ACCC Digital platforms inquiry: Audiences are boycotting mainstream news media
As the ACCC enquiry continues, the government must avoid blindly accepting media owner’s views without considering the audience behind them, argues MediaScope’s Denise Shrivell.
When looking through the submissions to the ACCC Digital platforms inquiry, there is one voice which seems to be largely missing – the audience.
So my submission to the ACCC Digital platforms inquiry included the audience’s view, with the aim of showing the range of other reasons aside from digital disruption and revenue decline in our mainstream news media.
On April 2 and 3 I put out a survey to the #auspol Twitter audience, attracting 500 respondents within 24 hours.
I used to pay News Ltd for the Oz. I ceased, because it became untenably one-eyed. I could handle it for a while, but it became too wearing. It is a moral obligation to avoid being silo-ed into your own belief system, this I know. But I can do that without breaching the paywall most times. I know what they think, they’re shouting it from the rooftops. They seem a bit upset about the ABC, and the CFMEU mostly. Oh, and abortions. And Anne Aly.
I pay other mainstream media providers for more balanced news on the web, and I value the non-traditional media sources according to my own perceptions of perceived or apparent bias.
Fairfax hasn’t provided me an alternative with sufficient oomph to justify the cost of subscribing.
Is this a “boycott” ? no. But I am voting with my feet.
I’m interested to know what the 500 Twitter users consider to be “independent” media as opposed to “mainstream” media.
Is the former perhaps the “progressive” media and the other the “regressive” media?
I strongly suspect that the 500 Twitter users prefer any media that sees things from their point-of-view. And one might expect that the more niche the media outlet, the more able it is to be exactly what is desired. Even if that also means it is less able to research stories and dig things up.
Also, the two-out-of-three rule was introduced in 2006, a time in which the internet text media was strong and killing print media (so not “pre-internet”). Of course though, the likes of smartphones, Facebook, YouTube and Spotify had yet to take off and start killing radio and TV as well.
Take a stroll through #auspol on Twitter and you’ll see what a one-sided vendetta group they are. Tolerance for only left leaning politics and are particularly and deliberately anti-LNP and Murdoch media. Intent is clear – bringing both down.
That’s perfectly okay but it’s not okay to pretend this “survey” represents Australian audiences. It’s very likely to be true and this hate runs deep in other pockets of Australians like them but this is not the data to support it as “Australian audiences”. The data is unreliable and deliberately biased. The purpose here is not pure.
There’s an irony in accusing others of bias by creating a survey purposely built on bias. Hopefully the ACCC has the skill to assess it as such.
It would be great to see the Twitter poll expanded for more representative audiences.
Perhaps we are not well served by the conflation of so many different things under “media”. I care that regulatory setting support sober news and analysis when it comes to news and current affairs. I care less when we’re talking about is reality TV, opinion columns, talkback or celebrity gossip. But we need very clear demarcation of the two.