ABC most trusted | Facebook most distrusted

Australians trust the ABC and distrust Facebook the most, a landmark new survey reveals.

Conducted in May by Roy Morgan, the MEDIA Net Trust Survey reveals that while Facebook – and Social Media generally – is deeply distrusted in Australia, the ABC is by far the nation’s most trusted media organisation.

Half of all Australians (47 per cent) distrust social media, compared to only 9 per cent who distrust the ABC.

According to Roy Morgan CEO Michele Levine, trust is now firmly on corporate Australia’s agenda, “But distrust is the critical measure everyone’s ignoring,” she said.

“The absence of the voices of distrust should be alarming every CEO and company director.

“Distrust is where our deepest fears, pain, and betrayal surface – the shock of discovering we were foolish to trust too much.

“And nowhere is that sense of betrayal more profound than in our media brands.

“When we subtract distrust from trust to achieve a Net Trust Score or NTS, we reveal a minus NTS for the Australian media industry,” she said.

“The banking industry has an NTS of minus 18 percent, compared to the media industry with an NTS of minus 7 per cent. So, while media industry is less toxic than banks, it is still in negative territory.

Media category Net Trust Scores or NTS (distrust score subtracted from trust score):

1. Social Media     minus 42%
2. Television         minus 16%
3. Newspapers      minus 13%
4. Internet             minus 7%
5. Magazines        minus 4%
6. Radio               minus 2%

After the ABC, SBS is Australia’s second most trusted media brand. Fairfax comes in third as the only other media brand with a positive NTS.

SBS is also Australia’s most trusted commercial television network with an NTS of +5 per cent – well ahead of the other three commercial networks, all with an NTS of between minus 6 and minus 10 per cent.

“Australians told us that their trust of the ABC is driven by its lack of bias and impartiality, quality journalism and ethics. While their distrust of Facebook and Social Media is driven by fake news, manipulated truth, false statistics and fake audience measurement.”

According to survey respondents, their top-5 drivers of distrust in commercial television are:

1. False news / fake news
2. Bias
3. News is sensationalised / focus on controversial stories
4. Pushing commercial or political agenda
5. Too much advertising

But why does distrust matter?

According to Ms Levine:

• Distrust triggers audience churn
• Distrust kills audience engagement
• Distrust kills advertiser spend
• Distrust is the tipping point for reputational damage
• Distrust is the bellwether for an unsustainable future

The Roy Morgan Net Trust Score - Topline Media Brands Report is available on the online store here.

THE SURVEY

• We asked approximately 4,000 Australians which BRANDS they TRUST and which they DISTRUST
• To date, we have conducted 3 rounds:
  • October 2017
  • January 2018
  • February 2018
• Then in May 2018 we conducted an additional survey of 1,111 Australians asking which MEDIA they TRUST and DISTRUST
• The survey was unprompted and open ended (quantitative + qualitative)
• Respondents were recruited from the Roy Morgan Single Source database (>600,000)
• We took the trust score of each nominated media brand and subtracted the distrust score
• The result is a Net Trust Score – Media NTS
• Respondents were also asked WHY they trust or distrust nominated media brands

MORE INFORMATION

Michele Levine – direct: 03 9224 5215 | mobile: 0411 129 093 |  Michele.Levine@roymorgan.com

For comments or more information please contact:
Roy Morgan - Enquiries
Office: +61 (03) 9224 5309
askroymorgan@roymorgan.com