HKU POP SITE releases the latest figures of people's appraisal of local news media's professionalismBack


Press Release on August 24, 2004
 

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 people's appraisal of the professionalism of the local news media. The relevant figures are summarized as follows:

 
 Date of survey 10-12/11/03 9-14/2/04 10-13/5/04 9-16/8/04 Latest change
 Sample base 1,062 1,008 1,021 1,019 --
 Overall response rate 63.4% 66.0% 61.9% 62.9% --
 Sampling error of percentages (at 95% confidence level)* +/- 3% +/- 3% +/- 3% +/- 3% --
 Sampling error of rating (at 95% confidence level)* +/- 0.10 +/- 0.12 +/- 0.10 +/- 0.12 --
 Freedom of the press in HK: Satisfaction rate** 55% 59% 51% 51% --
 Freedom of the press in HK: Dissatisfaction rate** 12% 12% 23% 19% -4%
 Perceived the local news media to be responsible in their reporting** 16% 20% 26% 25% -1%
 Perceived the local news media to be irresponsible in their reporting** 38% 29% 30% 30% --
 Perceived that the local news media had given full play to the freedom of speech 71% 67% 63% 63% --
 Perceived that the local news media had not given full play to the freedom of speech 20% 18% 24% 23% -1%
 Perceived that the local news media had misused/abused the freedom of press 70% 62% 62% 57% -5%
 Perceived that the local news media had not misused/abused the freedom of press 18% 21% 23% 27% +4%
 Credibility of the local news media in general 5.65 6.16 5.91 5.99 +0.08

* "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, 25% 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 57% 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 5.99 marks.

 

Robert Ting-Yiu Chung, Director of Public Opinion Programme, observed, "Our latest survey shows that people's dissatisfaction with Hong Kong's press freedom has subsided, after its surge due to the departure of some outspoken radio talk show hosts. Consistently more than half are satisfied. People's appraisal of the news media continued to be double-sided. That the media have given full play to the freedom of speech, and that they have misused or abused the freedom of press, are both majority views. A positive sign is that those who said the media have misused or abused the freedom have dropped significantly over the last 3 months. There is little doubt that people's next round of appraisal would depend on how our news media report election news."

 

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. From August 11 onwards, we will release the latest results of the Legislative Council election rolling survey every day at 2 pm via our POP site, until the election ends. Results of our regular surveys will still be released during this period of time. The date and time of our next release of regular survey findings will be August 31, 2004, Tuesday, at 2 pm, the latest popularity of CE Tung Chee-hwa and the HKSAR Government will be released.

 

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.