HKU POP SITE releases people's appraisal of local news mediaBack
| Press Release on April 21, 2009 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Abstract | Latest Figures | Commentary | Next Release (Tentative) | | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Abstract The Public Opinion Programme (POP) at the University of Hong Kong interviewed 1,010 Hong Kong people between 6 and 9 April by means of a random telephone survey conducted by real interviewers. The survey finds that after going up significantly six months ago, the credibility rating of our local media has dropped back to the level registered one year ago. People's satisfaction with press freedom, and their belief that the media has given full play to this freedom, remains high at about three-quarters. However, two-thirds said the media has misused press freedom, and less than 30% consider the media to be responsible in their reporting. Almost half believed the media has practiced self-censorship, mainly because of their hesitation to criticize the Central Government. Many figures are similar to those registered a year ago. On the other hand, our survey also shows that television and newspapers continue to be people's main sources of news, followed by the internet and radio. In terms of satisfaction, television as a news media continues to top the list while radio follows. People's satisfaction with newspapers is just fair, while their appraisal of magazines remains negative. Compared to six months ago, people's satisfaction with the radio and their dissatisfaction with magazines have significantly increased, going back roughly to those registered one year ago. All in all, half of people are satisfied with the performance of the news media in general, which is significantly lower than their satisfaction with the degree of press freedom. The sampling error of all percentages is between +/-1 and 3 percentage points at 95% confidence level, while the sampling error of the rating figure is +/-0.10 mark. The response rate of the survey is 68%. Points to note: * The address of the "HKU POP SITE" is http://hkupop.pori.hk, journalists can check out the details of the survey there. * The sample size of this survey is 1,010 successful interviews, not 1,010 x 67.5% response rate. In the past, many media made this mistake. * The maximum sampling error of all percentages is between +/-1 and 3 percentage points at 95% confidence level, while the sampling error of the rating figure is +/-0.10 mark. "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. When quoting these figures, journalists can state "sampling error of rating not more than +/-0.10 mark and sampling error of percentages not more than +/-3% at 95% confidence level". * When quoting percentages of this survey, journalists should refrain from reporting decimal places, but when quoting the rating figures, one decimal place can be used, in order to match the precision level of the figures. * The data of this survey is collected by means of random telephone interviews conducted by real interviewers, not by any interactive voice system (IVS). If a research organization uses "computerized random telephone survey" to camouflage its IVS operation, it should be considered unprofessional. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Latest Figures POP today releases on schedule via the "HKU POP SITE" (http://hkupop.pori.hk) the latest figures of people's appraisal of the local news media. According to our general practice, all figures have been weighted according to the provisional figures obtained from the Census and Statistics Department regarding the gender-age distribution of the Hong Kong population in 2008 year-end. Herewith the contact information for the latest survey:
Recent figures are summarized as follows:
** Collapsed from a 5-point scale. # Such changes have gone beyond the sampling errors at the 95% confidence level, meaning that they are statistically significant prima facie. However, whether numerical differences are statistically significant or not is not the same as whether they are practically useful or meaningful. Results of latest survey showed that, on a scale of 0-10, the latest credibility rating of the Hong Kong news media in general was 6.09 marks. Moreover, 74% of the respondents were satisfied with the freedom of the press in Hong Kong, 29% perceived the local news media to be responsible in their reporting, 75% believed the local news media had given full play to the freedom of speech, but 67% said they had misused or abused the freedom of press. Besides, 47% of the respondents thought the local news media had practised self-censorship while 40% perceived the contrary, 31% thought they had scruples when criticizing the HKSAR Government, whereas 65% thought they had scruples when criticizing the Central Government. The results of other questions such as people's main source of news and their satisfaction on individual news media are shown below:
** Collapsed from a 5-point scale. ^ In 2007, this survey series was conducted once only. Starting April 2008, the survey cycle is changed to once every six months. ^^ As respondents can choose more than 1 answer, figures in brackets ( ) indicate percentages of total responses, while other figures indicate percentages of total resopndents. ^^^ Erratum: The percentages of respondents for Television, the Internet and magazine were 81%, 32% and 11% respectively in the original release. # Such changes have gone beyond the sampling errors at the 95% confidence level, meaning that they are statistically significant prima facie. However, whether numerical differences are statistically significant or not is not the same as whether they are practically useful or meaningful. Results of the survey also showed that, 86% and 75% of the respondents claimed their main source of news was the television and the newspaper respectively, while 59% 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 60% 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 37% and 7% only. All in all, the latest satisfaction rate of the above news media in general was 50%. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Commentary Robert Ting-Yiu Chung, Director of Public Opinion Programme, observed, "Our latest survey shows that after going up significantly six months ago, the credibility rating of our local media has dropped back to the level registered one year ago. People's satisfaction with press freedom, and their belief that the media has given full play to this freedom, remains high at about three-quarters. However, two-thirds said the media has misused press freedom, and less than 30% consider the media to be responsible in their reporting. Almost half believed the media has practiced self-censorship, mainly because of their hesitation to criticize the Central Government. Many figures are similar to those registered a year ago. On the other hand, our survey also shows that television and newspapers continue to be people's main sources of news, followed by the internet and radio. In terms of satisfaction, television as a news media continues to top the list while radio follows. People's satisfaction with newspapers is just fair, while their appraisal of magazines remains negative. Compared to six months ago, people's satisfaction with the radio and their dissatisfaction with magazines have significantly increased, going back roughly to those registered one year ago. All in all, half of people are satisfied with the performance of the news media in general, which is significantly lower than their satisfaction with the degree of press freedom. As for the reasons affecting people's appraisal of the press, readers can make their own judgment after reading the list of events archived in our 'Opinion Daily' feature page in our 'POP Site'." | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| | Abstract | Latest Figures | Commentary | Next Release (Tentative) | |
