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.
Rating the Media
Q. Overall, how would you rate the media (newspapers, TV, radio, internet) for their reporting of Federal politics – thinking about their coverage both before and after the election?
| Total | Vote Labor | Vote Lib/Nat | Vote Greens
|
|
| Total good | 32% | 35% | 37% | 20% |
| Total poor | 23% | 23% | 18% | 37% |
| Very good | 7% | 8% | 7% | 2% |
| Good | 25% | 27% | 30% | 18% |
| Average | 40% | 37% | 43% | 37% |
| Poor | 9% | 7% | 9% | 13% |
| Very poor | 14% | 16% | 9% | 24% |
| Don’t know | 6% | 5% | 2% | 6% |
32% think media reporting of Federal politics has been good, 23% poor and 40% average. Greens voters are most likely to think it has been poor (37%).
Q. Overall, do you think media reporting – both before and after the election – favoured the Labor Party, favoured the Liberal and National parties or gave fair coverage of all parties?
| Total | Vote Labor | Vote Lib/Nat | Vote Greens
|
|
| Favoured the Labor Party | 23% | 12% | 39% | 9% |
| Favoured the Liberal and National parties | 17% | 27% | 8% | 29% |
| Gave fair coverage of all parties | 44% | 49% | 42% | 43% |
| Don’t know | 17% | 11% | 12% | 18% |
23% think media reporting favoured the Labor Party and 17% think it favoured the Liberal and National parties – while 44% think it gave fair coverage to all parties. 39% of Coalition voters thought the media favoured the Labor Party – compared to 27% of Labor voters thinking it favoured the Coalition.
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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