Malaysian media have 'medium to low risk' of disinformation, study finds

 

A study by the Global Disinformation Index (GDI) and the Centre for Independent Journalism (CIJ) has found that Malaysian media have a medium to low risk of spreading disinformation.

The findings of the report also showed many Malaysian news sites lacked transparency in their operations, where they failed to disclose their funding sources as well as ownership.

"When it comes to indicators that assess the reliability of content, it is supported by strong performance on the Context Pillar indicators that measure quality reporting, with an overall average score of 81 out of 100," CIJ said in a statement after the study’s report was launched yesterday.

A lower score indicates a higher risk of disinformation, while a higher score indicates a lower risk.

The study assessed 31 of the most visited news sites in the country and found that 75 percent of them fell in the medium-risk category of disinformation, six sites were rated as low risk, while two sites presented a high level of disinformation risk.

The study did not disclose the scores for each of the 31 sites.

However, it covered news sites in English, Malay and Chinese, where they were assessed through three key pillars - the site’s content, operational checks and balances, as well as how informed online readers perceive the overall context of the sites.

“Sites at 'high risk' tend to use sensational headlines, lack transparency in operations and are often purveyors of inaccurate news. However, there are no sites that fall under the 'maximum risk' and 'minimum risk' categories,” GDI and CIJ said.

According to the report, the "overall ratings decreased significantly by operational shortcomings due to a lack of transparent information about a site’s beneficial owners and its sources of funding, as well as operational and editorial policies".

"Based on a scale of 0 to 100, Malaysian sites scored 15 for attribution as well as policies for ensuring accuracy, 30 for ownership transparency, and 31 for funding transparency."

The report outlined several recommendations for Malaysian media outlets, including adopting journalistic and operational standards such as incorporating standard operating procedures (SOP) for fact-checking and publishing sources of funding on the news site instead of its parent company’s website, among other things.

During a panel discussion yesterday, one of the study’s authors Tharn Jia Vern also highlighted the need for media outlets to publish policies for user-generated comments as one of the study’s recommendations, citing Malaysiakini’s recent court case as an example.

“I think this has been quite the case for a lot of sites, especially on the policies on users' comments, after what happened to Malaysiakini,” she said.

The news outlet was found liable for contempt of court over its readers' comments and was fined RM500,000 by the Federal Court earlier this year.

Meanwhile, the study also urged the government to strengthen legislation on rights to information, and promote freedom of information in the country.

It also repeated calls for the establishment of a self-regulatory media council which has long been advocated by media practitioners, as well as to abolish restrictive media laws such as the 1984 Printing Presses and Publications Act (PPPA) and the 1998 Communications and Multimedia Act (CMA).

“The need for a trustworthy and independent rating of disinformation risk is necessary.

“The launch of this risk-rating framework will provide crucial information to policymakers, news websites, and the ad tech industry to enable key decision-makers to stem the tide for a healthier and sustainable media environment,” GDI and CIJ added. - Mkini

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