Essential Report
Merger of Nine and Fairfax
Q. Do you think the merger of the media companies Nine and Fairfax will be good or bad for the following?
Total good | Total bad | Very good | Good | Bad | Very bad | Don’t know | Vote Labor Good | Vote LNP Good | |||
Quality of news coverage | 47% | 28% | 9% | 38% | 17% | 11% | 25% | 46% | 59% | ||
Diversity of news media | 42% | 34% | 8% | 34% | 21% | 13% | 24% | 41% | 49% | ||
Jobs in the media | 33% | 39% | 6% | 27% | 26% | 13% | 28% | 36% | 39% | ||
News coverage in regional areas | 38% | 32% | 7% | 31% | 19% | 13% | 30% | 39% | 47% |
Overall, respondents were more likely to think the Nine/Fairfax merger would be good for quality of news coverage and diversity of news media. They were more evenly split on whether it was good or bad for jobs in media and news coverage in regional areas.
Liberal National voters were more likely to think it will be good for quality of news coverage, diversity of news media and news coverage in regional areas.

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