HKU POP SITE releases the latest subjective freedom indicators and people's appraisal of local news mediaBack


Press Release on October 27, 2005
 

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 findings of the various subjective freedom indicators and people's appraisal of local news media. As a general practice, all figures have been weighted according to the gender-age distribution of the Hong Kong population obtained from the 2001 Population Census. Recent figures of the subjective freedom indicators are first summarized below:

 

 Date of survey 3-6/1/05 11-14/4/05 4-6/7/05 17-21/10/05 Latest change
 Sample base 1,022 1,009 1,020 1,009 ---
 Overall response rate 64.6% 62.8% 61.9% 65.6% ---
 Sampling error of indicators (at 95 % confidence level)* +/- 0.14 +/- 0.14 +/- 0.14 +/- 0.16 ---
 Freedom of religious belief 8.69 8.48 8.50 8.61 +0.11
 Freedom to enter or leave Hong Kong 8.45 8.52 8.34 8.51 +0.17
 Freedom to engage in academic research 8.10 8.06 8.01 8.14 +0.13
 Freedom to engage in artistic and literary creation 8.09 7.93 8.00 7.99 -0.01
 Freedom of procession and demonstration 7.61 7.36 7.38 7.33 -0.05
 Freedom of publication 7.49 7.26 7.27 7.31 +0.04
 Freedom of speech 7.43 7.27 7.20 7.26 +0.06
 Freedom of press 7.39 7.28 7.15 7.18 +0.03
 Freedom of association 7.40 7.14 7.11 7.09 -0.02
 Freedom to strike 6.76 6.65 6.73 6.72 -0.01

* "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.

 

The survey conducted in mid-October revealed that, on a scale of 0-10, the freedoms of "religious belief" and "entering or leaving Hong Kong" scored the highest ratings with 8.61 and 8.51 marks, followed by freedoms to engage in "academic research" and "artistic and literary creation", attaining 8.14 and 7.99 marks correspondingly. Freedoms of "procession and demonstration", "publication" and "speech" formed the next tier, with respective scores of 7.33, 7.31 and 7.26 marks. Finally, the freedom of "press", "association" and to "strike" attained 7.18, 7.09 and 6.72 marks correspondingly.

 

Robert Ting-Yiu Chung, Director of Public Opinion Programme, observed, "There was very little change in all ten subjective freedom indicators over the past three months, all rankings remained the same. As in our previous analysis, the 10 indicators can be divided into 4 grades. The top grade includes 'freedom of religious belief' and 'freedom to enter or leave Hong Kong', with slightly over 8.5 marks. The second grade includes 'freedom to engage in academic research' and 'freedom to engage in artistic and literary creation', at about 8.0 marks. Then come 'freedom of procession and demonstration', 'freedom of publication', 'freedom of speech', 'freedom of press' and 'freedom of association', between 7.0 and 7.5 marks. 'Freedom to strike' comes last, at slightly over 6.5 marks. Such clustering has become more obvious over the year past."

 

As for the people's appraisal of various news channels, recent figures are summarized as follows:

 

 Date of survey 13-16/4/04 11-14/10/04 18-21/4/05 17-21/10/05 Latest change
 Sample base 1,022 1,010 1,012 1,009 --
 Overall response rate 64.4% 63.6% 66.7% 65.6% --
 Sampling error of percentages (at 95% confidence level)* +/- 3% +/- 3% +/- 3% +/- 3% --
 People's main source of news: Television^ 78% (34%) 81% (34%) 81% (35%) 83% (33%) +2%
 People's main source of news: Newspaper^ 74% (32%) 69% (29%) 77% (33%) 75% (30%) -2%
 People's main source of news: Radio^ 33% (14%) 33% (14%) 30% (13%) 35% (14%) +5%
 People's main source of news: Internet^ 20% (9%) 23% (10%) 21% (9%) 23% (9%) +2%
 People's main source of news: Magazine^ 11% (5%) 12% (5%) 9% (4%) 12% (5%) +3%
 Perceived that television was the most trustworthy source 55% 55% 57% 55% -2%
 Perceived that newspaper was the most trustworthy source 15% 12% 16% 15% -1%
 Perceived that radio was the most trustworthy source 14% 15% 11% 13% +2%
 Perceived that internet was the most trustworthy source 2% 3% 2% 3% +1%
 Perceived that magazine was the most trustworthy source 1% <1% <1% <1% --
 Satisfaction rate of television** 72% 70% 75% 72% -3%
 Dissatisfaction rate of television** 3% 5% 4% 5% +1%
 Satisfaction rate of radio** 59% 57% 58% 58% --
 Dissatisfaction rate of radio** 5% 7% 4% 6% +2%
 Satisfaction rate of newspaper** 30% 36% 35% 38% +3%
 Dissatisfaction rate of newspaper** 17% 19% 16% 16% --
 Satisfaction rate of magazine** 10% 11% 10% 11% +1%
 Dissatisfaction rate of magazine** 31% 35% 35% 38% +3%
 Satisfaction rate of news media in general** 52% 52% 54% 52% -2%
 Dissatisfaction rate of news media in general ** 7% 9% 5% 7% +2%

* "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.
^ As respondents can choose more than 1 answer, figures in brackets ( ) indicate percentages of total responses, while other figures indicate percentages of total respondents. Only figures in brackets have been included in the original release.

 

Results of the mid-October survey showed that, 83% and 75%* of the respondents claimed their main source of news was the television and the newspaper respectively, while 55% thought the news reported by the former channel was the most trustworthy. Regarding people's appraisal of various news channels, 72% of the respondents were satisfied with the television, whereas 58% were satisfied with the radio. Comparatively speaking, people's satisfaction with the printed media was lower, as the respective satisfaction rates of the newspaper and the magazine were 38% and 11% only. All in all, the latest satisfaction rate of the above news media in general was 52%.

* The percentages of respondents who claimed their main source of news was television and newspaper were 33% and 30% respectively in the original release.

 

Robert Chung observed again, "People's appraisal of the news media has remained the same over the past six months. Television and newspapers continue to be people's main sources of news, followed by radio, and then the internet. In terms of satisfaction, television continues to top the list, followed by radio, newspapers, and then magazines which are always at the lower end."

 

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 regular release will be November 1, 2005, Tuesday, at 2 pm, we will release the latest popularity figures of CE Donald Tsang and the HKSAR Government. Then on November 3, 2005, Thursday, at 2 pm, the latest figures on subjective social and legal indicators will be released. Meanwhile, since we have almost completed our Policy Address follow-up survey, we may be able to release its findings tomorrow.

 

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.