OPINION
The latest media trust survey is out and there are no surprises in the results. What is surprising though, is the hand-wringing in media circles about the lack of trust in media, and how it is everyone else’s fault but theirs.
The AUT research centre for Journalism, Media and Democracy (JMAD) has published its fifth annual Trust in News in Aotearoa New Zealand report, authored by Dr Merja Myllylahti and Dr Greg Treadwell. The 2024 report finds that while interest in news in New Zealand is high compared to 46 other markets, trust in news continues rapidly to decline, and news avoidance is increasing.
The study’s findings show trust in news in general fell significantly from 42% in 2023 to 33% (-9%) in 2024 and the proportion of those who actively avoid the news to some extent grew from 69% in 2023 to 75% (+6%) in 2024.
AUT
Bizarrely, on the same day that it is revealed that the vast majority of us don’t trust the media, the NZ Herald runs an article about some program designed to teach kids how to recognise fake news…designed by the very people we no longer trust. I know, right?
Kiwi kids are being bombarded by misleading and false information on social platforms, and primary schools should teach them how to avoid falling for it.
That’s the view of Bryce Corbett, a Queensland-based media executive and founder of Squiz Kids, a popular news podcast aimed at children. Corbett – formerly a journalist for 60 Minutes, the Australian Financial Review, and the Australian Woman’s Weekly – also runs a school-based initiative that he says has taught thousands of Australian kids how to think critically when they consume online media.
Newshounds, which was initially funded by the Google News Initiative, is a free classroom tool that uses a cartoon dog and games to show 8- to-12-year-olds how to detect misinformation (incorrect information that isn’t spread maliciously) and disinformation (incorrect information that is spread deliberately). Corbett, a parent of two teenagers, says the programme has been adopted by more than 2000 teachers throughout Australia and was positively evaluated by researchers at Queensland University of Technology. He has had discussions with the Australian federal government and hopes it will become part of the national curriculum.
NZ Herald
Anything with Google involved, beware. We don’t need a special education program to teach kids how to identify false and misleading news, we just need to tell the kids to stop reading the legacy media, and the JMAD has provided a helpful list of who not to trust:
“In 2020, 53% of New Zealanders said they trusted the news in general. In 2024, that figure was at 33%.”
JMAD Trust in Media Report 2024
Based on our sample, in 2024, trust in the news in general dropped significantly from 42% in 2023 to 33% in 2024 (-9%). In five years, trust in the news in general has fallen by 20%, as seen in figure 5. In 2024, trust in news people consume themselves also fell significantly, from 53% to 45% (-8%).
JMAD Trust in Media Report 2024
Note the dodgy scale in the above chart. There is part of the problem.
In just four years legacy media have destroyed trust in media from over 50% to a parlous 33%. They did it to themselves but they continue to deny it was their actions and behaviour during COVID-19, along with taking government money that caused it.
When you read the report you can see that these reports are falling on deaf ears. The research shows precisely why we no longer trust media, in just two easy charts: the first is about media independence, something editors and owners of legacy media blame entirely on either Winston Peters or the audience themselves:
We think they are bent because they took bribes, became propagandists for the Labour Government, and ignored the warnings not to, to their detriment.
And here is the second showing precisely why we no longer trust them:
A massive 87% think the news is biased, 82% believe the newsroom reflects its own political biases, and 76% dislike opinions and would prefer facts to be reported.
If legacy media fixed those things, which they have so far refused to do, then perception becomes reality. JMAD has produced these reports for at least five years and, for five years at least, legacy media have only wailed about the lack of trust and not done a single thing to address the issues. That’s on them, not on the audience. Perception is reality. We perceive them to be bent and so in reality they are bent.
The answer is not more education, nor is it more government funding. Any other business with a declining customer base would seek to understand why that is. JMAD provides legacy media with the necessary insights but the reports are never actioned. Instead, they write lengthy articles about how it is everyone else’s fault.
The decline for legacy media is now terminal, those losses are unsustainable, and it’s them, not us, that have the problem. Until and unless they start taking things seriously the decline will simply accelerate.
Now you see why it is vitally important for you to stop supporting legacy media: they simply can’t be trusted. By support I mean your eyes, your ears, and even your subscriptions to legacy media. You are keeping them afloat by giving them eyes and ears to sell advertising. Just stop it. Support truly independent media, like The BFD.
Because if you don’t support us, then we may well disappear, and then you are left with the proven dishonest and untrustworthy media. Do you really want that? Do you?
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