Newly-arrived migrants and refugees mostly get their news from Australian sources, and a majority favour mainstream traditional media over social, according to a new survey.
The survey of 140 new migrants and refugees commissioned by refugee and migrant settlement agency AMES Australia found that SBS and the ABC were the most frequently-used sources of broadcast news, and an overwhelming majority of new arrivals agreed it was important for Australia to have a strong independent media market.
Asked about whether they knew of SBS, 74 per cent of survey respondents said they did, while 67 per cent said they accessed SBS programs.
Of those who said they accessed SBS, 40 per cent said they accessed the network’s programs for more than five hours each week, 35 per cent said they accessed between one and five hours, and 25 per cent said they accessed less than one hour each week.
Meanwhile, 57 per cent of respondents said they accessed the ABC.
Eighty-eight per cent of migrants and refugees said their news and information came from local sources, while 12 per cent said it was from their home countries.
Furthermore, 57 per cent of respondents cited mainstream news media, including radio, TV and print, for accessing news and information, while 38 per cent cited social media.
The survey also found that 83 per cent of respondents were likely to use social media on a typical day, with 76 per cent of those mostly using Facebook, and 21 per cent spending most of their social media time on LinkedIn.
Forty-one per cent of migrants and refugees said they mostly used social media mostly for keeping in touch with family and friends, while 34 per cent they used it mostly for news and information, and 15 per cent said they used it mostly for job hunting or business opportunities.
Just 10 per cent of respondents said they mostly used social media for entertainment.
According to the survey, migrants and refugees are just as active on social media as Aussies, with 58 per cent using the likes of Facebook and LinkedIn for more than an hour a day.
