More than two-thirds of New Zealanders actively avoid news coverage and more than one in ten do so regularly.
Findings released this morning by AUT’s JM&D journalism research centre make sober reading. Its latest Trust in News report shows Kiwis are avoiding the news because they think it is depressing and biased.
In its 2023 survey, which is based on an international study by the Reuters Institute at Oxford University, JM&D asked for the first time about news avoidance and political influence. It used Horizon Research to conduct a nationwide online survey of 1120 adults in February.
Sixty nine per cent said they sometimes or often avoided the news. That is a statistic that sits well above the Reuters Institute’s multi-nation findings. That study found 54 per cent of Brazilians avoided news, followed by 46 per cent in the United Kingdom, 42 per cent in the United States and 41 per cent in Australia. At the bottom of the avoidance table were Japan (12 per cent) and Finland (20 per cent).
At the other end of spectrum, New Zealand’s international ranking of those ‘highly interested’ in news was equally alarming. Little more than a third expressed a strong focus, compared to more than two-thirds of Finland’s population.
“The reasons people say they avoid the news are familiar,” the report’s authors Dr Merja Myllylahti and Dr Greg Treadwell said. “News feels depressing and biased, and it increases anxiety. Many of those responding found news repetitive, boring, and overly dramatic.”
The authors said some respondents commented that the media was not providing positive news and supporting positive change, and therefore was not to be trusted. They quoted one respondent saying the news was very negative and divisive: “And it’s just depressing hearing about war, disease, poverty etc.”
The same person made a cryptic comment about not knowing who to believe any more, followed by dollar signs. Others talked of the media being a “right wing spin machine”, biased, and reflecting no more than opinions “dressed up as news”.
Such comments reflect a general decline in New Zealanders’ trust in news. Strong trust has declined by 11 percentage points since the Covid pandemic began in 2020 – from 53 per cent to 42 per cent – and trust in the media that people actually use has not fared much better. Given that trend, there is little comfort in the fact that the drop in confidence over the past 12 months was almost within the 2.9 per cent margin of error.
Biased and unbalanced reporting is cited as the strongest reason by those who express distrust in the news (82 per cent), followed by the political leaning of the newsroom (80 per cent). However, both these results must be treated with caution as they may reflect the respondents’ own biases and political leanings: If the media do not reflect my world view, there must be something wrong with them.
Less subjective, however, is the belief that the news is too opinionated and lacks factual information, a view held by almost three-quarters of those who do not have a lot of trust in news. Almost half believed the range of voices in the news was too narrow and represented society’s elites.
There is widespread – and growing – concern over standards of journalism. “Poor journalism” was defined as making factual mistakes; dumbed-down stories and misleading headlines/clickbait. More than 90 per cent of those surveyed were concerned about “stories where facts are spun or twisted to push a particular agenda”, and almost that number were concerned about “stories that are completely made up for political or commercial reasons that look like news stories but turn out to be advertisements”.
Add in lack of transparency and the perception that government funding subverts journalists (views held by more than 60 per cent of the ‘untrusting’) and it is easy to see why only 41 per cent of people believe the media hold the Government to account. And a slightly larger proportion disagreed that the media are free from undue political or government influence. A mere six per cent strongly agreed with the proposition that we have independent media.
The JM&D report also shows these general perceptions are transferred to individual news outlets and the results are particularly worrying for Radio New Zealand. Over the past 12 months its trust score (mean scores on a scale from zero to 10) has dropped 14.5 per cent to 5.3, the largest slide among all surveyed media.
Whakaata Māori (Maori TV) and NewstalkZB also dropped more than 14 per cent. While RNZ is still at the top of the table, it is no longer alone. It now shares first place with the Otago Daily Times (down 11.7 per cent) and TVNZ (down 10.2 per cent). The New Zealand Herald and Stuff both declined by 12.3 per cent over the year and sit in fourth equal place (although eight outlets are ahead of them on trust).
Of even greater concern is the decline in trust since 2020. RNZ has dropped by 24.2 per cent over that period, while television networks TVNZ and Newshub have both dropped by around 22 per cent. The New Zealand Herald is down 20.6 per cent and Stuff by 18 per cent over the period. Even the highly regarded digital start-ups have felt the cold wind of adverse public opinion. Newsroom is down by more than 20 per cent since 2020 and The Spinoff by almost 15 per cent.
The report includes a chart that breaks down current levels of trust in news brands beyond the mean scores. It indicates that more than a quarter of respondents do not trust the New Zealand Herald, Stuff, Newshub or TVNZ. For RNZ and NewstalkZB the level of distrust hovers around 20 per cent.
The survey does not interrogate respondents on why they reach their conclusions, but some comments point to the possibility that the Government’s Covid response and the media support for its hard-line programmes may have influenced opinions. For example, one respondent commented: “It’s hard to trust the news when views or opinions that go against the opinion or theme of the media / government are silenced. There should always be room to ask questions and learn more. I lost my trust in the media when the government called itself the one source of truth and wouldn’t allow any real scientific or political rebuttal.” Another stated that mainstream media were losing credibility “because they have become government puppets who no longer report the real truth”.
It also seems clear that opinion was affected by the capture of the Public Interest Journalism Fund narrative by conspiracy theorists alleging that the $55 million appropriation had ‘bought off’ the media. That is ironic, given that the survey showed 86 per cent of people were concerned about fake news, and 58 per cent were “very or extremely” concerned.
The trend lines on trust in news are heading in the wrong direction. This is journalism’s equivalent of climate change, and the news industry is facing catastrophe if trust continues to decline. Avoiding the news altogether is journalism’s equivalent of melting icecaps and advancing sands.
Oases of good journalism undoubtedly remain but it is high time news organisations came together to reclaim the desert. The JM&D report sends clear signals to them that they need to return to the tenets of good journalism if they are to restore public trust. That means putting public interest news values ahead of analytics, clearly separating fact from opinion, taking the initiative over disinformation, and provide fair forums for legitimate debate.
Above all, it means reflecting a more balanced view of the world in which we live. Too often the selection and treatment of news leaves the impression of a world filled with nothing but crime, conflict, calamity, and a contest of wills. All of that exists, but not to the exclusion of the other things that sit on the spectrum of life.
Thanks for posting.
“Biased and unbalanced reporting is cited as the strongest reason by those who express distrust in the news (82 per cent), followed by the political leaning of the newsroom (80 per cent). However, both these results must be treated with caution as they may reflect the respondents’ own biases and political leanings: If the media do not reflect my world view, there must be something wrong with them.”
Really?
Over 80% think the media is biased but that’s because they are biased? I know who I trust, hands down my fellow Kiwis over the legact media.
The point I am making is that bias (and ‘political leaning’ is a subset of that) is far more subjective than other causes of distrust. In an increasingly polarised society, that subjectivity is increased. Unfortunately, the effect on levels of trust is significant even if ‘media bias’ is more apparent than real.