The report, ‘Unveiling Public Trust in the Maldivian Media’, is the first of its kind produced in the country and presents the findings from a major survey of 667 households from 11 atolls as well as the Greater Male Area, representing 54% men and 47% women. As well as a survey on public trust and the media’s capacity to support democracy, the report also includes interviews with key stakeholders, including government functionaries, journalists, editors, human rights activists, and civil society organisations.
In launching the report the IFJ said: “A healthy democracy relies on an independent media to inform citizens with accurate information in the public interest and with critical coverage that holds the powerful to account. But there remain some major challenges to the media’s effective functioning in the Maldives. We hope this study will inform and educate, not only the media and journalists, but also the country’s political leaders and indeed the public on the steps needed to attain public trust in the media that serves it.”
According to the findings, digital media or online news portals were the leading source of “daily” news for 67% of respondents, followed by television with 53%. Overall, online news websites and platforms were the most popular type of news media accessed by 61% of the Maldivian respondents, followed by television (25%), newspapers and magazines (9%) and radio (5%). Interestingly, survey respondents across the tiny atoll repeatedly rated the quality of news, trust, balance and accuracy of news they sourced from people they knew personally – sometimes higher than conventional news outlets.
The study found Facebook was the clear and dominant choice of the social or platform media platforms publishing what Maldivian people understood as “news content” with 64% using the platform as their primary medium to access news online. This was followed by Google with just 6%, Viber and Instagram (both 5%) and Twitter (3%).
The IFJ said the strongest single finding related to political divisions in the troubled political space with the majority of respondents (87%) agreeing that the media should be held accountable for the political division in the country. Television and internet news websites were perceived by the largest percentage of respondents to have the highest levels of sensational or biased coverage, at 71% and 75%, respectively. Yet, 51% of the respondents also agreed that the Maldivian news media could do a great deal to heal the political divisions in the country. In terms of provision of news in the national interest, respondents rated television highest (54%) in fulfilling this duty.
Political ownership and influence on media coverage was a key finding of the research. Between television and online news platforms, 77% and 74% of respondents respectively felt that a media outlet’s ownership, business or political interests influenced, skewed or compromised its coverage. Television news rated highest of media outlets in the accuracy of its news (56%), followed by online news media (52%) and radio (49%).
The perceived prevalence of so-called “fake news” was lower in traditional or “non-digital media outlets”, according to respondents. Online news websites and social media rated the worst with 68% of respondents saying fake news was “prevalent” in news produced online. This was followed by 44% in television, 42% in newspapers/ magazines and 27% in radio.
A move away from traditional media outlets to digital media was clearly split across generational lines, with just 2% of respondents aged 55 or over regularly accessing online news, while 53% of people across the demographically weighted responder base ‘never’ accessed traditional newspapers or magazines for news. A combined 72 per cent of respondents agreed that public broadcasting (or broadcasting funded by the state) was a valuable and important service. A further combined 87 per cent of respondents agreed that it was important for the country’s government to support media sustainability efforts in the Maldives.
After decades of authoritarian rule, the Maldives developing independent media sector in the fragile democracy, has improved in the public’s eyes in recent years. Respondents said their levels of trust in the media had risen over the last five years, with a combined 82 per cent of agreeing that media in the Maldives was important for the creation of a stable democracy.
The research was commissioned by the IFJ and MJA and produced by a team of researchers from the Institute for Research and Innovation (IRI) from Villa College in the Maldives. The research utilised a stratified sampling method, designed to provide a representative analysis of the Maldives’ population, and was conducted from March to April, 2023. The work was funded by the European Union under the Protecting Freedom of Expression in the Maldives project (PFEM).
Among its recommendations, the IFJ and MJA called for:
- Increased support to ensure stronger, more sustainable media in the Maldives
- Efforts to strengthen editorial independence in media outlets, particularly relating to media ownership
- Establishing a mechanism to ensure transparency in funding for media outlets
- Strategies and campaigns to build media literacy in the Maldives
- Promotion of stronger ethical standards through journalist training programs
The MJA said: “While the findings of this report, more or less, confirm general findings from anecdotal research - including the widespread erosion of public trust in media and the prevalence of disinformation - the report also provides insight towards a way forward. Journalists, editors, and media outlets have a role to play in building public trust and MJA will continue to work with journalists to empower and support them towards this goal. Editorial independence and transparency is the biggest challenge journalists and the media face - the key to solving this is directly tied to strengthening journalists and helping organize media workers unions in the country.”
The IFJ said:“The IFJ and its affiliates strongly believe that, for a strong media to fulfil its objective to inform the public independently, journalists must be free to report without fear or favour. Media must be financially strong enough to sustain and not bend to the influences of power or persuasion. And the laws and framework that surround it must also be supportive of both respecting and supporting the functioning of media. But beyond that, a strong media is only as strong as the audience, that not only trusts it but readily and regularly consumes and supports it.”