South Africans want to be constantly informed about current affairs within their communities and country, a Brand South Africa 2015/ 2016 Domestic Perceptions study found.
The study further suggests that citizens want easy accessible information provided to them, with the most reliable and trusted sources being family, friends/colleagues, followed by mainstream media sources like television and news radio broadcasts.
In order to understand the extent to which South Africans trust sources of information, respondents were asked to rate the various information sources available at their disposal.
Family, friends and colleagues; television news; and radio news are the top three trusted sources of information. Online social networking and related sources of information are the least trusted of all possible sources.
Of 2 536 respondents who participated in the survey – over 60 percent said that they have access to the internet – 80 percent of them utilise the web for social media, 61 percent for research purposes, 37 percent for applications and 33 percent to access current affairs and news.
Other media consumption factors from the study included that 92 percent of respondents own a cell phone, 30 percent use laptops and 9 percent use tablets. Just over half the respondents indicated that they listen to radio everyday while a quarter of the population read newspapers every day.
The Herald‘s sister newspaper, The Citizen, is one of the most commonly read publications at 3 percent.
There is consensus that the media portrays more negative than positive information and stories about South Africa, with over 62 percent of respondents indicating that the media in South Africa is too negative about the country.
Brand South Africa’s CEO Mr Kingsley Makhubela, reflecting on the outcomes of the study said that, “It is encouraging that freedom of media, speech and access to information remains one of the greatest successes of our 22 years of democracy.
The right to information is a pillar of any free society and South Africans must continue to embrace this fundamental freedom in our country.”
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