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  • Jun, 2012

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    Trust in Newspapers

    Q. How much trust do you have in what you read in the following newspapers?

    Total a lot/some

    25 Jul 11

    Total a lot/some

    A lot of trust

    Some trust

    Not much trust

    No trust at all

    Don’t know

    The Australian

    69%

    60%

    15%

    45%

    23%

    12%

    6%

    The Telegraph (NSW only)

    52%

    49%

    10%

    39%

    30%

    19%

    3%

    Sydney Morning Herald (NSW only)

    74%

    69%

    19%

    50%

    22%

    6%

    4%

    The Age (Victoria only)

    79%

    76%

    20%

    56%

    18%

    5%

    1%

    Herald Sun (Victoria only)

    54%

    51%

    8%

    43%

    32%

    15%

    1%

    Courier Mail (Queensland only)

    65%

    51%

    6%

    45%

    28%

    13%

    7%

    * Note : Percentages based only on respondents who had read each newspaper.

    Among those who have read the newspaper, 20% have a lot of trust in The Age and 19% have a lot of trust in the SMH. 15% of readers of The Australian have a lot of trust in the newspaper but only 10% have a lot of trust in The Telegraph and 8% in The Herald Sun.  49% have not much or no trust in The Telegraph and 47% have not much or no trust in The Herald Sun.

    Overall, the most trusted newspapers were The Age (76% a lot/some trust) and the SMH (69%). The least trusted were The Telegraph (49% a lot/some trust), the HeraldSun (51%) and the Courier Mail (51%).

    Since this question was asked last year, there have been significant declines in trust in the Courier Mail (down 14%) and The Australian (down 9%).

    Liberal/National voters (70%) were more likely than Labor voters (48%) to have a lot or some trust in The Australian.

  • Jun, 2012

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    Pay to Access News Websites

    Q. Some newspapers in Australia now require readers to take out a subscription to view all their articles online. This means, while some news and opinion articles are free, readers will have to pay to access all content. How likely would you be to pay a subscription to access news websites?

     

    Total

    7 Nov 11

    Total

    Aged

    18-34

    Aged

    35-54

    Aged 55+

    Read The Aust

    Read SMH

    Read Tele

    Read The Age

    Read Herald Sun

    Read Courier mail

    Total likely

    9%

    13%

    22%

    11%

    6%

    25%

    28%

    18%

    22%

    10%

    18%

    Total not likely

    88%

    82%

    71%

    85%

    93%

    72%

    69%

    79%

    76%

    88%

    81%

    Very likely

    2%

    3%

    5%

    3%

    1%

    12%

    7%

    6%

    5%

    4%

    5%

    Somewhat likely

    7%

    10%

    17%

    8%

    5%

    13%

    21%

    12%

    17%

    6%

    13%

    Not very likely

    18%

    17%

    16%

    18%

    17%

    19%

    18%

    19%

    21%

    19%

    13%

    Not at all likely

    70%

    65%

    55%

    67%

    76%

    53%

    51%

    60%

    55%

    69%

    68%

    Don’t know

    4%

    5%

    7%

    5%

    *

    3%

    3%

    4%

    2%

    2%

    2%

    13% of respondents said they would be very or somewhat likely to pay to access news websites – up from 9% recorded in November last year.

    Younger respondents were more likely to be willing to pay for access to news websites – 22% of those aged under 35.

    Current readers most likely to pay for access were readers of the SMH (28%), The Australian (25%) and The Age (22%).

    Only 10% of HeraldSun readers said they would be likely to pay for access.

  • Jun, 2012

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    Approval of Marine Reserves

    Q. The Federal Government recently announced plans to protect large areas of Australia’s marine environment in a network of marine reserves. Do you approve or disapprove of these plans?

    Total

     

    Vote Labor

    Vote Lib/Nat

    Vote Greens

    Total approve

    70%

    79%

    62%

    89%

    Total disapprove

    13%

    8%

    22%

    1%

    Strongly approve

    35%

    45%

    23%

    64%

    Approve

    35%

    34%

    39%

    25%

    Disapprove

    9%

    6%

    15%

    1%

    Strongly disapprove

    4%

    2%

    7%

    Don’t know

    16%

    13%

    16%

    10%

    70% approved of the Federal Government’s plans to protect large areas of Australia’s marine environment in a network of marine reserves and 13% disapproved.

    Approval was similar across all demographic groups – no group recorded approval lower than 65%.

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