Indicator 6: trust and impact

This interactive report was first published as a companion to our News media in Australia: 2025 report. We updated it in May 2026 to provide current data. 

The report explores: 

• trust in news – the extent to which Australians trust the news, and which brands we trust the most
• the impact of news outlets – the news outlets that Australians rely on and that hold the greatest share of our attention. 

Our News media in Australia series reports against the Media Diversity Measurement Framework. The Framework will provide a robust long-term evidence base to help inform government decision making in support of public interest journalism and media diversity in Australia. This work forms part of the government’s News Media Assistance Program.

This snapshot highlights key insights from the Indicator 6: trust and impact interactive report above, drawing on data collected in 2025. Reliance insights are drawn from data collected in June 2025 that referred to the previous 7 days.  

To explore more insights on trust in news and the impact of news outlets in Australia, visit the full interactive report. A deeper examination of these insights will appear in our News media in Australia: 2027 report.

One-third of Australians distrust the news 32% of Australians did not trust news in 2025 Distrust in news increased from 27% in 2021 to 32% in 2025.

Younger Australians are more likely to trust news than older Australians 52% of 18–34 year-olds versus 39% of those aged 35 and older 2025 was the first time since 2018 that Australians aged 18–34 were more likely to trust news than Australians aged over 35.

The ABC and SBS remain the most trusted news brands 60% for ABC news and 59% for SBS news  The percentage of Australians who say the ABC and SBS are trustworthy has, however, been declining since 2020.  The third most trusted source of news in 2025 was ‘regional or local newspapers’ (collectively), which 58% of Australians said are trustworthy.

ABC news outlets are the most relied-on where available  ABC news outlets were the most relied-on across news websites, radio (both AM/FM/DAB+ and online), free-to-air catch-up TV and podcasts. It was also one of the most relied on outlets on free-to-air TV.

Ease of access is one of the top reasons people rely on news outlets  Ease of access was one of the top 3 reasons for reliance on outlets across all platforms, except print newspapers.

Facebook is the most relied on social media platform  Those aged 45 and over were more likely than those aged 18-44 to most rely on Facebook (50% vs 38%) Those aged 18–44 were more likely than those aged 45 and over to most rely on Instagram (18% vs 5%), TikTok (9% vs 2%), and Reddit (8% vs 1%).

This report draws on data from the ACMA’s annual consumer survey (share of attention and reliance on news outlets) and the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism's Digital News Report. Note – Australian data was collected by the University of Canberra and is reported in the Digital News Report: Australia 2025). 

Download key findings for annual consumer survey data used in this report below.

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Indicator 6: key findings and chart notes

You can also: 

• find out more about how to access the data in our interactive reports
• view the methodology and data quality statement for the Annual Consumer Survey
• view a glossary of key terms used in these reports
• view other reports in this series.
• view the rest of the annual consumer survey data in the Communications and Media in Australia series.

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