HKU POP SITE releases ratings of the most well-known political groups, and people's appraisal of local news media's professionalismBack

The Public Opinion Programme (POP) at the University of Hong Kong today releases on schedule via the "HKU POP SITE" (http://hkupop.pori.hk) the latest ratings of the most well-known political groups, and people's appraisal of the professionalism of the local news media. Ratings of the most well-known political groups over the year past are summarized as follows:

* "95% confidence level" means that if we were to repeat a certain survey 100 times, using the same questions each time but with different random samples, we would expect 95 times getting a figure within the error margins specified.
[ ] Number in square brackets indicates rankings.
** Ratings with recognition rates below 50% are not available.

Findings obtained in mid-May showed that, the top 3 on the list of the most well-known political groups were Article 45 Concern Group, Hong Kong Confederation of Trade Unions (CTU) and Democratic Party (DP), attaining 54.3, 53.7 and 53.2 marks correspondingly. Hong Kong Association for Democracy and People's Livelihood (ADPL) and Hong Kong Federation of Trade Unions (FTU) ranked 4th and 5th, with support ratings of 51.8 and 51.6 marks respectively. The 6th to 10th ranks fell to Liberal Party (LP), Frontier, Hong Kong Alliance in Support of Patriotic Democratic Movement in China (HKASPDMC), Democratic Alliance for Betterment of Hong Kong (DAB) and April Fifth Action (AFA), in respective order. The mean score obtained by the top 5 political groups was 52.9 marks.

As for the results of people's satisfaction with the freedom of the press in Hong Kong and their appraisal of the performance of the local news media in general, relevant findings obtained since last August are summarized as follows:

* "95% confidence level" means that if we were to repeat a certain survey 100 times, using the same questions each time but with different random samples, we would expect 95 times getting a figure within the error margins specified.
** Collapsed from a 5-point scale.

Results showed that, 51% of the respondents were satisfied with the freedom of the press in Hong Kong, 26% perceived local news media to be responsible in their reporting. On the other front, 63% believed local news media had given full play to the freedom of speech, but 62% said they had misused or abused the freedom of press. As for the credibility rating of the Hong Kong news media in general, on a scale of 0-10, the latest figure registered was 5.91 marks.

Robert Ting-Yiu Chung, Director of Public Opinion Programme, observed, "The ratings of almost all political groups have gone up in this round of survey. The Article 45 Concern Group appears on the list for the first time, and tops it. Never before had 10 groups appeared on the list at the same time, which is rather special. Judging from the absolute value of the ratings, however, the popularity of political groups is still behind that of Legislative Councillors, taken nearly at the same period. In other words, Hong Kong people still support individuals more than political parties. On the other hand, people's appraisal of the news media continued to be of dual nature, as those who said our news media have given full play to the freedom of speech, and those who said they have misused or abused the freedom of press, both exceed 60%. Slightly more people consider the news media to be irresponsible, rather than responsible, in their news reporting though. One important point to note is that people's dissatisfaction rate of press freedom has increased significantly in the past 3 months, probably due to the spill-over effect of the departure of some outspoken radio talkshow hosts."

The research design of our "Most well-known political groups" has been explained in detail under "Survey Method" in our corresponding web page. The top political groups listed in our latest survey were all those who obtained highest unprompted mentions in our first stage naming survey conducted between May 3-7. In that survey, respondents could name, unaided, up to 10 political groups whom they knew best. Democratic Party (DP), Democratic Alliance for Betterment of Hong Kong (DAB), Liberal Party (LP), Frontier and Hong Kong Association for Democracy and People's Livelihood (ADPL) were mentioned most frequently. Please refer to the relevant table in our website for the rest of the list. The 12 most frequently mentioned political groups were then entered into the second stage rating survey. During that second stage survey conducted between May 10-13, respondents were asked to rate each political group in turn using a 0-100 scale. 0 indicates absolutely no support, 100 indicates absolute support, and 50 means half-half. After calculation, the bottom 2 political groups in terms of recognition rate were dropped, leaving behind the top 10. Finally, any group which failed to reach the 50% benchmark recognition rate was also dropped. It should, however, be noted that because political groups are not yet legal entities in Hong Kong, such definitions are rather vague, and so-called political groups are constantly evolving. As a result, strange names may appear in the list of groups mentioned by respondents in Stage One surveys. In order to avoid personal bias, our research team will eliminate groups which fall outside the popular definition only after the first stage of the survey. To facilitate readers follow our research process step by step, the POP Site has already displayed the results of all naming surveys conducted since July 1998.

POP's normal practice is to release the results of our regular surveys every Tuesday at 2 pm via our POP Site, except during public holidays, each time with a forecast of the items to be released in the forthcoming week. We will review and adjust this operation regularly. The date and time of our next release will be May 20, 2004, Thursday, at 2 pm, people's opinions towards constitutional reforms will be released. Then, on May 25, 2004, Tuesday, at 2 pm, we will release the latest popularity of CE Tung Chee-hwa and HKSAR Government.

Shall anyone have any question regarding the research design of the surveys published in the POP Site, members of the POP Team will be happy to answer them, but we will not further comment on the findings. Shall any person or journalist have any other questions, please email them to us at <[email protected]>. The Director of Public Opinion Programme would answer them as soon as possible. We will keep such an arrangement under constant review, suggestions most welcome. Please note that everything carried in the POP Site does not represent the stand of the University of Hong Kong. Dr Robert Ting-Yiu Chung, Director of Public Opinion Programme, is responsible for everything posted herewith, except for column articles which represent the stand of their authors.