So who do you trust in the Australian media landscape in 2018?

On 9 October 2018 Essential Research released the results of survey questions concerning trust in the media.

Once again public broadcasters, ABC and SBS, were the clear winners across all categories in which they were listed.

Q. How much trust do you have in what you read or hear in the following media?

	Total a lot /some trust		A lot of trust	Some trust	Not much trust	No trust at all	Don’t know	Don’t use	% change		Total a lot /some Oct 17
ABC TV news and current affairs	62%		19%	43%	14%	9%	5%	10%	-1		63%
SBS TV news and current affairs	61%		18%	43%	14%	6%	5%	15%	–		61%
ABC radio news and current affairs	57%		17%	40%	17%	8%	4%	14%	-1		58%
Commercial TV news and current affairs	48%		8%	40%	29%	12%	5%	7%	+3		45%
News and opinion in local newspapers	47%		6%	41%	27%	9%	4%	13%	+3		44%
ABC radio talkback programs	44%		8%	36%	22%	10%	5%	20%	–		44%
News and opinion in daily newspapers	44%		6%	38%	28%	10%	5%	12%	+2		42%
Commercial radio news and current affairs	44%		5%	39%	28%	11%	5%	13%	+3		41%
News and opinion websites	39%		4%	35%	32%	11%	5%	13%	-1		40%
Commercial radio talkback programs	35%		4%	31%	29%	14%	5%	18%	–		35%
Internet blogs	17%		2%	15%	34%	22%	6%	20%	-3		20%

Overall, there has been little change in trust in media since this question was asked 12 months ago.

The most trusted media were ABC TV news and current affairs (62% a lot/some trust), SBS TV news and current affairs (61%) and ABC radio news and current affairs (57%).

The least trusted were internet blogs (17%) and commercial radio talkback programs (35%).

Q. How much trust do you have in what you read in the following newspapers and news websites?

	Total a lot /some trust		A lot of trust	Some trust	Not much trust	No trust at all	Don’t know
ABC news websites	69%		21%	48%	16%	9%	6%
The Australian	59%		12%	47%	22%	11%	9%
The Guardian Australia website	55%		10%	45%	23%	11%	12%
News.com.au	55%		10%	45%	27%	12%	7%
Sydney Morning Herald	54%		13%	41%	25%	11%	10%
The Age	53%		9%	44%	24%	13%	11%
Nine.com.au	53%		8%	45%	27%	13%	6%
The Telegraph	49%		10%	39%	26%	14%	11%
Herald Sun	46%		8%	38%	27%	15%	11%
Yahoo 7 News website	45%		6%	39%	29%	16%	9%
Courier Mail	44%		6%	38%	30%	15%	13%
Daily Mail website	39%		6%	33%	31%	21%	10%

* Note : Percentages based only on respondents who had read/used each newspaper/website

Overall, among those who have read or used them, the most trusted news sources were the ABC news websites (69%), The Australian (59%), The Guardian Australia (55%) and news.com.au (55%).

The least trusted were The Daily Mail (39%) and The Courier Mail (44%).

Q. Overall, do you think the news reporting and comment on the ABC is independent and unbiased?

	Total		Vote Labor	Vote Lib/Nat	Vote Greens	Vote other
Yes	40%		50%	40%	52%	28%
No	34%		24%	43%	23%	50%
Don’t know	26%		25%	17%	25%	22%

40% think that the news reporting and comment on the ABC is independent and unbiased and 34% think it isn’t.

Those most likely to think the ABC is not independent and unbiased were LNP voters (43%), other party voters (50%) and aged 55+ (40%).

As for the general public's attitude to the recent attacks on ABC independence - 36% of survey respondents thought that the Government has too much influence over the ABC, 16% think they have not enough influence, 17% think they have about the right level of influence and 31& did not know.