世論 What Japan Thinks

Thankfully the average Japanese person appears to have relied primarily on television news for gathering information in times of disaster, as unlike a lot of overseas media, the public broadcaster NHK’s news broadcasts were very calm and measured. This survey was by goo Research and reported on by japan.internet.com.

Demographics

Over the 22nd and 23rd of March 2011 1,138 members of the goo Research online monitor group completed a private internet-based questionnaire. 52.0% of the sample were male, 16.3% in their teens, 17.8% in their twenties, 21.4% in their thirties, 16.5% in their forties, 15.8% in their fifties, and 12.2% aged sixty or older.

Regarding Japan’s telelvision, please don’t fall into the trap of assuming it is all state-controlled propaganda. As I posted at length on in another blog, the coverage is in-depth and investigative, and don’t assume it isn’t just because they are not camped out on TEPCO’s president’s doorstep. There’s also an interesting site gathering together a list of the angels and demons in the foreign press that may serve as a useful reference.

Perhaps an unreported follow-on question from Q3 was how people would use their mobile devices to gather information. For myself, I have found the one-seg digital telelvision feature on my mobile phone indispensable.

Research results

Q1: Which of the following sources did you use to gather information about the recent disaster? (Sample size=1,138, multiple answer)

Television	96.0%
Newspapers	56.9%
On-line news media	50.0%
Radio	32.2%
Twitter, other micro-blogs	20.2%
YouTube, Ustream, other video sharing sites	18.3%
Facebook, mixi, other SNS	14.1%
Blogs	6.5%
Other	2.5%
Nowhere in particular	0.7%

Q2: From which of the following sources did you get more reliable information? (Sample size=1,138, multiple answer)

Television	70.8%
Newspapers	25.2%
On-line news media	22.6%
Radio	12.2%
Twitter, other micro-blogs	7.6%
YouTube, Ustream, other video sharing sites	6.7%
Facebook, mixi, other SNS	4.3%
Blogs	2.2%
Other	1.6%
None in particular	8.7%

Q3: Which of the following mobile devices are useful for gathering information in times of disaster? (Sample size=1,138, multiple answer)

Mobile phone	58.3%
Portable radio	46.4%
Laptop computer	37.5%
Smartphone	21.6%
Netbook	18.5%
Tablet computer	6.3%
Other	1.1%
None in particular	6.1%