Media Credibility, Misinformation, and Communication Patterns during MCO of COVID-19 in Malaysia

Abstract

TV played a significant role during the pandemic period due to its high credibility as perceived by Malaysians. During Movement Control Order (MCO) of COVID-19, many information has been disseminated through both traditional and social media. Some that information was credible and came from reliable sources while other information was fake and included misinformation, disinformation, and infodemic. The people needed credible information rather than fake one in this critical time. This study aimed to explore the credibility of media, information sources, the main issues, and preferred communication patterns and method of works perceived by Malaysians during MCO. A total of 300 questionnaires were distributed, and 210 were returned. The results of this study showed that the majority of respondents 69% relied on new media as their main source of information compared to 30.9% who relied on traditional media. However, a total of 64.8% of respondents considered traditional media as more credible and accurate compared to 35.2% for new media. Additionally, the main concerns and issues followed by respondents on media were health, economic, social, education and others. Finally, a total of 55.7% preferred face to face communication compared to 44.3% who preferred online communication. A total of 51% of respondents preferred to work from the workplace or office compared to 49% who preferred to work from home. TV played a significant role during the pandemic period due to its high credibility as perceived by Malaysians. The main intriguing implication of this study is considering the traditional media as more credible than social media by the Malaysian although the social media was their main source of information.