Trust in media and government drop in latest study by Edelman Australia

Trust in Australian media and news sources has dropped into “distrusted” territory since January, according to a new report by Edelman Australia.

Edelman’s most recent Australian survey, which measured the levels of trust in Australia’s institutions at the end of May 2021, shows trust fell sharply across all four major institutions: media, government, NGOs and business.

Source: Edelman [Click to enlarge]

Source: Edelman [Click to enlarge]

Australians are also increasingly questioning information provided to them by sources, including media. Only 12% automatically believe information from media reports with named sources after seeing the information.

Source: Edelman [Click to enlarge]

The drop in trust in governments in the country can also be attributed to snap lockdowns, challenges with the vaccine rollout and the operational management of Australia’s COVID-19 exit plan. Public discourse between state and federal leaders has also damaged the overall trust Australians have in government according to the study.

The survey included 1,200 respondents between 28 – 30 May, 2021.

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Olivia Kruimel

Olivia Kruimel is the managing editor - news & analysis at Mumbrella. She has more than 15 years of experience in journalism, communications and marketing. Her journalism career began at Fairfax Media (now part of Nine) and includes various B2B publications such as B&T, which was under the leadership of Mumbrella founder and editor-at-large Tim Burrowes at the time. As a marketer Olivia has worked for Standard Chartered and various global law firms.

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topics COVID-19Edelman AustraliaMediaMichelle Hutton

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