The benefits of public interest journalism are considerable, but difficult to quantify.
In a series of surveys, PIJI used ‘willingness to pay’ analysis to evaluate how Australian communities value public interest journalism and to establish evidence-based reference points for future research and policy.
Findings from the October 2019 Community Values Survey:
1. Australians are strong users of media, with commercial radio and television still leading (used by 55 per cent daily), followed by social media (47 per cent), then public radio and television (44 per cent) and, finally, newspapers and magazines (25 cent). (See report page six.)
2. Beyond media being interesting and entertaining, Australians also want their media to inform and educate and investigate issues of national importance. 89 per cent rate media content that is informative and educative as “very important” or “important”, and likewise 86 per cent report that for investigative and critical content. (See report page seven.)
3. Almost half of Australians do say they would pay higher taxes for increased public interest journalism. To obtain a 50 per cent increase in this journalism, 46 per cent of respondents would offer support for a tax increase of $6 a year, and 47 per cent would oppose. 40 per cent would still pay a tax increase of $12 per year, and 36 per cent would support a $60 tax increase, with opposition rising correspondingly. (See report page 12.)
4. Too little public interest journalism is seen as focusing on local government affairs, followed by state and territory and international affairs, with national affairs being better catered for. 35 per cent of respondents are concerned at too little local reporting as opposed to 23 per cent for national affairs. (See report page 9.)
Project Team
The October 2019 Community Values Survey was conducted for PIJI by Essential Media and analysed by Professor Glenn Withers AO.
The Essential Report – Public Interest Journalism Initiative is Essential Media’s report on its Qualtrics survey results. It is included in this document in its entirety.
Key findings from the April 2020 Community Values Survey:
1. Australians are huge users of media (86 per cent): over half consume commercial TV/radio daily, likewise for social media, and close to half consume public TV/radio. Adding hardcopy and online media gives a total of 86 per cent daily users at this time. Women more than men, and young more than old, are relatively greater users of social media.
2. The vast majority of respondents (81 per cent) say public interest journalism is important in media, and this rises to 86 per cent for such journalism during natural disasters and 85 per cent during public health crises – with public interest journalism being news and current affairs, and recording, investigating and explaining this.
3. This large majority of respondents is broadly satisfied at the amount of coverage across international, national, state/territory and local government affairs, but some are nevertheless concerned that there may particularly be undersupply in the local government sphere: twice as many respondents (28 per cent) are expressing concern over an insufficient amount of local government coverage compared to concern over insufficient national affairs extent of coverage (13 per cent).
4. A majority (53 per cent) will actually support a tax increase to provide an increase in public interest journalism of $6 each annually, with this measured as ‘definite’ or ‘probable’ willingness to pay falling at higher tax amounts e.g. 40 per cent at $12 annually.
Project Team
The April 2020 Community Values Survey was conducted for PIJI by Essential Media and analysed by Professor Glenn Withers AO.
The Essential Report – Public Interest Journalism Initiative is Essential Media’s report on its Qualtrics survey results. It is included in this document in its entirety.
Key findings from the October 2020 Community Values Survey:
1. Australians are frequent consumers of media and this consumption has grown even further through 2020, a year of great challenges, and across each type of media. By November 2020, 65 per cent and 63 percent of Australians used commercial television and digital social media at least once daily, respectively, up from 55 per cent and 47 per cent in PIJI’s October 2019 survey before the crisis. Public broadcasting and hard copy or online media use rose too, to 55 per cent for the former and 30 per cent for the latter. (See report page six).
2. The vast majority (78 per cent) of Australians hold public interest journalism as important or very important for their media, though this is down from 86 per cent in the first PIJI survey in October 2019. The intensity of this support differed across Australia being highest in Victoria (46 per cent very important) and lowest in Western Australia (31 per cent very important). (See report pages seven and eight).
3. The majority of Australians indicate that they feel that the nature of coverage across each of international, national, state/territory and local affairs is about right, though a significant minority (29 per cent) do see local government and community affairs deserving of greater focus. (See report page eight).
4. In a year that has seen much turmoil for the Australian economy, public willingness to pay tax in support of enhanced public interest journalism remained high in this survey. The community valuation in dollars was around the same level as measured in October 2019, but down from the peak of the crises in April 2020. As of November 2020, 44 per cent would still pay at least an additional $2.40 a year in tax and 34 per cent would even pay an additional $12 a year or more.
Project Team
The October 2020 Community Values Survey was conducted for PIJI by Essential Media and analysed by Professor Glenn Withers AO.
The Essential Report – Public Interest Journalism Initiative is Essential Media’s report on its Qualtrics survey results. It is included in this document in its entirety.
