Over the past four years, I’ve joined the majority of New Zealanders who lost their trust in mainstream news media.
In 2019, there were about 1,600 print and broadcast journalists in New Zealand. Their numbers had already fallen 52% since 2000.
A Massey University study in late 2022 demonstrated how different these people are from the general population. Fully 81% had left-of-centre political views. 76% did not affiliate with any religion. ‘One described themself as a witch.’
Palpable bias led to my loss of trust in many outlets. As did dubious reporting rooted in political attack or woke sanctimony.
Some stopped posting on Twitter (now X), which was my primary news aggregator. A few seemed roiled when the platform labelled them state-funded.
An emerging global trend?
Trust in New Zealand news media fell from 42% (April 2023) to 33%, according to AUT’s April 2024 survey.
In the US, it was only 32% (Gallup).
The slide in ratings — and, sadly, journalism jobs too — is not only due to loss of trust. Audiences have moved.
I must have been 14 the last time I watched the 6pm news on TV. Today, the prospect of being told what I need to think about for an hour is grossly unappetising.
Yet I’m quite happy to pay for reliable and timely information of value.
The Bloomberg Terminal. Part of the company’s specialist information offering.
Source: Flickr/Travis Wise
- Bloomberg Media grew subscriptions 19% in the difficult year of 2022 alone.
- Financial Times saw paid readership grow 11%, plus a 25% growth in podcast and audio revenue.
- The Wall Street Journal has steadily grown its subscriber base from 2.64 million in 2018 to 3.97 million in 2023.
- Here at Wealth Morning, we’ve grown our client base substantially. We report directly on what we see from our trading desk and eat our own cooking.
Clearly, specialist and trusted media are thriving. They should continue to do so.
Social media is also growing at a steady clip.
The question for investors is where is media ultimately converging?
What opportunities are there beyond the radar?
Plus, we report on the volatile Truth Social [NASDAQ:DJT] stock-exchange listing.
Media fragmentation: Truth Social is the latest social-media app to go public.
Donald Trump has a majority stake. Source: Flickr/Gage Skidmore
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