Malaysia Is Only Country Where Media Is Trusted More Than Friends & Family On Covid-19 Updates
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According to survey results from YouGov, a global research company, Malaysia is the only country to have responded on a question with more trust put in media than their own friends and family.
In Malaysia, there was a large amount of trust in all sources of information for Covid-19 news. Whether the information came from the media, government, friends and family, or directly from healthcare professionals, Malaysians proved themselves to be a very trusting group.
More than 80% of respondents claimed that they “completely trust” or “somewhat trust” all the above mentioned sources.
However, all other countries trusted information from friends and family more than media- in fact, trust in the media was the least on average- except for Malaysia, which responded the opposite.
This is likely due to the distrust most Malaysians have with mass-forwarded chain messages on online messaging platforms like Whatsapp or Telegram. The country has cracked down on such forwarded messages in an effort to combat fake news.
Since the pandemic started, everyone has received at least a few messages touting how the sun can kill the virus or how vitamin C can cure Covid-19, which had required the government and media outlets to debunk potentially dangerous claims.
Luckily, it appears that most Malaysians tend to be skeptical about these messages and would rather turn to other more trustworthy news sources for their information.
Malaysians put the most trust in healthcare professionals, followed by the government, then the media, and last in their friends and family.
Additionally, Malaysians on the whole are pretty positive that the Covid-19 situation is improving.
86% of respondents have said that the situation is getting better, with only 8% saying that it will get worse.
On the whole, it seems that Malaysians have a general optimistic view of the pandemic and are getting their information from trusted sources.
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