ACCC Digital platforms inquiry: Audiences are boycotting mainstream news media
As the ACCC enquiry continues, the government must avoid blindly accepting media owner's views without considering the audience behind them, argues MediaScope’s Denise Shrivell.
When looking through the submissions to the ACCC Digital platforms inquiry, there is one voice which seems to be largely missing – the audience.
So my submission to the ACCC Digital platforms inquiry included the audience’s view, with the aim of showing the range of other reasons aside from digital disruption and revenue decline in our mainstream news media.
On April 2 and 3 I put out a survey to the #auspol Twitter audience, attracting 500 respondents within 24 hours.
First let’s be upfront – this survey data comes from a large, active, media and highly politically savvy, mostly progressively minded audience.
They are not ‘low news’ media consumers – in fact I’d argue they are representative of a group of news consumers whom parts of our mainstream news media once actively pursued – and are an audience our democracy needs.
Here’s some top line survey results from the 500 respondents.
They shared their news sources:
Then their trust of news sources:
Quite alarmingly, survey respondents overwhelmingly said our mainstream news media has a negative impact on our democracy and that they actively choose to boycott mainstream media:
And finally, the answered if they do or would pay for informative and trustworthy journalism:
Survey respondents were also asked for their views through a range of questions – where a word cloud was then created:
When taking into account these views of our news media landscape, it’s clear to see the presence of digital platforms are not the only reasons some audiences are leaving mainstream news media. My submission asks the ACCC Board to recognise this as part of its Digital platforms inquiry.
The findings and comments found through this survey are not too different from what many of you – my colleagues – say to me privately. You know this is happening too.
While it is valid to scrutinise the fast changing and greatly disrupted Australian media landscape, the ACCC inquiry cannot be looked at without also considering the current political climate. Key factors in bringing about this inquiry into digital platforms include Facebook, Google and ‘others’ – think Amazon, Netflix and possibly Twitter.
The ACCC inquiry came about as part of last minute horse trading and concessions, when long-awaited media ownership reforms were pushed through Australia’s Senate in September 2017.
The key media reform repealed was the two out of three rule – set up prior to the internet – which stopped a single media proprietor owning TV, radio and print in one market. This two out of three rule has particularly inhibited NewsCorp from possibly achieving some of its market ambitions.
Australia is one of the most concentrated media ownership landscapes in the world, dominated by a few commercial traditional organisations. As we’ve seen worldwide, audiences, advertising revenue (and political influence) has continued to shift away from traditional to other media platforms, with the main beneficiaries being Facebook and Google.
Traditional mainstream media – particularly NewsCorp – still largely sets the news agenda of the day, and uses its reach and influence to lead the political narrative. NewsCorp is known for its bias to the current government – the conservative centre to extreme right-leaning Liberal National Party Coalition.
Australia’s Government is down in the polls and subject to internal idealogical and factional infighting, while holding a slim majority in parliament. To put it simply, it’s within government’s interests to keep traditional media owners on side. We’ve also seen the government cut funding to our national broadcaster and launch an inquiry in what is clearly a political move to narrow critical voices and to find further favour its supporters.
Overall the ACCC inquiry benefits Australia’s current government and brings traditional media owners a step closer to regulating its competition.
It is also through this lens which the ACCC Digital platforms inquiry should be viewed. Scrutiny is valid, but with the evolving media habits and needs of audiences in mind – not only those of one incumbent sector of the media landscape. This is what will ensure the survival of the Australian media industry.
Denise Shrivell is the founder of MediaScope. Subscribe to MediaScope’s Friday Newsletter here.
To hear Mumbrella co-founder Tim Burrowes discuss his own experience presenting at the ACCC enquiry, take a listen to this week’s Mumbrellacast.
I used to pay News Ltd for the Oz. I ceased, because it became untenably one-eyed. I could handle it for a while, but it became too wearing. It is a moral obligation to avoid being silo-ed into your own belief system, this I know. But I can do that without breaching the paywall most times. I know what they think, they’re shouting it from the rooftops. They seem a bit upset about the ABC, and the CFMEU mostly. Oh, and abortions. And Anne Aly.
I pay other mainstream media providers for more balanced news on the web, and I value the non-traditional media sources according to my own perceptions of perceived or apparent bias.
Fairfax hasn’t provided me an alternative with sufficient oomph to justify the cost of subscribing.
Is this a “boycott” ? no. But I am voting with my feet.
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I’m interested to know what the 500 Twitter users consider to be “independent” media as opposed to “mainstream” media.
Is the former perhaps the “progressive” media and the other the “regressive” media?
I strongly suspect that the 500 Twitter users prefer any media that sees things from their point-of-view. And one might expect that the more niche the media outlet, the more able it is to be exactly what is desired. Even if that also means it is less able to research stories and dig things up.
Also, the two-out-of-three rule was introduced in 2006, a time in which the internet text media was strong and killing print media (so not “pre-internet”). Of course though, the likes of smartphones, Facebook, YouTube and Spotify had yet to take off and start killing radio and TV as well.
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Take a stroll through #auspol on Twitter and you’ll see what a one-sided vendetta group they are. Tolerance for only left leaning politics and are particularly and deliberately anti-LNP and Murdoch media. Intent is clear – bringing both down.
That’s perfectly okay but it’s not okay to pretend this “survey” represents Australian audiences. It’s very likely to be true and this hate runs deep in other pockets of Australians like them but this is not the data to support it as “Australian audiences”. The data is unreliable and deliberately biased. The purpose here is not pure.
There’s an irony in accusing others of bias by creating a survey purposely built on bias. Hopefully the ACCC has the skill to assess it as such.
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It would be great to see the Twitter poll expanded for more representative audiences.
Perhaps we are not well served by the conflation of so many different things under “media”. I care that regulatory setting support sober news and analysis when it comes to news and current affairs. I care less when we’re talking about is reality TV, opinion columns, talkback or celebrity gossip. But we need very clear demarcation of the two.
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