Media Skepticism

Media Skepticism among youth

MBR TERM PROJECT
DATE: 10th dec 2012

Section
B
Submitted To
Miss Saadiyeh Said

Submitted By

Naresh kumar (10571)
Omer siddique
Farrukh
Jahazeb
Institute of Business Management
Korangi Creek, Karachi-75190, Pakistan
UAN (9221)111-002-004, Fax: [phone]
Http://www.iobm.edu.pk
LETTER OF ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

December 10th 2012
Dear Readers
We are thankful to Allah Almighty for giving us the capability and strength to complete this research report on “Media skepticism among youth” for the course Methods in Business Research.
We would also like to thank our course instructor Miss Saadiyeh Said whose utmost dedication and devotion provided us with the insight to prepare a long report. It was due to her guidance and teachings that enabled us to finish this research report.
We would also like to thank our respondents and all the sources for their cooperation with us and providing us with the information that we required to complete this report. And we express sincere gratitude to our parents for their continuous support throughout the preparation of this report.
Sincerely
Naresh kumar
Farrukh
Omer siddique
Jahazeb

Institute of Business Management
Korangi Creek, Karachi-75190, Pakistan
UAN (9221)111-002-004, Fax: [phone]
LETTER OF TRANSMITTAL
December 10th 2012
Miss Saadiyeh Said
Course Instructor-Methods in Business Research
Institute of Business Management, Karachi
Dear Miss
Here is our research report on “Media skepticism among youth” which was to be submitted on December 10th 2012. The report analyzes media Skepticism among youth of Pakistan.
We greatly benefited from this report as our research term report. It helped us widening our vision, improving our quality of work, building self-reliance work and gave a vital experience in order to improve our analytical skills.
We hope this report is as per your instructions & contains all the relevant information. We would dearly & sincerely like to thank you for the belief you showed in our capabilities and the support you gave us throughout the semester & in assigning us the report. This truly helped us in our learning process & also gave us firsthand experience regarding formal long reports based on comparison. Sincerely
Naresh kumar
Farrukh
Omer Siddique
Jahazeb
Contents
No table of contents entries found.

Executive Summary

INTRODUCTION

Media skepticism is the degree to which individuals are skeptical toward the reality presented in the mass media. Media skepticism varies across individuals, from those who are mildly skeptical and accept most of what they see and hear in the media to those who completely discount and disbelieve the facts, values, and portrayal of reality in the media.
Media skepticism’ as a subjective feeling of alienation and mistrust toward the mainstream news media. For example, media skepticism is the feeling that journalists are not fair or objective in their reports about society and that they do not always tell the whole story. It is the feeling that mainstream news outlets will sacrifice accuracy and precision for personal and commercial gains. It is the perception that one cannot believe what one reads in the newspaper or sees on TV news. In other words, media skepticism applies the general concept of mistrust to audience perceptions of the way mainstream news institutions function in society.
The results of an online survey conducted by The Express Tribune revealed that most Pakistanis feel the local media spreads negativity, is sensationalist and is sponsored by political parties.A total of 1,025 Pakistanis and expatriates participated in the online survey.
Respondents included a majority of those aged between 20-30 (61%) and 30-40 (21%). Males comprised 83 per cent of the total sample whereas journalists and media personnel constituted 13 per cent of total respondents, which sums up to approximately 133 people. Some 68 per cent respondents felt that in general, “Pakistani media spreads negativity” whereas 67 per cent thought “the Pakistani media is sensationalist in nature” and 53 per cent felt that “the Pakistani media is sponsored by political parties.” With regard to what media practices count as unethical, 65 per cent of the respondents felt that “Taking a photo/video of people in public” and “Receiving external funding for programmes/coverage” each counts as the most unethical practice whereas 61 per cent voted for “Interviewing rape victims.” Only 2 per cent, that is only 20 – 21 people of the total sample felt that news is always reported responsibly in Pakistan. 38 per cent voted that news is ‘rarely’ reported responsibly in Pakistan and nine per cent felt it is ‘never’ reported responsibly in Pakistan.
The question of ethics and responsible reporting led to questioning the sample whether they had ever been offended by a news story or TV report and if they had ever made an official complaint or signed a petition against a media group. With regards to the former, a large majority of 88 per cent, 902 people out of the total sample, said they had been offended by a news story or TV report.
For the latter, 68 per cent of the sample, 697 people, voted that they had never filed an official complaint or signed any petition against a media group. The remaining 32 per cent claimed to have taken action against offensive media. A minority of five per cent, approximately 51 people, felt that the government was effectively regulating the media in Pakistan. For the free media Pakistan claims to have, this is a very insignificant number. A majority of 79 per cent voters felt that the government is not effectively regulating the Pakistani media, whereas the remaining 12 per cent were unsure. Of the nearly 810 people who felt the government is not effectively doing its job, 84 per cent were journalists.
Finally, the respondents were asked about the extent to which the news media influenced their opinions and actions. A mere three per cent of the sample felt that the media always influences their opinions. ‘Often’ and ‘sometimes’ had a close competition of 33 per cent and 36 per cent respectively. Of the sample that agreed that the media does influence their opinions, interestingly 38 per cent were journalists as compared to 32 per cent non-journalists. Also, those who consumed news for up to three hours per day were in the majority that claimed that the media shaped their opinions and actions.
Our Research objective is * To find out the youth opinions about local media * To find out the influence of media on the youth of Pakistan * To find out level of impact of media on the youth * To find out how many people think local media is not doing its job properly * To find out how many people think it is backed by politician * To find out how many people think it is supported by foreign

METHODOLOGY:
Type of Research: Descriptive Research
Population Interest: Youth, university students
Geographic Location: Karachi
Sample Size: 200 students
Sampling Method: Non Probability
Sampling Technique: Convenience Survey
Data Collection Method: Questionnaire- based
Questionnaires were distributed among the students at Institute of Business Management, Institute of Business Administration, Iqra University and SZABIST, National university ( Fast), Sir Syed university and dow university.
Measure
To incorporate each and every aspect of our preferred topic we have set up a questionnaire which includes a set of nineteen questions, in which our core objective is to focus on the media Skepticism among youth.
Sample
In order to conduct our research, we designed a “questionnaire based survey” to acquire a definite response. In which we have taken an estimate of 200 participants from IoBM, IBA, IQRA and SZABIST, National University, Sir Syed University and Dow university.

Our hypotheses are:
Hypothesis 1
Ho: there is no major influence of media on the youth
H1: There is a significant influence of media on the youth

Hypothesis 2
Ho: Local media creating negative image of Pakistan
H1: local media creating positive image of Pakistan

Hypothesis 3
Ho: Local media is not doing its job properly
H1: Local media is doing good job

Hypothesis 4
Ho: Local media is not under political influence
H1: Local media is under political influence

Hypothesis 5
Ho: Local Media is not under foreign influence
H1: Local Media is under foreign influence

Hypothesis 6 Ho: Local media do not help in solving problems H1: Local media helps in solving problems

Analysis

Standard editing and coding procedures were used. We used SPSS (Statistical Package for the Social Sciences) software for data analysis. This enabled us to transform quantitative data to statistical data and included bar graphs, Pie charts, and frequency distribution tables. The data was then easy to analyze and interpret. The details of analysis and tabulation of results follow in subsequent sections.

Results # of responses % of responses
# of responses % of responses
Q1: HOW MUCH TIME DO YOU SPEND WATCHING TV DAILY? | | LESS THAN 1 HOUR | | 50 | 50% | 1-3 HOURS | | 34 | 34% | 4-5 HOOURS | | 12 | 12% | D: MORE THAN 5 HOURS | | 4 | 4% | |

# of responses % of responses
# of responses % of responses
Q2: WHAT TYPE OF PROGRAM DO YOU PREFER TO WATCH? | | NEWS | | 27 | 27% | ENTERTAINMENT | | 47 | 47% | SPORTS | | 17 | 17% | Other | | 9 | 9% | |

# of responses % of responses
# of responses % of responses
Q4:WHAT TYPE OF NEWS INTERESTS YOU MOST? | | POLITICAL | | 40 | 40% | ENTERTAINMENT | | 32 | 32% | SPORTS | | 21 | 21% | FASHION | | 7 | 7% | |

# of responses % of responses
# of responses % of responses
Q5:HOW MUCH TIME DO YOU THINK YOU CAN TRUST CHANNELS TO REPORT NEWS FAIRLY? | | ALWAYS | | 9 | 9% | MOST OF THE TIME | | 33 | 33% | ONLY SOME OF THE TIME | | 50 | 50% | NONE OF THE TIME | | 8 | 8% | |

Q6:ON A SCALE OF 1-7, TO WHAT EXTENT DO YOU BELIEVE MEDIA IS BIAS? | NOT AT ALL BIAS | | EXTREMELY BIASED | | 1 - | # of responses % of responses
# of responses % of responses
NOT AT ALL BIAS | 6 | 6% | 2 | | 6 | 6% | 3 | | 12 | 12% | 4 | | 24 | 24% | 5 | | 18 | 18% | 6 | | 16 | 16% | 7 - | EXTREMELY BIASED | 18 | 18% | |

Q7:TO WHAT EXTENT DO YOU AGREE/DISAGREE TO THE FOLLOWING STATEMENTS ABOUT TELEVISION MEDIA?

Q8:TO WHAT EXTENT DO YOU AGREE/DISAGREE TO THE FOLLOWING STATEMENTS ABOUT NEWSPAPER?

Q9: TO WHAT EXTENT DO YOU AGREE/DISAGREE TO THE FOLLOWING STATEMENTS ABOUT NEWS MAGZINE? Fair Tells whole Story

Can be trusted Accurate

# of responses % of responses

# of responses % of responses

Q10:ON A SCALE OF 1-7 PLEASE SPECIFY WHETHER THE MEDIA IS CREATING NEGATIVE IMAGE OF THE COUNTRY: | EXTREMELY NEGATIVE | | LEAST NEGATIVE | | 1 - | E. NEGATIVE | 17 | 17% | 2 | | 20 | 20% | 3 | | 19 | 19% | 4 | | 21 | 21% | 5 | | 10 | 10% | 6 | | 9 | 9% | 7 - | L. NEGATIVE | 3 | 3% | |

Q11:DO YOU CONSIDER THE MEDIA UNDER ANY KIND OF POLITICAL INFLUENCE? | # of responses % of responses

# of responses % of responses

| YES | | 84 | 84% | NO | | 16 | 16% | |

Q12:DO YOU CONSIDER MEDIA UNDER ANY KIND OF FOREIGN INFLUENCE? | | # of responses % of responses

# of responses % of responses

YES | | 75 | 75% | NO | | 25 | 25% | |

Q13: IN YOUR OPINION, ARE TALK SHOWS JUST STAGED PERFORMANCE/DRAMA? | | # of responses % of responses

# of responses % of responses

STRONGLY AGREE | | 43 | 43% | AGREE | | 42 | 42% | DISAGREE | | 13 | 13% | STRONGLY DISAGREE | | 2 | 2% | |

Q14: IN YOUR OPINION, DOES MEDIA HELPS SOCIETY SOLVE ITS PROBLEM? | | # of responses % of responses

# of responses % of responses

STRONGLY AGREE | | 9 | 9% | AGREE | | 43 | 43% | DISAGREE | | 38 | 38% | STRONGLY DISAGREE | | 10 | 10% | |

# of responses % of responses

# of responses % of responses

Q15: IN YOUR OPINION, DOES MEDIA CREATE CHAOS AND TENTIONS? | | STRONGLY AGREE | | 44 | 44% | AGREE | | 50 | 50% | DISAGREE | | 4 | 4% | STRONGLY DISAGREE | | | | |

Q16: DO YOU EVER VERIFY THE NEWS YOU GET ON THE MEDIA? | | # of responses % of responses

# of responses % of responses

YES | | 27 | 27% | NO | | 73 | 73% | |

Q18: IN YOUR OPINION, WHAT MEDIA CARE ABOUT? | | # of responses % of responses

# of responses % of responses

BEING FIRST ONE TO REPORT | | 74 | 74% | BEING ACCURATE IN REPORTING | | 26 | 26% | |

Conclusion

Limitations

The following limitations were faced by us during the course of our research. 1. It is limited to the respondents who were available at the time of data collection. The study being based on convenience sampling. 2. The study is limited to only one city of Pakistan i-e Karachi. 3. We could not go to all the universities, therefore we selected universities on our convenience.

APPENDIX