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Perception of bias hampers trust in media

Thursday, 02 February 2012 09:41am

©The Sun Daily (Used by permission)
by Hemananthani Sivanandam and Azizul Abdul Ismail

PETALING JAYA (Feb 1, 2012): The lack of trust in the media in Malaysia, as seen from the 2012 Edelman Trust Barometer study, may be due to the perception that their news coverage is biased, says the National Union of Journalist (NUJ).

"We are not surprised by the results," said NUJ general secretary V. Anbalagan when contacted.

He said the lack of trust was mainly due to the public's perception of media as not being fair or balanced in their coverage.

"The public has raised the bar on journalism. The public today reads the news with a bag of salt, not just a pinch," he said, adding "they are much more informed and involved in news than they were before".

According to the Edelman study released on Tuesday, only 49% of Malaysians trust the media, while 52% trust the government. The result was taken from 1,000 general population respondents aged 25 to 64.

The Trust barometer also showed that Malaysians are so sceptical of the media that 66% need to hear a piece of information three to five times before accepting it as truth.

Anbalagan said the media have to work hard to regain the public's trust. The solution, he said, is for everyone involved including journalists, editors and owners of the media organisations, to realise whom they are serving – the public.

Ex-NUJ president Mohamed Ha'ta Wahari, when contacted, blamed government control of the media for the public's distrust.

"Some media are affiliated to certain parties, but without a neutral source, people will distrust both the media and the government even more," he said, calling for the Printing Presses and Publications Act (1984) to be abolished.

The Trust Barometer 2012 also revealed a severe breakdown across the board in terms of people's trust in governments globally, following the financial and political chaos of last year. In this category, Malaysia ranked nine out of 25 countries surveyed.

MCA president Datuk Seri Dr Chua Soi Lek said this showed that the government was not doing too badly.

"Of course there is room for improvement. In a democratic country, the voters are always very sceptical of the government, this is a very universal trend. So for me, I would say we hope we can do better," he said when approached at the DRB-Hicom Chinese New Year open house.

"But in the light of the findings, I would not say that we should gloat or shout about it but at least we have done not so badly. But we can improve."

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