Credit: Giu Vicente via Unsplash https://unsplash.com/@giuvicente
The opinions and endorsements published by Australia’s major media outlets now have little influence over how Australians actually vote, according to a study by The Australia Institute, an independent public policy think tank.
The study argues that result of the 2025 federal election was proof that the influence of major media companies over voter opinion has declined
“Neither the endorsements given by large media organisations nor the leaders’ debates they staged had any measurable effect on voter behaviour,” the study, "Bellowing from the sidelines. The declining influence of Australia’s traditional media," said.
“This is because declining regular readership means that fewer people than ever pay attention to what major media companies publish and broadcast.
“In 2024, for the first time ever, most Australians said that their main source of news was either social media or online news.
“While the growing influence of alternative news sources is not new, the implications of the marked decline of traditional major media companies’ influence are significant.”
Securing newspaper endorsements was once a key part of running a successful Australian election campaign.
And televised debates between the prime minister and opposition leader were also major campaign events.
However, in the 2022 and 2025 elections, major media companies have been left to bellow from the sidelines, The Australia Institute argues.
From 1996 to 2019, the winner of every federal election was endorsed by the majority of newspapers. In 2022 and 2025, most newspapers supported the loser.
The first leaders’ debate on Sky News attracted at best 2% of enrolled voters, signalling that leaders’ debates can no longer influence large numbers of voters, the study said.
More and more Australians get their news from alternative sources such as podcasts, social media, and digital publications, rather than newspapers.
Only 12% of Australians relied on newspapers to follow the 2022 federal election, compared with 55% in 1969. More than a quarter of voters used the internet to follow the 2019 and 2022 elections
The University of Canberra’s Digital News Report last year found, for the first time, that most Australians put their main source of news as either social media or online news.
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