The Australian version of the Edelman 2019 Trust Barometer has revealed that nearly two in three Aussies are worried about the impact of fake news.
The good news, however, is that Aussies aren’t just sitting by when it comes to their media consumption.
In fact they are more engaged with news and media than last year, and are more likely to actively share news with their networks.
On the other end of the spectrum, we’re seeing that the number of disengaged people is also falling, with just 34 per cent of the population disengaged with media and platforms.
This means that not only are there more people actively involved in news and media, but more people are paying attention as well – the number of people disengaged with news has almost halved in the last 12 months.
Among the disengaged, 57 per cent are women and 43 per cent are men.
Traditional media remains the most trusted source of information with 61 per cent of Australians trusting traditional media.
However, we are the country that trusts social media the least.
As for why – political unrest, uncertainty about the future and unbridled advances in automation threatening job security has prompted Australians to consume and share more news (up 26 points compared to last year).
