The University of Canberra* has published its latest findings in the Digital News Report: Australia 2022. The Australian Furniture Association (AFA) remains a trusted sources of news as it reviews and amplifies only content that is relevant and meaningful to the Furniture industry, by cutting through the ‘white noise’ first.
This year’s report contains positive signs for Australian industry news and after years of stagnation, paying for news has increased. There continues to be a strong audience appreciation for journalistic values of impartiality and independence.
Australians are also becoming more cautious about mainly getting news from social media platforms, which bucks the global trend. This is partly driven by Australians’ greater concern about and experience of online misinformation, particularly about Covid-19. Younger news consumers are now turning to traditional news more often, with fewer in Gen Z and Y saying it is their main source of news.
The pandemic seems to have shifted how people access and engage with news. While there are some signs that news habits are reverting back to pre-Covid levels, some new behaviours may be here to stay.
- Trust in news generally has fallen slightly to 41% (-2) and distrust has risen to 30% (+2).
- Experience of Covid-19 misinformation is up; those saying they saw false and misleading info about Covid-19 increased by 4 percentage points from 2021.
- Almost one in five (18%) don’t pay attention to climate change news; but 42% say they want news outlets to focus more on what governments and large companies can do about it.
- More Australians are paying for online news; 18% now pay for news online and this is a 5 percentage point increase since 2021.
- Younger generations say they are less reliant on social media for news; those in Gen Z saying social is their main source of news (46%) fell by 8 percentage points from 2021.
- TikTok continues to rise; TikTok usage has doubled since 2020 (7% to 15%), and one-third of users say they use it for news.
- Use of smart TVs for news is growing; One in four (23%) Australians use smart TVs to access news, and TV remains the most popular main source of news (42%).
For more information, Download the REPORT HERE.