82.3% of participants in a survey about how the public views the media in Malta say that state broadcasting such as TVM and Radju Malta should operate independently from the government, with 77.5% saying that the quality of reporting would improve if this was the case.

The statistics were presented by statistician and lecturer at the University of Malta Vincent Marmara, in a conference about the value of communication in today’s society.

600 participants aged 16 and upwards shared their perceptions on the country’s media. The surveys were concluded in October 2021 and were commissioned by the Ministry within the Office of the Prime Minister.

51.4% of participants use television to follow current news, with mobile users following suit with 41.4%. Only 1.2% of participants follow the news by the means of a physical newspaper. 58% said that they follow the latest news on a daily basis.

58.1% of participants prefer following and listening to the news visually, with 29.5% of participants prefer reading the news. 8.8% prefer listening on the radio whilst only 3.6% prefer hearing of the latest news through secondary sources such as friends and family.

33.7% only believe the news they follow depending on the source of news they are following, whilst 14.7% always believe the news they see. 47.4% feel the need to only look for one source of the same piece of news.

70.2% replied in the negative regarding feeling the need to publicly comment on the news. Regarding those who do comment, 42.5% comment on the comment board under the article.

84.1% replied that news on private party-based stations should remain. 33% say that independent media have their own agenda, while 30.6% say that independent media only say they are independent to hide their political preference. 21.6% say that independent media is objective and neutral.

The participants were asked whether state broadcasting shows news which is in favour of the government, with 48.4% remaining neutral. 32.2% and 16.9% say that it is almost always or always in favour of the government respectively.

77.5% of participants believe that offensive comments on Facebook is deemed as hate speech, while 62.2% believe that if these offensive opinions are lies or is of insolence towards the receiver, then they should be held responsible in court. On the other hand, 37.8% say that everyone has a right to write whatever they want. 73.4% say that a person in the public eye has every right to libel in court upon an offensive comment.