KUCHING: The mainstream media’s role in restoring public trust is still crucial and requires everyone’s involvement, including the public.
New Sarawak Tribune online editor Nazmi Suhaimi highlighted the role of the media in checking and verifying reports as the difference between it and social media.
“Currently, it is a work in progress, we (reporters in modern age) spend a lot of time trying to refute fake news.
‘However, this doesn’t take very long, if you can get the relevant authorities and offer the clarification on the matter, then it is very brief.”
Nazmi said this during the panel discussion “Politics and Trust in Media : A Calculated Measure” held at Tun Abdul Rahman Ya’kub Library (PeTARY), Universiti Malaysia Sarawak here on Thursday (Jan 5).
Compared to social media, he pointed out that mainstream media agencies had the upperhand as they could clarify and have access to relevant agencies and authorities.
He also mentioned that “as reporters, we try to tailor the content made for them so that it (the news) could be reachable, suitable and more importantly newspapers in general, very readable.
Meanwhile, TVS news anchor Cheryl Toh agreed that acquiring credible sources sets apart mainstream media and social media.
“It is a policy for us in TVS to have legitimate sources to comment on the content regarding the general election.
“Because if we were to put it out there, without a credible source then it wouldn’t be trusted.
“Policies are something that people want to read, they want to know what the future holds for them,” she said.
Toh also pointed out that credible sources came from statements either in press releases by companies refuting fake news or the authorities such as the Fire and Rescue Department (Bomba).
Jamali Bujang Sanawi, a political communication lecturer from the Faculty of Language and Communication, opined that trust in the media was declining in many countries, even in Europe.
“Malaysia is not the only country, so this kind of trend is not exclusive, even Scandinavian countries experience decline in trust in the media.
“One of the reasons people lose trust in the media is when the media takes sides, once they become a partisan media, people start to think this media won’t objectively represent the opposite view.”
However, Jamali was quick to note that media bias could happen in many ways either in the audience itself and that a neutral news could also be perceived as bias.
The event was organised by the students from the Faculty of Language and Communication, with around 100 students present at the auditorium and some 120 following it online.
