Impact of Malaysian University Students' Preference for Soft News on Their Political Knowledge

Chan, Wei Yan (2024) Impact of Malaysian University Students' Preference for Soft News on Their Political Knowledge. Final Year Project (Bachelor), Tunku Abdul Rahman University of Management and Technology.

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Abstract

This study looks at how Malaysian university students’ preference for soft news affects their knowledge of politics. The study uses a sample of 100 students to investigate three main questions: how students consume political news on social media, what drives their preference for soft news, and to what extent soft news consumption affects their political knowledge. The results show that although students regularly utilise social media to access political news, they strongly favour soft news, mostly because it is trending and entertaining. The findings, however, do not support the notion that students’ exposure to soft news significantly improves their comprehension of political topics because there is no significant correlation between soft news consumption and political knowledge. The study draws attention to the shortcomings of soft news as a political literacy tool and makes suggestions for further investigation into the wider effects of different media consumption patterns on political consciousness.