A report has just landed from AUT showing how much trouble the media is in. These guys talked to more than a 1000 people to find out what they think of the media and they found trust in the media has fallen from 53 percent in 2020 to 33 percent this year.
That is big. Four years ago, half of us trusted the media. Today, only a third.
And this is not a blip, it's fallen every single year from 2020. It's gotten smaller in '21, smaller in '22, smaller in '23 and then smaller in '24.
And the main reason? Bias.
87 percent of respondents said the reporting in the news is biased and not balanced and many respondents shared the view that mainstream news was "clearly biased to the left".
And that is not their imagination, because that backs what journalists say about themselves. There was a study a couple of year ago asking Kiwi journos which way they lean, and 81 percent said left-of-centre.
People aren’t dumb. They see it - and now we find out it's the main reason why they don't trust the media any more.
Now this isn't a revelation to you and I, because we have discussed this for years now on this show -that the left leaning bias is problem for the media.
And we are seeing it play out right now, with this new Government being given absolutely no honeymoon whatsoever because their conservative, liberal and centre-right ideas are an anathema to left-leaning journalists, who rail against it every single day.
Now the real question is, can the media turn this around?
And I'm going to make a prediction- no.
Because this isn’t a revelation to you and I, but I genuinely think newsrooms up and down this country don’t believe this is true. That is my experience of talking to editors in various media. They don’t see it, or they do and they make excuses.
If if they wanted to change it, the bias is so deeply ingrained it’ll be very hard to undo.
So really, the benefit of this research is probably not for the legacy media, because they probably can’t change things. It's for you and I- to tell us we’re not imagining it.
Heather du Plessis-Allan is a journalist and commentator who hosts Newstalk ZB's Drive show.
10 comments:
What a surprise (not) that so many Kiwis don’t like having “progressive” (i.e., regressive and unethical) identity politics rammed down our throats.
Bizarrely, last night on News First (= Newshub presumably) the loss of trust was blamed on Winston Peters! WP has simply called out the race-based bribery of the PIJF for what it is.
What the writer of this post doesn’t seem to appreciate, though, is that part of being a real professional is that you can have your own political opinions while at the same time you keep those opinions to yourself and you act professionally and evenhandedly on the job. That most journalists are left of centre isn’t a problem in itself if they act professionally. The problem is that so many journalists haven’t been.
As an aside: I’m surprised a journalist such as the writer uses “gotten” (we are not Americans) and twice “this isn’t a revelation to you and I” instead of the correct “this isn’t a revelation to you and me”. Time for her to brush up on her grammar!
LFC
Heather it is worse than left bias because that has existed for so long it was forgiven to a degree.
The real issue is the fact that they have taken the left bias and weaponised it with the taxpayer funds from the Ardern regime. The continue today to berate at every opportunity the new government without missing a beat.
The media have supported every ideology that suits their left narrative unfailingly and without a second thought.
The media have ommitted almost all none left ideological information and that is pure censorship.
Since 2017 almost no MSM spoke of anything that did not fit the then Ardern regimes narrative. Three Waters never discussed publicly, He Pua Pua never discussed publicly, The linguistic eugenics program labour had to change the name and names of and arounf the country never discussed publicly. Climate change balance is non existent...and the list goes on and on.
This is why they are not trusted. They are no longer jounalists they are activists and most people never trust activists because they are always single cause types of people who believe the end always justify the means.......
They will not change because they cannot change. The demise will bring about a rebirth of sorts and at that point then people may return as long as the activism is gone and balanced truth returns.
Heather, you are correct, nothing new for me.
Infact the only ones now who don't think the media are biased are the hard-core lefties and those who are stupid or ignorant. Plus the media themselves .
Stuff are on a massive campaign to raise money by telling the public they are truely independent and that their pieces are factual.....yeh right, they to will have their head in the sand unwilling to admit they are biased.
I'm loving how this is playing out. Karma for the media and absolutely no sympathy from me.
Anna mouse @ 7.23 - perfectly written.
Watch them sleep through that wakeup call.
It’s all rather predictable because journos are fed total tosh from the journalism school right through to fluffing themselves up on the telly at night.
I wonder if they actually stop for two seconds and think about what they are saying.
The biscuit has to be given to the Watea news journo asking the PM about sacks on kids heads!! WTF
Where do they get them?
Just like the kids in the climate march it’s in the education system. Journalists are being taught to be activists. The system is churning out little lefty indoctrinators flat out. Handing journalism training to universities has not served us well. Same story with teacher training.
Absolutely correct. The bias is so strong that many news items are just so much nonsense that I have virtually ceased using mainstream media. It is high time that the news media regained their professionalism. Sure it is OK to have political leanings, but it is highly unprofessional for those to be reflected in reporting. Where have all the old grumpy editors gone? if any still exist, they need to be reinstated to throw out the worst and re-educate those reporters and interviewers who still have some hope. If that works, then I might resubscribe.
Thank you, Heather, for this absolutely correct article.
MSM cannot understand that readers and listeners want factual, balanced reporting and analysis. Not opinions, undisguised bias and sensationalism.
The only media site I visit is Newstalk ZB and even they sometimes have some wokism which is disappointing and exasperating.
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