A large majority of people are of the opinion that television and online shows on ghost-hunting and the supernatural should be subject to control by government agencies to prevent people being deceived, according to a survey by the National Institute of Development Administration or Nida Poll.
The poll was conducted on July 13-14 on 1,256 people aged 15 and over of various levels of education and occupations throughout the country to gauge their belief in people who claim to be able to contact and communicate with dead people.
This followed a controversy over a television show which featured mysterious or untold stories about ghosts and the spirits of dead people.
A majority, 54.94%, of the respondents said they never watched shows of this kind on television or the Internet, while 45.06% said they did.
When those who do watch such programmest were asked if they believed the stories in the shows, 37.46% said they were sceptical and 33.04% said they thought the stories were made up. On the other side, 23.67% said they believed them to a certain extent and 5.83% strongly believed the stories were true.
Asked whether they believed there were people who could contact or communicate with the spirits of the dead, 30.10% were doubtful and 34.32% said they were sure it was nonsense. On the other side, 25.08% leaned toward believing that some people had such abilities and 10.19% strongly believed such people existed. The rest, 0.31%, had no comment or were not interested.
Asked whether the shows should be subject to control by relevant government agencies, 72.69% said control is necessary to protect gullible people as the number of shows of this kind is on the rise; 21.58% disagreed, saying the shows are for entertainment and people should view them with discretion; and 5.73% had no comment or were not interested.