Media Report Card: Low Trust, High Avoidance
The media are celebrating today. According to a new survey, trust in media has increased from just over three in 10 NZers to less than four in 10 NZers! That still means that more than 6 in 10 (63%) still don’t trust the media. But there’s an even more troubling statistic amidst the report. Kiwis are increasingly avoiding the news media. Almost four out of five of us are doing this – a significant increase.
Show Script:
Media Report Card: Low Trust, High Avoidance
The media are celebrating today.
According to a new survey, trust in media has increased from just over three in 10 NZers to less than four in 10 NZers. That means that more than 6 in 10 NZers (63%) – two in three might be a better metric – still don’t trust the media.
Yep – that’s a celebration for the media, apparently.
But there’s an even more troubling statistic amidst the report.
Kiwis are increasingly avoiding the news media. Almost four out of five NZers are doing this. A significant increase.
A quick recap…
In the recent 2026 global survey across 29 countries by the Edelman Trust Barometer, trust in media has slightly increased worldwide. 2% points. Blue is trust, red is distrust, grey is neutral.
For NZ specifically, in 2023, trust in NZ media was sitting at 41%. But worldwide, it averaged 50% – so we’re disproportionately low. It then plummeted to 35% last year – from 41% two years before but has had a rebound up to 39. Cause for celebration? It’s still a net loss of 2% from two years before.
Here’s the “global” rate again for trust in media. Increase of 4 points since 2023. But NZ has had a net LOSS of 2% over the same period.
I’ve circled where NZ would sit with its score of 39. 2nd to bottom equal with the UK tabloids including the BBC, The Guardian, The Sun and the Daily Mirror.
In a statement, Acumen chief executive Adelle Keely said media could “Write accurate headlines instead of exaggerated or fear-inducing ones”; and “Dedicate equal time and coverage to different viewpoints on big issues”.
Good thinking.
The Ipsos Quality of Life survey published at the very beginning of last year showed that just 27% of kiwis have some level of trust for the news media. Just under half of us (48%) have various levels of distrust – with the remaining 25% sitting on the fence.
A 2024 survey by academics from Victoria University and University of Otago reported that 60% of survey participants reported they sometimes, often, or almost always avoid the news. But this total of 60% is higher than any other national figure reported in other studies. The average news avoidance across the 46 countries surveyed by Reuters was 32.6%. The average. We’re almost double that! Yes – we have some of the highest rates of news avoidance in the world.
Also at the end of 2024, the Human Rights Commission released (Horizon) research on Treaty trust, and who do we trust and not trust for reliable information on the Treaty of Waitangi and the associated Treaty Principles Bill. They surveyed at the end of 2023 and then again at the end of 2024 in the heat of the Treaty Principles Bill being introduced into Parliament and the associated Hikoi.
Only 13% – one three – 13% of us trusted English-language news media to provide us with accurate information about the Treaty. It’s 16% for Maori-language news media.
So that means that 87% of us are suspicious of the information we’re receiving from the news media.
So the latest measure of trust has just been released
It’s the Trust in News in Aotearoa New Zealand report produced by the AUT research centre for Journalism, Media and Democracy (JMAD) in collaboration with the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism – a survey of 47 countries.
In 2020, 53% of New Zealanders trusted news in general. That figure is now at 37%. A slight improvement from the low of 32%. A similar rise to what was shown in the Edelman report I referred to at the start.
But still a 16% percentage point drop from 2020 when the surveys started.
Just over 1 in 3 NZ’ers trust “most of the news most of the time”. So that’s not even “fully trust”.
The international average is 40% – so we’re below average.
Most trusted brands – which will surprise you – are Radio NZ, Otago Daily Times and TVNZ. Really?
Further down are Stuff, ThreeNews, Newstalk ZB – and a well earned rebuke for The Spinoff.
But here’s why the media should be concerned.
When you look at this graph, my immediate impression was that usage was increasing. Heading up as you move to the right. But then I realised that they have (deliberately?) put the dates in reverse order.
So those peaks at 65 and 64 are from 2022 / 2023. RNZ in red has had a slight increase as has the NZ Herald in royal blue – on the far left.
But look at Stuff (in light green) 64% down to 51%, TVNZ in the grey blue in the middle – 64% down to 50% – and light blue ThreeNews with 49% now tanking at 21%.
And that is a well deserved tanking. They are in deep trouble. But Stuff and TVNZ should also be very concerned.
But here’s the key data that should have the whole industry taking a look at themselves – which they won’t, of course.
The AUT survey said New Zealanders’ interest in the news was stable (91% of respondents said they were interested to some extent, down one percentage point) BUT the proportion of those who are extremely interested in news has dropped from 76% in 2023, to 69% in 2026
BUT “news avoidance” had increased significantly – up five percentage points to 78%. News avoidance is classified as people avoiding the news “to some degree (sometimes/ occasionally/often)”.
Almost four out of five of us are avoiding the news.
Approximately 22% said they never avoid the news, which is a significant drop from 27% in 2025.
Why do we avoid the news?
It negatively affects my mood, I’m worn out, there’s nothing I can do with the info, too much war / conflict, too much politicis, not relevant, leads to arguments….
And as any good business knows, when customers are actively avoiding you, you’re in trouble.
And that avoidance has increased – significantly!
What’s even worse is that the international Reuters study found that approximately 40% of those surveyed said they sometimes or often avoid the news, up from 29% in 2017. News avoidance was highest in Bulgaria (63%), Turkey (61%) and Croatia (61%).
An average of 40%. Remember our figure?
78%. Almost double!!!!!
Other interesting findings were that in 2026, online news sites and apps were the main sources of news for 38% of New Zealanders.
Social media was the main source of news for almost one in five (19%) New Zealanders.
Ironically New Zealanders’ trust in news on social media is also up from 13 percent in 2025 to 17 percent in this year’s report – despite the mainstream media’s loathing of social media and doing everything they can to label it as misinformation and disinformation. Something that they also can excel in.
Maybe just maybe the media should return to Facebook and X (formerly Twitter) and actually engage with their audience again – rather than toss their toys cause they don’t like Elon Musk.
“Poor journalism” was defined as making factual mistakes, dumbed-down stories and misleading headlines/clickbait. Approximately 92% of respondents were at least somewhat concerned about poor journalism, and 66% were extremely or very concerned.
Those who most mistrust RNZ, TVNZ, Stuff, Newsroom, The Spinoff and ThreeNews are clearly on the right of the political spectrum. That’s the tall green line!
In terms of age, those who were more likely to trust news were 75+ years olds (45%), 35-44 years olds (44%) and 25-34 years olds (43%). Those who were most likely to mistrust news were over 55 years old
In terms of political support, those who trust the news the least tend to sit on the right on the political spectrum; those who in 2023 were voting for Democracy NZ, ACT and New Zealand First, were least trusting of news. A large proportion of National Party voters also distrusted the news with 39%. Those most trusting the news voted for the TOP Party (50%), Green Party (46%), Labour Party (45%) and Te Pāti Māori (43%)
That’s what you call favourable coverage.
The media may have had a bounce in trustworthiness – I’m not quite certain how – but it’s the avoidance of their product that should be ringing alarm bells.
They could always do what Acumen chief executive said they should do”:
“Write accurate headlines instead of exaggerated or fear-inducing ones”; and “Dedicate equal time and coverage to different viewpoints on big issues”.
Are you holding your breath? I’m not.
