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Public trust in Australian media falls to all-time low

Public trust in the media has hit an all-time low, new polling by Essential Research suggests.

The 2017 results of Essential’s Trust In Media survey suggests that among the media that have seen the biggest decline in trust since the annual survey began are daily newspapers. ABC TV has also seen a fall.

Source | Essential Trust in Media 2017 report

From 62% of people saying they had “a lot” or “some” trust in daily newspapers in 2011, the number has now declined to 42% – the biggest fall of any news medium in the survey.

Local papers have seen a decline from 56% to 45% over the last five years.

Meanwhile, following a year of debate around “fake news” the percentage of people who trusted “internet blogs” delcined to 19%

A total of 27% said they had no trust at all in internet blogs.

While the ABC TV remained the most trusted news source, it saw a seven percentage point drop in a year, from 66% to 59%, putting it level with SBS TV.

 

ABC radio news and a current affairs was the third most trusted media outlet in 2017’s survey with 56% of people having a lot or some trust in the source – dropping six points from the last survey. The radio platform has also seen a consistent decline in trusts since 2013.

The survey gathered data from approximately 1,000 people on a weekly online basis.

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