A study carried out by Danish, Swedish and Burmese organizations find that Burmese find state-owned medias to be one of the most reliable news sources.
The study “Myanmar’s media from an audience perspective” was published in September 2018 and looks at the media habits of the population of Myanmar.
The study found that Burmese struggle with trusting the media due to limited access to information and few news sources to choose from. However, many participants in the study highlight state-owned media as being most trustworthy and reliable.
Those trusting the state-owned or military-owned media seem to believe that these media are more capable of providing accurate information because they have direct access to news and information sources. Particularly when it comes to factual topics such as official wage levels or enrollment criteria for higher education.
The study also found that there is a widespread preference towards local media as people feel that these media outlets provide them with information relevant to their local communities and daily lives. Television is a preferred medium for news but social media, and Facebook in particular, is catching up.
The study was carried out by Denmark-based International Media Support, its Swedish partner institution Fojo Media Institute and Enlightened Myanmar Research Foundation.
