Asians Display Lack of Trust in News

Research from Synovate reveals that, while most stick to TV and newspapers, one in five Asians access news on the web at least twice a week. One intriguing finding is the variation in the proportion of people who say they trust the news - this ranges from 78% in India to just 28% in Thailand.

The News Consumption study is based on a series of questions placed on AsiaBUS, Synovate's monthly omnibus survey, in June. The omnibus reaches a representative sample of more than 7,900 consumers aged 15-64 in China (Shanghai, Beijing, Guangzhou, Wuhan), Hong Kong, Thailand (Bangkok), India, Indonesia, Singapore and the Philippines (Manila). Interviews are conducted face to face in the Philippines and by telephone elsewhere.

Across the region, an average of 58% of respondents agreed with the statement 'I trust a lot of the news stories I see or hear', with results differing greatly between countries. Thais are the most cynical news consumers regionally with only 28% of respondents agreeing, followed by Chinese residents in major cities (43%) and Filipinos (42%). At the other end of the spectrum are Indians (78%) and Indonesians (73%).

Levels of trust may be partly influenced by the type of news people want to receive. India is the only nation where more people said they were interested in entertainment news (61%) and sports news (56%) than current affairs (55%). Current Affairs is the top ranked news type in all other countries.

Overall, respondents preferred to get their news from traditional sources such as TV and newspapers. 81% of Asian consumers tune into TV at least once a day for news and current affairs information. Newspapers are the second most popular medium, with 46% reading a newspaper at least once a day. Singapore and Hong Kong are the region's most avid newspaper readers with 67% and 61% of respondents respectively reading one at least once a day.



Radio is the third most important source of news and current affairs information, with more than one third of respondents switching on their radios for news updates at least once a day in Thailand (39%), Singapore (38%) and Hong Kong (37%).

While digital media still lags behind traditional means, its popularity is growing: 19% of
respondents use the Internet for information on news and current affairs between once a
day and two to three times a week. This rises to 25% in countries with high Internet penetration rates such as Hong Kong and Singapore. However, only 4% of respondents across all the countries had accessed a news web site for which they had paid to subscribe. Respondents from Singapore (9%), Hong Kong (8%) and China (7%) were most likely to have done so.

The biggest development is the emergence of web logs (blogs). More than one in 10 respondents had gone online to access a blog for news information in the past week. Figures were higher in Thailand (31%), China (22%) and Hong Kong (19%) - perhaps suggesting that those who do not trust the official news will seek out alternative sources.

Mobile phones are also emerging media for news and current affairs in China and Thailand,
where 18% and 16% of respondents respectively had received news or headlines on their
mobile phone in the past week. However, adoption in other countries remains relatively low.

Steve Garton, Synovate's Director of Media Research Asia Pacific, says the study shows that, however the news is accessed 'keeping in touch is very important to Asian consumers and helps foster a sense of community'.

Synovate's home page is at www.synovate.com

All articles 2006-23 written and edited by Mel Crowther and/or Nick Thomas, 2024- by Nick Thomas, unless otherwise stated.

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