The result of the 2025 federal election was proof that the influence of major media companies over voter opinion has declined. Neither the endorsements given by large media organisations nor the leaders’ debates they staged had any measurable effect on voter behaviour. This is because declining regular readership means that fewer people than ever pay attention to what major media companies publish and broadcast.

In 2024, for the first time ever, most Australians said that their main source of news was either social media or online news. While the growing influence of alternative news sources is not new, the implications of the marked decline of traditional major media companies’ influence are significant. Readership is now so low that metropolitan dailies no longer have the power to set political agendas. In the two most recent federal elections, the winning party was endorsed by fewer than half of all major newspapers.

Our analysis shows that:

• From 1996 to 2019, the winner of every federal election was endorsed by the majority of newspapers. In 2022 and 2025, most newspapers supported the loser.
• Albanese leads the first Australian Government to have, so far, never been endorsed by The Australian since the newspaper was founded in 1964.
• Neither News Corp nor Nine’s newspapers are able to regularly reach more than 20% of Victorian voters.
• The first leaders’ debate on Sky News attracted at best 2% of enrolled voters, signalling that leaders’ debates can no longer influence large numbers of voters.

Although the spectre of media moguls as political kingmakers still looms large in the imagination of Australia’s political class, the opinions and endorsements published by Australia’s major media outlets now have little influence over how Australians actually vote. This means that governments should no longer fear retribution from media organisations opposed to important reforms. The path is now open to a different kind of politics, where Australia’s leaders can govern with courage rather than in fear.