More than half of Australians do not trust commercial media, new research by The Australia Institute has found.

The new survey of more than 1400 people asked respondents to rate their trust in the ABC and commercial media on a scale from ‘do not trust’ to ‘do trust’.

“Many Australians rely on information provided through the media to make important decisions, like who to vote for,” Director of Research at The Australia Institute David Baker said.

“So we thought it was important to gauge how much trust Australians put in media outlets.”

The results show 53 per cent of Australians do not trust commercial media, while just 10 per cent of respondents said they do trust commercial media.

Meanwhile, 41 per cent of those surveyed said they trust the ABC and just 15 per cent said they do not trust the broadcasting corporation.

“It’s interesting to see that more than half of Australians don’t trust commercial media, yet so many of us still watch, read and listen to it,” Mr Baker said.

“With the federal election looming, it’s important that Australians feel they can trust the media outlets providing them with information which will help them to decide how to vote.”

Note for editors:

The Australia Institute conducted an online survey in April 2013 with 1407 respondents. Respondents were sourced from a reputable independent online panel provider and received a small incentive of reward points to participate.

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