Publications
New poll on bias at The Age could explain circulation collapse
MEDIA RELEASE
Free market think tank the Institute of Public Affairs today released new poll data which reveals that of those The Age readers who believe the newspaper shows bias, 70% believe that the newspaper is biased towards Labor and the Greens.
John Roskam, Executive Director of the Institute of Public Affairs, said that the poll results could help to explain the declining circulation at The Age.
"The figures show that of the readers of The Age who do think that the newspaper is biased 70% think that it is biased towards the left of the political spectrum. This must be a significant concern for Fairfax and it might explain why readers are continuing to switch to other sources for their news content," he said.
The IPA commissioned Galaxy Research to survey 375 people in Victoria about their views on the apparent ‘class warfare' currently taking place and to examine perceptions of bias in the Australian media. The key findings from the poll are below:
"In your opinion does The Age have a bias towards the political views of a particular side of politics?"
- 21% of readers believe that The Age does show bias towards a particular side of politics
- 35% of readers believe that The Age does not show bias towards a particular side of politics
- 44% of readers do not know
Of the 21% who believed that The Age does show bias the poll then asked:
"Towards the views of which side of politics is The Age biased?"
- 70% of readers of The Age newspaper who believe that the newspaper does have a bias believe that it is biased towards Labor and the Greens- Only 27% of readers of The Age newspaper who believe that the newspaper does have a bias believe that it is biased towards the Coalition
- 3% of readers do not know
"Do you think that journalists go too far in their attacks on the rich and others not in public life?"
- 52% of Victorians think that journalists go too far in their attacks on the rich
- Only 37% of Victorians think that journalists do not go too far in their attacks on the rich
- 11% of readers do not know
"Clearly the public think that the current attacks on the rich are distasteful and unfair," said Mr Roskam.
The Galaxy poll was conducted via telephone, amongst 375 Victorians aged 18 years of age and over, over the evenings of 29-30 May 2012. The IPA has commissioned a further national telephone survey on these topics for this weekend.
For media and comment:
John Roskam Executive Director 0415 475 673