Major media no longer sways federal elections: report
The days of major mastheads having sway over the voting public with editorial endorsements are over, according to a new report from the Australia Institute.
The report shows the dwindling impact of media endorsements in Australian federal election campaigns, claiming the two most recent campaigns mark a turning point in Australian media.
In the 1950s, there were 15 daily newspapers in the capital cities, with 10 different owners. Today there are 10 newspapers, with just four owners. While this concentrated ownership means that over the past few decades, scoring a newspaper endorsement has been a lot more important for candidates, the rise of social media, digital news outlets and general fragmentation of audiences has rendered the endorsements useless.
The majority of Australian newspapers endorsed the winner in nine different election from 1996 — until the 2022 vote, when the papers leaned right and the nation voted left.
This disconnect was even more pronounced in the recent election: despite voters driving the most decisive Labor victory in history, the majority of mastheads backed the Coalition.
As the Australian Institute said: “The newspaper editorials came down on one side, and the people came down on the other.”
Share of major newspapers backing winning party in federal elections
In 1974, the Australian’s endorsement of Gough Whitlam is widely believed to have been instrumental in his victory. Rupert Murdoch believed the paper played “a substantial role” in the Labor victory.
Times have changed. As it stands, Anthony Albanese is the only prime minister to have never been endorsed by The Australian in the paper’s six-decade history.
Since 1984, the paper has backed Labor just twice.
The Australian wrote this year that “it is tempting to sit this one out”.
The editorial correctly reasoned “compulsory voting means sitting on the fence is not an option for Australians” and then backed Peter Dutton – who lost both the election and his seat in parliament.
The report also examined the relative loss of influence of televised leader debates.
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Nathan Jolly is the Features Editor at Mumbrella. He joined the team in July, 2023.
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