Bias in Media Reporting
Q. Overall, do you think media reporting is biased in favour or against the following groups?
|
Biased in favour |
Biased against |
Not biased |
Don’t know |
Net score |
|
| Business groups |
27% |
14% |
29% |
30% |
+13 |
| The Liberal Party |
26% |
22% |
26% |
26% |
+4 |
| Large corporations |
26% |
25% |
23% |
27% |
+1 |
| Environment groups |
22% |
25% |
26% |
27% |
-3 |
| The Greens |
19% |
27% |
27% |
27% |
-8 |
| Religious groups |
14% |
24% |
32% |
30% |
-10 |
| The Labor Party |
18% |
31% |
26% |
25% |
-13 |
| Unions |
18% |
32% |
23% |
26% |
-14 |
Net score = bias in favour minus bias against.
Overall, respondents think that media reporting is biased in favour of business groups and biased against unions, the Labor Party and religious groups. They were evenly divided over whether media reporting is biased for or against the Liberal Party, large corporations, and environment groups.
Among Labor voters, 50% think the media are biased against the Labor Party and 43% think they are biased in favour of the Liberal Party.
Among Coalition voters, 34% think the media are biased against the Liberal Party and 29% think they are biased in favour of the Labor Party.
57% of Greens voters think the media are biased against the Greens.
Perceptions of Media
Q. Do you agree or disagree with the following statements?
| Total agree | Total disagree | Strongly agree | Agree | Disagree | Strongly disagree | Don’t know | |
| The media usually reports the news accurately | 35% | 54% | 2% | 33% | 41% | 13% | 12% |
| The media usually reports all sides of a story | 21% | 69% | 1% | 20% | 46% | 23% | 10% |
| The media is too critical of government and politicians in Australia | 29% | 57% | 4% | 25% | 46% | 11% | 14% |
| These days I rely more on the internet than newspapers and TV for my news and information about politics. | 44% | 46% | 12% | 32% | 37% | 9% | 10% |
| I trust the media more than I trust politicians | 37% | 43% | 4% | 33% | 33% | 10% | 20% |
| I trust politicians more than I trust the media | 16% | 65% | 1% | 15% | 44% | 21% | 18% |
| The media does a good job of scrutinizing politics and holding politicians accountable | 45% | 43% | 3% | 42% | 31% | 12% | 12% |
| Overall, the media are politically biased in favour of the Liberal Party | 19% | 55% | 4% | 15% | 44% | 11% | 26% |
| Overall, the media are politically biased in favour of the Labor Party | 23% | 50% | 5% | 18% | 41% | 9% | 25% |
| The media are too focused on personalities and not enough on policies | 70% | 18% | 21% | 49% | 15% | 3% | 12% |
| There is too much coverage of politics in the media | 34% | 52% | 7% | 27% | 45% | 7% | 14% |
| The media does a good job of helping people to understand political and social issues | 40% | 48% | 2% | 38% | 36% | 12% | 12% |
| I follow the news closely every day | 57% | 38% | 10% | 47% | 32% | 6% | 6% |
The majority of respondents disagree that the media usually reports all sides of a story (69%) and that the media reports the news accurately (54%).
However, they tend to trust the media a little more than they trust politicians – 37% agree they trust the media more and 16% agree they trust politicians more.
The results also indicate that respondents want more rather than less coverage of politics – only 34% agree that there is too much coverage of politics and 57% disagree that the media is too critical of government and politicians.
Respondents were divided over whether the media does a good job of scrutinizing politics and holding politicians accountable (45% agree/43% disagree) and tended to disagree that the media does a good job of helping people to understand political and social issues (40% agree/48% disagree).
70% agree that the media are too focused on personalities and not enough on policies.
A minority of respondents think the media are biased – 23% think they are biased in favour of the Labor Party and 19% in favour of the Liberal Party.
COVID-19 RESEARCH
Read Essential's ongoing research on the public response to Covid-19.
Essential Report
In this week's report:
- Performance of Scott Morrison
- Performance of Anthony Albanese
- Preferred Prime Minister
- Views towards re-electing the federal Coalition government
- Party trust to handle issues
- Importance of Australia’s international reputation
- Scott Morrison’s impact on Australia’s international reputation
- Views towards Australia’s international reputation
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