not.

Globally, however, Malaysians’ distrust of online media over the last five years registered a lower decline at -12% compared with -16% for traditional media.

The Ipsos’ report also found that globally, people are most trusting of news and information they receive from those they know personally.

“Globally, among sources of news and information, only personal relationships have grown in trustworthiness over the past five years. 

“Malaysians also trust news and information from people they know in person more than any other 
source.”

As such, Arun said it is important that people understand that what they say and what they pass on  matters.

“We would need to be cautious and careful as to the source and type of information that we pass on”.

Five hundred Malaysians took part in the online survey that covered 27 countries from January 25- February 8.

Ipsos added the caveat that the sample size is not nationally representative and that those surveyed were more urban-dwellers who were better educated and drew a higher income. – July 10, 2019.