In the spotlight: Koslowski (right) speaking during the ‘Digital News Consumption Trends – How to Take Advantage and Stay Ahead of the Competition’ plenary session at DMA 2024 in Kuala Lumpur. Looking on are (from left) Ng, Arguedas, Mothership head of video content Tan Xing Qi and Bregula. — FAIHAN GHANI/The Star
KUALA LUMPUR: The spread of fake news through social media platforms is prompting readers to turn to reliable content from reputable news organisations, says a media researcher.
Amy Ross Arguedas, a research fellow at the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism, said that according to her studies, the younger generation is suspicious of most news they see online, and due to that, they rely on a handful of selected news organisations that they trust.
“Yes, it looks bleak and there are many challenges ahead when it comes to the younger audience. But there’s also a reason to be hopeful and positive because people have trust in the news.
“They (the public) do trust the news from media organisations instead of random companies because they often struggle to distinguish what they can and cannot believe (on social media),” she added.
Arguedas said news organisations still have a role to play.
The news industry players, she added, need to approach these people who struggle to differentiate genuine news from the fake ones.
“We just need to reach out and build trust,” she said during the “Digital News Consumption Trends – How to Take Advantage and Stay Ahead of the Competition” plenary session at Digital Media Asia (DMA) 2024 here yesterday. The session was moderated by Star Media Group chief content officer Datin Paduka Esther Ng.
She was responding to a question by Ng, who asked about the possible solutions to improve the apparent disconnect between media companies and the younger audience.
Arguedas also said that although the emergence of technology such as artificial intelligence (AI) makes it difficult to predict the future, news organisations still have a role to play in disseminating the right information to the public.
Media Development Investment Fund expert-in-residence Danuta Bregula said she is hopeful for the news industry, adding that the spread of fake news inadvertently is adding an essential survival skill among the youth.
“It teaches youths to be very suspicious because yes, you need to check the news.
“I believe trust is conditional, so we (the news industry) need to earn their trust every day and while it is a challenge, we can also win because there are many ways out of the situation,” she said.
Australia’s The Daily Aus co-founder Sam Koslowski said the crucial part of ensuring public trust is for media organisations to be more detailed and precise when presenting the news.
“Young people don’t trust news because it’s broken. There’s a systemic failure in news companies and there was some serious damage that we are recovering from,” he added.
“No wonder we have trust issues. So now, it will take time and effort (to regain the trust) and what we need is evidence-based, research-based approaches to news.”
This 2024 edition of DMA, the premier event for the news media industry in the Asia-Pacific region, marks its 16th year with a two-day gathering in the Malaysian capital which ended yesterday.
Organised by the World Association of News Publishers (Wan-Ifra), the event has been a pivotal platform for transformation for the news media industry since its inception in 2009.
