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18 October 2006

Using the Media Part II

This is the second part of our analysis of you and the media. As usual it is via the notes for Madonna King's program this morning. The version below omits the tables. If you want an copmlete copy of the notes then please click here to download the original word document.


  1. 2nd half of survey on the media

  2. Total of 1243 valid responses

  3. Usual slant towards Greens

  4. 40% from Queensland

  5. Older on average than the population

  6. Use of the media for gathering information in elections varied depending on how people voted. Greens voters most likely to use the Internet (17%) while Labor and Liberal voters were the least likely (6% and 8% respectively). Liberals most likely to get their information from radio (23%), Nationals from newspapers, and Labor from Radio (15%).

  7. People tended to use different media for different reasons.


    1. Internet was preferred for depth and variety of information, convenience, hard to find information about minor parties, completely unmediated with the user in control, and because it provided a community and allowed users to hook-up with like-minded individuals. Internet users are hunter-gatherers, highly individualistic and tend to wallow in news and opinion.

    2. Newspapers were preferred because they selected from all the available facts. They were seen as offering diversity and depth, convenience (including portability), and context. It was also thought by some that they were more reliable because of fact-checking. Most often contrasted to TV. Users of newspapers are gourmets – they like to be offered a range, but they want someone else to do the work for them.
    3. Paid advertising was preferred because it offered detail not available in any other media, gave a more in-depth and unmediated view of the candidate. Responses in this category also prove that political advertising cuts through – it wasn’t information that was most important in this category, but the message that was communicated. These people were the pre-prepared meal shopper.

    4. Radio was preferred because it was un-mediated and the journalist allowed the subject to speak for themselves. It was convenient (many reported listening in their car), and could be surprising (Bruce Flegg gaffes for example), talk radio added a community aspect to it, it was diverse with minor parties being represented, and you could do other things while you listened to it. These are the theatre restaurant customers.
    5. Social and informal networks were preferred because they provided trusted sources and information not available elsewhere. Being able to argue with friends also provided a means of testing ideas. The networks allowed individuals to do research using trusted sources (what might be called on the ’net “citizen journalists”). This is the coffee shop crowd.

    6. Television was for those who are visual. More concrete, less abstract. This is the takeaway food sector – what you see is what you get.

  8. What websites do people use? When it comes to the Internet, the most preferred websites are those belonging to established media, with the ABC well in the lead. We established usage patterns by doing a word search on responses to the question “Now, thinking about Internet sites, in a short sentence can you tell us which particular ones you use for your news and information?”


    1. ABC topped, being mentioned 485 time, followed by Fairfax 357 and News 265. Next was Google 136 and the BBC 134.
    2. Highest ranked Independent media site was Crikey 132, followed by the National Forum on 49.

    3. International sources were mentioned 336 times.

    4. Independent media 329

    5. New media (defined as Google, MSN and others like that, but excluding Crikey, OLO, blogs etc.) 323.

    6. Mainstream media were mentioned 1348 times, demonstrating their dominance.

    7. Blogs are failing to cut-it, with only 100 mentions in toto.


  9. Take-out message: If you could construct an ideal medium it would give people access to diverse, fact-checked information, with minimal mediation, be easy to access, allow for conversation and discussion within a community of like-minded individuals, and provide moving pictures. It’s called convergence.

Verbatim

Internet

"Commercial media is either hopelessly un-intelligent, or deeply biased. Tabloid publications and TV are 'dumbed-down' too much for them to help me understand thei issues and party positions on important issues. Meanwhile the 'quality' media, is hopelessly biased. Caught by baby-boomer political-correctness, it not only fails to provide ways to make the World a better place, but actually is part of the problem." Internet User

"The blogs were written by people with real expeirne in the area, not just an uninformed journalist who couldn't care less and just needs to have the same story as channel 9 news with the same grabs."

"Easy to access at home or work and fits well with my daily routine"

"the internet enables you to use all forms of media to find out more information ie you can access radio, newspapers, crikey.com & other sites which have all the political info required."

"The reputable online media is more accurate and unbiased. Exchanging information with Veteran friends gave me grassroots feedback and watching the behaviour of the parties showed me how each would behave in Government."

"Because the honest private opinions of the public who participate in this form information exchange is not yet regulated by megalomaniac would be world dictators!" (I'll take this as an implied compliment.)

Reasons:

Variety of opinion
Depth and ease of comparison of information
No coverage in mainstream of minor parties (long tail effect)
Social "Like-minded individuals"
Convenience
Speed
Individual in control
Portal to all other media
Unmediated

Newspapers

"focused on local issues and potential local representatives election overload from other sources of advertising, like letterbox leaflets, TV advertising and one too many interviews with politicians and wannabe politicians who came across as insincere."

"Newspapers gave me the benefits of more detailed information about the candidates and policies than what was obtainable in (short) television and radio reports. Also being able to read that information when it was convenient to me."

Selected facts
Depth of information
Unbiased
Portable
Diversity
Contrasted most frequently with TV
Thorough
Contextual
Independent fact-checking (Quality control)

Paid media

"Advertising - The adverstisement where it showed the Coalition not being united in their presentation. The National Party saying "when we are ready we'll let you know" and the Liberal Party showing Bruce Flegg continually changing his answer about who would be Premier "

"Only one candidate's campaign literature provided substantial detail about policies and how they would affect our local area and Queensland as a whole. The other candidate's literature was just attack ads and photographs of him shaking people's hands. Given that a candidate could say anything they wanted to in that literature, I thought the difference was pretty telling about the substance of one and the lack of substance to the other."

Detailed information
Functional - helped to fulfil bias/decision
More in-depth
Not filtered/Unmediated
Gave a feeling for the candidate/personal
Messages cut through

Radio

"radio is most accessible form of media for me: at home, in the car, not glued to a screen on either television or computer. I gave up on our local daily newspaper ages ago- so biased, so limited (i.e "The West Australian"). I find that there is the opportunity for reasonable length interviews, and the ABC's Radio National talk-backs are excellent. I only listen to the ABC."

"Specifically, Radio National. It is the least biased. Courier Mail and 612 are branch offices of the Liberal Parrty and are clearly biased. The Australian is completely anti Labor. I demand unbiased and independant mass media and I am just not getting it."

"I always listen to 612 ABC so I guess I just stuck with them - they do a great job on just about every aspect of news."

"The gaffs made by politians during these interviews. BRUCE Flegg, and Laurence Springborg".

Accessible (especially when driving)
"Cold"
Interactive (talk)
Community
Impartial
In-depth
Minimal mediation
Public ownership (ABC)
Credibility (ABC)
Diversity (Minor parties)

(Does the attitude to radio reflect the lack of local investigative TV programming?)

Social

"As a result of speaking to each candidate I was able to discover for myslef what their values were and how much they actually understood about politics, I was able to assess whether they were just party stooges or concerned candidates who would work for me."

"SA is a small State, and one's informal sources are usually more insightful about local issues than the press or TV, whose sensational headlines and 'soundbites' are the preferred way of influencing public opinion."

"My friends are a switched bunch gathering information from many many areas"

"Because I trust my union and I trust them"

"Opinions from people I know firsthand hold more weight than that of journalists that I hold in little regard"

"Discussing the issues with friends led to debate, asking and answering questions and disseminating information about relevant issues in my electorate during the election."

"I found the newspaper and television coverage boring and frustrating - media made big issues out of nitpicking, silly gaffs - the whole election period/campaigns appeared to be superficial and achieved nothing."

"I find information from colleagues and friends is more trustworthy and it is also more crystallised. If I wanted to really get to the bottom of how to cast my vote, on my own, I would have to do many hours of research, beyond the media and beyond information put out by the parties. I would want to read policy positions and look at the records of MPs. Some of my colleagues have experience in politics, and I am aware of their personal ethics, so when we share information, a broader and more accurate picture of the political landscape is available."

Trust
Shared community
Debate
Last resort
Detail
Informative
Network research

Television

"You get to see more of what candidates are like on TV - in the press or internet news they are just disembodied voices"

"Most available source of information on state of play and most influential in presenting Bruce Flegg in a poor light every time he said/didn't say something. Quick. Concise. Confirmed what I already suspected."

"Most accessible, do not purchase news papers"

"Unfortunately TV still gives me best access to the 'horses mouth'. "

Accessible
Visual cues
Revealing
Preferred medium
Unbiased
Convenient

Posted by Graham at 12:15 PM | Comments (3)

5 October 2006

Using the media

We're analysing our media survey in two parts because there was so much information there. And it was so rich. I've copied our on-air notes below, and you can download the full word document with tables by clicking here.

For me, the most exciting thing we've found so far is that while you use public broadcasters the most and find them the most reliable, the Internet is running third on importance, just below newspapers, but is rated higher than newspapers for reliability.

I have a suspicion that this has to do with websites being the centre of social networks, but I'll have a better idea about this when I've crunched the qual. This is an important issue, and there were 1265 or so responses, so it will take me a while to crunch - at least two weeks until the next on-air session. Thanks to those who participated, this work really is at the cutting edge of our understanding of how the media landscape is changing.

On-air notes


  1. 1,265 responses. 45% female, 55% male. Weighted towards older Australians

  2. 49% from Queensland, 22% NSW, 11% Vic, 7% SA, 6% WA, 3% ACT, 1% Tas

  3. Most influential media for elections: Radio 15%, Newspapers 14%, Internet 11%, TV 11%, Social 10%, Paid media 6%.
    Reflects a decline in both newspapers and TV and the rise of the Internet.

  4. The Internet was the most favoured by the under-thirties, particularly women, and was also very popular with under 40s.

  5. Radio fairly uniformly popular across all age groups, while newspapers were preferred by the 40 to 60 age groups.

  6. Some cross-over between social and Internet and between Newspapers and Internet.

  7. TV has some life yet at least with younger women.

  8. When it comes to frequency for news ABC Radio and TV win hands-down over Newspapers and Internet, which more or less tie. Commercial Radio really bombs.

  9. When it comes to increases in frequency of use for news, newspapers are in mild decline, commercial broadcasters in steep decline, public broadcasters increasing in use and the Internet rocketing away.

  10. For entertainment our respondents most frequently turn to the public broadcasters and then to the Internet.

  11. They don’t perceive an increase in their use of most of these media, apart from the Internet. (This of course can’t be correct, unless they are spending more time consuming media in total than they did before).

  12. When it comes to reliability, they favour the public broadcasters, then the Internet. Newspapers are ranked well-below the Internet, and the commercial broadcasters are seen as being more unreliable than reliable.

  13. Take-out message – Commercial broadcasters are in trouble and the Public Broadcasters are filling the gap at the moment, but the Internet is charging in. Newspapers are essentially stagnant. Younger consumers have moved decisively to the ’net and prefer less “official” sites.

Posted by Graham at 05:53 PM | Comments (22)