What do you know about press freedom? Is press freedom important to you?

Simple questions, but they stumped 45 percent of respondents in a street poll on public perceptions of press freedom.

From May 22-25, 15 trainees from malaysiakini were tasked with finding out how aware Malaysians are about issues relating to the press as part of a project linked to their pre-employment programme.

The process was divided into two phases: a street poll and interviews with civil groups and law reformers with regard to press freedom.

To conduct the street poll, the group fanned out over Kuala Lumpur and Petaling Jaya, covering KL Sentral, Brickfields, Jalan Bukit Bintang, Jalan Ampang, Jalan Pudu and Section 14 in Petaling Jaya among other areas.

Most of the respondents were students, workers and homemakers in the 20-40 age-group.

Main findings

Of the 120 respondents, 55 percent understood the concept of press freedom only after it was explained to them.

Ironically, 80 percent agreed that press freedom is important to them even if they were not familiar with the concept.

Although the percentages show that more than half of the respondents know what press freedom is, these did not translate to significance of press freedom in other respects.

May 3 is observed as World Press Freedom Day annually to serve as a reminder of the right to freedom of expression and information via a free and independent media.

Yet, merely 9 percent of the respondents knew what the date signified. The rest said they were hearing about it for the first time.

Do you think that the government controls the media? "Yes" was the answer by 65 percent of the respondents. The rest had their doubts or thought that the media is allowed a free rein.

Just over 50 percent of the respondents understand that repressive laws such as Printing Presses and Publications Act, Internal Security Act, Official Secrets Act and Sedition Act curtail the media.

The public is often said to have a right to know. Based on the poll, 95 percent of the respondents feel that they should be kept up-to-date with accurate and true information.

The emergence of the Internet serves as an alternative source of news. A majority of 74 percent felt that Internet based news websites are free from controls due to its sheer size of cyberspace.

Being consumers of media products, 71 percent stated that the media is influential especially when it comes to decision-making processes. The rest were undecided or felt that the media does not affect them at all.

The poll cannot be considered a complete reflection of public opinion. However, the diversity of views generated indicates that the public has a sense of the importance of press freedom, but that understanding of the issues remains superficial.