Misinformation a growing concern for business leaders, finds BBC
A survey conducted by BBC Global News has found that business leaders across Australia are more concerned about misinformation than they were prior to the pandemic.
The study surveyed 250 ‘senior Australian business leaders’ about how they consume, engage with and share news, and about how habits have changed during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Of the respondents, 72% indicated that they are more concerned about misinformation than they were prior to the pandemic, with the importance of public health messaging over the past 18 months highlighting the need for trustworthy news sources.
The results also found that 70% believe misinformation could be harmful for society and 64% also cited trustworthiness as being a key attribute when considering news sources, followed by objectivity (50%) and impartiality (46).
Jamie Chambers, BBC Global News
BBC Global News VP, advertising, distribution ANZ, Jamie Chambers, said: “The pandemic has thrown into sharp focus the impact of global developments on a local level for many Australian business leaders – and we see that in the percentage of leaders now looking to global news as a key source of information.
“There is no denying that Australian society, as well as global societies as a whole, have been feeling the effects of misinformation since the pandemic and business leaders are not immune to this. As a result, they are now placing an even greater emphasis in wanting trustworthy news with a global perspective to help them better navigate the impacts of the pandemic and a shifting business landscape.”
Misinformation has been put under a global microscope over the past 18 months, as health messaging in relation to COVID-19 has come to the forefront in news reporting.
Last week, Sky News CEO Paul Whittaker faced the media diversity in Australia senate committee, after the broadcaster’s YouTube channel was banned for a week at the end of July, for breaching misinformation policies on the tech platform.
In August, Nine Entertainment Co rejected advertisements from Clive Palmer’s political party, that it considered to contravene government issued-health advice on vaccines. This came after week Mumbrella published an op ed by regular columnist Ben Shepherd, questioning why a brand such as The Age would have an ad from Palmer’s political party criticising lockdowns and calling the Liberal and Labor party untrustworthy on the front page, when at the same time it is running a media campaign about is focused on ‘Minds wide open‘.
Clive Palmer ad on the cover of The Age
The ad also ran on the front pages of News Corp’s The Australian as well as several other regional mastheads, and Nine’s The Sydney Morning Herald and The Australian Financial Review.
The BBC survey found that 66% of respondents said the pandemic has changed the way they think about the impact of international news on the Australian business landscape and society at large. Thirty percent said they are now more likely to choose international over domestic news sources than previously.
Earlier this year, IPSOS research found that 18% more CEO’s in Australia visited BBC News every month during 2020, compared to before the pandemic.
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Calum Jaspan was news editor at Mumbrella, based in Melbourne. He was also the producer and host of the Mumbrellacast. He left Mumbrella in May 2023.
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