Provocative News Content Moniza Waheed & Ezhar Tamam Universiti - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

Malaysians’ Reaction to Provocative News Content Moniza Waheed & Ezhar Tamam Universiti Putra Malaysia MCMC Research Symposium: Malaysia on the Cusp of Hyper- Connectivity 21 November 2019 Putrajaya Mariott Hotel 1

Highlights on Social Media Use For News For All 2017 2018 2017 2018 Facebook 54% 64% 74% 82% WhatsApp 51% 54% 77% 82% YouTube 26% 33% 63% 72% Instagram 13% 17% 37% 45% FB messenger 13% 12% 29% 36% Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism / Digital News Report 2018 2

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Research Obje jective How do Malaysians react to emotion-elicit provocative news which touches on religion, cultural sensitivity and government performance on social media (Facebook and WhatsApp)? 4

Provocative news …. • News which attracts attention of the masses, touches on issues that are sensitive or deviates from cultural norms, elicit negative emotion, and could possibly instigate social disharmony and/or uncertainty. 5

Stimulus Stimulus 1 (news event) Stimulus 2 (news announcement) 6

Questionnaire • Frequency of getting & posting • Questions to check news effectiveness of the Stimulus • Scale items • News salience • Stimulus • Frequency of using news verification methods • (either Stimulus 1 or 2) • Sociodemographic questions • Cognitive response (write all (Age, gender, race, education the thought had while reading level, occupational group, the news) political interest, political talk • Behavioral response (indicate & political party affliction) likeliest course of action) 7

Behavioral Response (I (Intention) • How would you react to the news-related post you just read? [Select ONE that best indicates your likeliest course of action] •  “Shame” the act of sharing the post •  Forward without comments •  Share with comments expressing support •  Share with comments expressing disagreement •  Respond by flagging the post out of concern of its harm •  Get more information about the news •  Read comments by others about the post •  Ignore, do nothing •  Share with comments expressing skepticism 8

Demographic In Information Variable % (N= 564) Education Diploma and 39.1 lower 51.6 Gender Bachelor 10.3 Male 43.6 Masters/PhD Female 56.4 Occupational sector Government 26.1 Age sector 31.2 Mean 31.25 Private sector 7.1 Range 18-60 Self-employed 27.7 SD 9.472 Student 8.0 Ethnic group Others Malay 44.7 Political interest Not at all 10.3 Chinese 29.8 interested 21.3 Indian 21.3 Slightly interested 41.3 Others 10.3 Moderately interested 27.2 Very interested Political participation Not supporting any political party 47.3 Support a particular political party 53.7 9

Most Malaysians usually get news on WhatsApp and Facebook. When it comes to posting news, they are quite reserve. Twitter is catching up as a source of news. % Always Reads News on Social Media % Always Post News on Social Media ( N =564) ( N =564) 45 30 40 25 35 30 20 25 15 20 15 10 10 5 5 0 0 Facebook WhatsApp Twitter Facebook WhatsApp Twitter 10

Many Malaysian news consumers are incidental news consumers % Types of News Consumers ( N = 564 ) 70 60 50 40 30 20 10 0 Active (Social media as useful ways of Incidental (See news when on social getting news) media for other reasons) 11

Active news consumers always get their news on Facebook % News consumers who always get their news on Facebook ( N =564) 70 60 50 40 30 20 10 0 Active n= 239 Incidental n= 173 12

WhatsApp is an important source of news for both active & incidental news consumers % News consumers who always get their news on Whatsapp ( N =564) 62 61 60 59 58 57 56 55 54 Active n= 238 Incidental n= 162 13

Malaysians hardly discriminate their news selection mechanisms % News Selection Mechanisms ( N =564) 35 30 25 20 15 10 5 0 Editors/journalists Algorithm Friends 14

Exposure to provocative news on social media is a common state % Exposure to Provocative News ( N = 564) 45 40 35 30 25 20 15 10 5 0 Never/rarely Sometimes Often Always 15

News Consumers choose to seek for more information on provocative news reporting on an event % Reaction to Provocative News 50 45 40 35 30 25 20 15 10 5 0 Ignore. Do Read comments Get more Share with friends Flagging the post nothing by others information about in social media out of concern of the news its harm Active n= 166 Incidental n= 111 16

News consumers choose to seek for more information on provocative news announcements % Reaction to Provocative News Announcements 45 40 35 30 25 20 15 10 5 0 Ignore. Do Read comments Get more Share with Flagging the post nothing by others information friends in social out of concern of about the news media its harm Active n= 168 Incidental n= 106 17

Why do people react the way they do? There are five common motives of the different reactions to provocative news. Most common reason (%) To learn more about the report get involved with such political Not interested, do not want to promote a particular point of Influencing public opinion to To inform people on what is Seek enjoyment in the discussion on the news happening issue issue view Reaction to provocative news Ignore, do nothing n=84 89.3 Read comments by others n=138 44.2 Get more information about the news n= 70.5 217 Share/Forward n=51 68.6 18 Flagging the post n= 61 42.6

Malaysians dependent, yet reserved on social media Percentage (N= 564) Social media news experience (Agree/Strongly agree) I hear about major news events on Facebook/WhatsApp/Twitter before I 79.5 hear or read about them from tv/newspaper/radio. I feel out of touch when I have not logged onto 54.7 Facebook/WhatsApp/Twitter for a while I am interested in creating/reposting news on social media 24.6 I feel comfortable debating about current events with anyone on social 21.7 media 19

Malaysians verify the news on social media more often than not Frequency of use (%) (N=564) Methods of verifying news in the social Never/Rarely Sometimes Often Always media Look at the sources of the news to 6.0 25.9 46.3 21.8 verify the news or post. Cross verify with trustworthy new website(s) to make sure if the news is 10.7 27.5 42.4 19.5 real or fake. Check the tone and characteristics of the message (i.e., see if it’s deliberately 17.2 30.1 35.3 15.4 misleading or false to arouse emotions). Question the “motivation” of the 23.9 25.5 36.3 14.2 person publishing the news. Seek verification from others in my 30.4 32.4 31.9 5.3 social sphere. 20

Closing Remarks • Results are preliminary in nature. • Conclusions on Malaysians’ ability to critically consume news and their display of civic behavior when confronted with provocative news warrants further investigations. Thank you. 21