Subj : Kiwi trust in news now well below global average, report suggests
To   : All
From : News Person
Date : Mon Apr 08 2024 01:27 pm

The public's trust in New Zealand's news media has fallen sharply over the
past year and is now "well below" the global average, a new report suggests.


Survey results also suggest Kiwis are now world leaders in actively avoiding
the news due to the perception the news available was either too negative or
of poor quality.


Trust in news publishers has been trending downwards for years in published
polling.


The AUT Research Centre for Journalism, Media and Democracy released its
fifth annual Trust in News report earlier this morning, which included data
from a 2023 survey.


According to the report, trust in news fell nine points from 42% last year to
33% this year, "well below" the international average of 40%.


General trust in news in New Zealand is now at the same level as the UK and
very close to the US, the survey results suggest.

Meanwhile, the proportion of those who actively avoid the news to some extent
grew from 69% in 2023 to 75% in 2024. Of those avoiding the news, 16% said
they avoid news often, 42% sometimes and 17% occasionally.


Research centre co-director Merja Myllylahti said the results were "highly
problematic".


"Journalism has lost its authority as the main source of news and
information. In general, people distrust the information they see, and they
are increasingly checking their `facts' themselves. This phenomenon is highly
problematic."

Surveying for the report was carried out online by Horizon Research and
weighed by age, gender, educational qualifications, income, ethnicity and
region.


AUT lecturer and report co-author Greg Treadwell said: "Trust in news and
news outlets keeps declining and journalists and media companies need
urgently to form relationships with their audiences and with communities to
rebuild that trust."


In the survey data, all the major New Zealand news brands suffered declines
in trust.


"TVNZ has remained the biggest source of news for New Zealanders, but
Facebook has become the second most important source of news, despite a drop
in its trustworthiness.

"The Otago Daily Times was regarded as the most trustworthy news brand,
followed by RNZ and NBR in the second place. TVNZ, Newsroom, other commercial
radio stations and BusinessDesk were jointly regarded as the third most
trustworthy sources."


When compared internationally, New Zealanders are now in third place after
Norway and Sweden in paying for news, according to the survey.

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