Essential Report, media, Perceptions of Media, Polling, polls
Q. How much trust do you have in what you read or hear in the following media?
| Total a lot/some
15 Mar 10 |
Total a lot /some | A lot of trust | Some trust | Not much trust | No trust at all | Don’t know | Don’t use | |
| News and opinion in daily newspapers | 62% | 53% | 6% | 47% | 29% | 10% | 2% | 6% |
| News and opinion in local newspapers | – | 54% | 6% | 48% | 29% | 8% | 2% | 6% |
| Commercial TV news and current affairs | 64% | 48% | 5% | 43% | 30% | 17% | 2% | 3% |
| ABC TV news and current affairs | 70% | 71% | 23% | 48% | 15% | 6% | 2% | 6% |
| Commercial radio news and current affairs | 54% | 46% | 4% | 42% | 32% | 12% | 3% | 7% |
| ABC radio news and current affairs | 62% | 67% | 21% | 46% | 17% | 4% | 2% | 10% |
| Commercial radio talkback programs | 38% | 33% | 5% | 28% | 32% | 22% | 3% | 10% |
| ABC radio talkback programs | 45% | 47% | 10% | 37% | 27% | 9% | 3% | 13% |
| News and opinion websites | 49% | 41% | 5% | 36% | 35% | 12% | 3% | 9% |
| Internet blogs | 20% | 20% | 2% | 18% | 35% | 25% | 5% | 16% |
Trust in media has dropped in all the types of media listed above since 15th March 2010 – except for ABC outlets, which have actually increased slightly.
ABC TV news and current affairs collects the highest number of people who have a lot/some trust (71%). This is followed by ABC radio news and current affairs (67%).
The lowest level of trust was recorded for internet blog (20% – the same as in March 2010). This was followed by commercial radio talkback programs (33%).
The biggest drop in trust was for Commercial TV news and current affairs which dropped from 64% to 49% for the total number of people who selected a lot/some trust.
Another big drop was in the level of trust for news and opinion in daily newspapers, which dropped from 62% in March 2010 to 53% for the total number of people who selected a lot/some trust.
Essential Report, media, media regulation, Perceptions of Media, Polling, polls
Q. How much trust do you have in what you read in the following newspapers?
| A lot of trust | Some trust | Not much trust | No trust at all | Don’t know | |
| The Australian | 16% | 53% | 19% | 8% | 5% |
| The Telegraph (NSW only) | 7% | 45% | 25% | 21% | 2% |
| Sydney Morning Herald (NSW only) | 20% | 54% | 19% | 6% | 1% |
| The Age (Victoria only) | 23% | 56% | 15% | 3% | 3% |
| Herald Sun (Victoria only) | 7% | 47% | 32% | 12% | 2% |
| Courier Mail (Queensland only) | 9% | 56% | 22% | 12% | 1% |
* Note : Percentages based only on respondents who had read each newspaper.
Among those who have read each newspaper, 23% have a lot of trust in The Age and 20% have a lot of trust in the SMH. 16% of readers of The Australian have a lot of trust in the newspaper but only 7% have a lot of trust in The Telegraph and The Herald Sun. 46% have not much or no trust in The Telegraph and 44% have not much or no trust in The Herald Sun.
Liberal/National voters (21% and 57%) are more likely than Labor voters (17% and 50%) to have a lot or some trust in the Australian.
Essential Report, media, media ownership, media regulation, Perceptions of Media, Polling, polls, Rupert Murdoch
Q. Have the recent events in Britain concerning phone hacking by Rupert Murdoch’s newspaper, made you more or less concerned about the conduct of Australian newspapers?
| Total | Vote Labor | Vote Lib/Nat | Vote Greens | |
| Total more concerned | 51% | 56% | 48% | 68% |
| Total less concerned | 5% | 5% | 4% | 3% |
| Much more concerned | 15% | 19% | 11% | 26% |
| A little more concerned | 36% | 37% | 37% | 42% |
| A little less concerned | 4% | 4% | 4% | 3% |
| Much less concerned | 1% | 1% | >1% | – |
| Makes no difference | 38% | 33% | 44% | 26% |
| Don’t know | 6% | 6% |
Just over half (51%) of respondents are more concerned about the conduct of Australian newspapers following the recent events in Britain. 5% are less concerned, 38% say it makes no difference and 6% stated don’t know.
Green voters were more likely to state that they were more concerned (68%). Labor voters (56%) were more likely than Liberal voters (48%) to state that they were more concerned.
There was no substantial difference between the genders, states or age groups.
Essential Report, Government regulation, media ownership, media regulation, Perceptions of Media, Polling, polls
Q. Rupert Murdoch owns most of Australia’s metropolitan newspapers including the Australian, Herald Sun, the Telegraph and the Courier Mail. Should the Government allow one company to own the majority of Australia’s major newspapers?
| Total
1 Nov 10 |
Total | Vote Labor | Vote Lib/Nat | Vote Greens | |
| Should allow | 15% | 9% | 8% | 13% | 4% |
| Should not allow | 50% | 58% | 60% | 53% | 76% |
| Don’t care | 26% | 23% | 22% | 26% | 12% |
| Don’t know | 9% | 10% | 11% | 8% | 8% |
58% of respondents stated that the Government should not allow one company to own the majority of Australia’s major newspapers. This is an increase on the 50% who stated the same thing in November 2010.
Just 9% of respondents think that the Government should allow one company to own the majority of Australia’s major newspapers (a drop for the 15% who said the same thing in November 2010.
Green voters (76%) were the most likely to state that the Government should not allow one company to own the majority of Australia’s major newspapers, followed by Labor (60%) and Lib/Nat voters (53%).
Females (62%) were more likely than males (54%) to select ‘should not allow’.
Essential Report, media, media regulation, Perceptions of Media, Polling, polls
Q. Thinking about the media in Australia, do you think there needs to be more or less regulation of the media or is the present level of regulation about right?
| Total | Vote Labor | Vote Lib/Nat | Vote Greens | |
| Needs to be more regulation | 48% | 54% | 39% | 73% |
| Needs to be less regulation | 6% | 5% | 6% | 3% |
| Present regulation about right | 31% | 26% | 40% | 15% |
| Don’t know | 15% | 15% | 13% | 9% |
48% of respondents think that there needs to be more regulation of media in Australia. 31% think that the current level of regulation in about right.
Green voters (73%) are the most likely to think that there needs to be more regulation. This is followed by those that vote Labor (54%) and those that vote Lib/Nat (39%).
There was little difference between the genders, states or ages.
EMC, ER, Essential Media, Esssential Report, government in the media, media, News, Perceptions of Media, politics in the media, Polling, polls, the 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.