Just over half of all Australians (54%) trust journalists, while 32% do not trust them much and 15% do not trust them at all.
The figures come from the latest interactive data made available by the ABC from its national survey of nearly 55,000 people across every State and Territory and in every federal electorate.
Recent immigrants don’t trust journalists very much, but those who have been here longer have more trust. Perhaps this is due to the countries where recent immigrants come from, where media is less free and journalists are less scrupulous.
All age groups trust journalists at roughly the same rate, there is very little variation for older or younger respondents. Women trust journalists more than men.
87% of respondents say there is a lot of bias in the way the Australian media cover important issues, with the figure fairly consistent across all age groups.
49% say Australian media generally do a good job of keeping people informed about important issues. Older audiences are more likely to feel that way, while 25-39 year olds are less likely to.
Politicians are trusted less than journos, with 81% of those surveyed trusting them ‘not much’ or ‘not at all.’
While celebrities get lots of coverage and sell products, their trust level is very low with the sceptical Australian public, who can see through the veneer of the cult of celebrity. 91% of respondents trust celebrities ‘not much’ and ‘not at all,’ in the media and politics category of the data analysis.
Scientists, doctors and nurses are the most trusted professions.
67% of respondents say they follow news and current affairs daily.
Radio is ‘most used’ by 13% of Australians to keep them informed.
News websites (38%) are the most used for information, followed by television (25%), social media (17%) then radio (13%), newspapers (3%) then podcasts (2%). 18-29 year olds use radio less, while older demographics use it more.
The results of Australia’s largest ever national survey are now available to all Australians to explore with the launch of the ABC’s Australia Talks Data Explorer.
For last year’s Australia Talks project, nearly 55,000 people across every State and Territory and in every federal electorate were asked almost 500 questions about their attitudes, behaviours and experiences across a broad range of topics — including health, happiness, relationships, racism, cost of living, work, national identity and values.
In its scale and scope it was unprecedented in Australia, reflecting the opinions of a far larger sample of the population than is captured by conventional public opinion research, aiming to create a better understanding of modern Australian life.
The dataset is a valuable and significant contribution to Australian social science research. The online tool was developed by ABC News Story Lab and is easy and engaging to use.
All data are aggregated and anonymised so individuals are not identifiable.
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