How does age determine the type of preferred media used for political news in Singapore?

Following the GBA, we had to split up and tackle the research question in another way individually. For our TMA, we were required to craft up a the methodology of how we were going to tackle the new research question and the ECA would have us carrying out the TMA and evaluating the results.

For illustration purposes, this is what the project workflow would look like:

GBA > TMA > ECA 

Hence, I decided to find out if age was a factor in determining the preferred type of media used. I was required to write a 3000 word essay, a public narrative to explain to the layman my research and its consequential results, and a six-minute video presentation for the general public as well.

Public Narrative

With the advent of social media platforms such as Facebook and Twitter in society, the public now has numerous platforms, in addition to the traditional forms of media such as newspapers, television and radio, to access the various political information they seek. This political information can comprise of parliament speeches, actions and movements of political parties, government measures and policies and news of the General Elections. The purpose of this research is to investigate the correlation, if any, between the age of an individual and the type of media platform he would utilise.

Through the use of an online questionnaire and qualitative face-to-face interviews, the findings gathered reveal and confirm that there is indeed a correlation between one’s age and his preference for a media platform. 70% of youths surveyed and interviewed prefer to make use of social media to access all forms of political information. This showed a great interest in the platform, with reasons ranging from accessibility to convenience and how the medium does not require a middleman to screen and publish its content.

However, the working adults and elderly prefer to utilise traditional mass media for every form of political news except the activities of political parties. They cited the credibility factor of traditional mass media, in which the presence of editors and screeners make the source more credible than social media, which does not have its content filtered.


Therefore, there exists a correlation between the age of an individual and the preferred type of media platform. Media broadcasting companies and political parties can make use of this information and customize their content to better suit their intended target audience.

Video Presentation