Opinion from Peter Saxon. Last week Crikey published an opinion poll from Essential Research that found that 30% of respondents had a positive level of trust in commercial ‘talkback’ radio. Commercial radio ‘news and current affairs’ fared somewhat better with 42% saying they had a lot or some trust in the sector.

Is that good? Well, compared to other electronic media listed in the chart below, no, it’s not. And compared to how commercial radio scored three years ago, it’s not good either. In fact, in the matter of ‘trust’, radio’s going backwards.

In a June 24 poll about our political leaders, also by Essential Research – the last one before Julia Gillard was deposed by Kevin Rudd – on the question of trustworthiness, she scored a lowly 30%. Ironically, commercial talkback radio, which relentlessly prosecuted the case against Ms Gillard for being untrustworthy, returned exactly the same score on essentially the same question. A classic case, perhaps, of the pot calling the kettle black.

To be fair, all media, not just commercial radio, has lost ground in the past three years, reflecting the public’s growing disillusionment with media in general. The exception was internet, which actually gained, but remains in last place… for now. Nonetheless both ABC TV and Radio (including SBS) is far and away more trusted than their commercial counterparts. Even commercial television beats commercial radio.

Two questions come to mind: Why is this so? And: Does it matter?

Here’s two more.

Are you happy to work in an industry that’s distrusted by the majority of Australians?

If not, what should be done about it?

 Trust in Media

 Q. How much trust do you have in what you read or hear in the following media?

* The definition of this category has changed from Internet Blogs to Blogs/Social Media for the most recent survey.

Please leave your thoughts in the space provided below.

Peter Saxon