The US President Donald Trump and a Federal election have rebooted a rise in newsmedia consumption this year just as Seven West Media’s experiment with a Perth-based national news masthead with ads and no subscriptions has catapulted it into the mainstream.

The Nightly launched in February last year. By June had garnered an audience of 2m and is now at 2.75m, according to Ipsos figures.

“We’ve had a great first year … We think we’re transforming how news is published on digital platforms,” The Nightly Editor-in-Chief Christopher Dore said. “We have built a unique bridge between traditional newspaper journalism and the mobile reading habits of the modern news consumer.”

Two thirds of The Nighlty’s readers come from NSW, Victoria and Queensland – a trend ThinkNewsBrands CEO Vanessa Lyons said was rising because of digital publishing.

“Digital accessibility means state and territory news brands are adding significantly to their local audience by connecting with other markets across the country,” Lyons told Mi3.

“Readership behaviours have changed – current data shows written news readership grows throughout the day with a third of readership peaking at night, adding to the morning and lunchtime surges. There’s a strong move from consumers to digital products and the industry is transforming to meet the demand. The Nightly is doing it really well with their digital-first approach.”

Trust claims distrusted?

But public trust in media appears at odds with robust news audience numbers – Edelman’s annual Trust Barometer had media facing a continued decline in trust in its latest report and Roy Morgan data shows a similar trendline. 

Lyon said media was a broad definition which needed nuanced analysis. “What we do know is that different media types have different trust levels. For instance, social media and forms of online ‘news’ much higher levels of distrust compared to Australia’s major reputable news publishers.”

Still, Roy Morgan CEO Michele Levine, who will talk on a panel with Lyons at The Nightly’s gig event tonight, said public distrust was on the rise societally and media was not quarantined.

“There's no question that trust is down pretty much across the board,” Levine told Mi3. “Basically there’s more distrust than trust. If we look at media versus social media, that's really the key differentiator but both of them are more distrusted than trusted. Most distrusted are telecommunications, thanks to Optus, supermarkets and convenience stores, thanks to Woolworth’s and Coles and travel and tourism, thanks to Qantas.”

Levine acknowledged rising media distrust was at odds with newsmedia readership and audience trends.

 “I agree with that. There's a huge difference between behaviour and the emotion of distrust,” she said. “There's an opportunity within media. You've got to get your information somewhere, don't you?

"I think what we'll find is that coming up to the election, with all of the issues that are happening overseas and that are now impacting on us, people will be really hungry for information. They will be turning to newspapers, newspaper sites, the news, if you like.

"To me, that gives media this wonderful opportunity to get it right. We've seen supermarkets get it right during Covid, and we loved them for it. The banks almost recovered after all of the scandals of the financial inquiry, once Covid came, because they were helping their customers. I'm a fan of curated media. I would hope that there's an opportunity to regain that trust and have some really clear, almost, contracts with consumers about what you're going to get.”

Bias is as bias does

So what is driving media’s public distrust? People are primarily concerned with bias – “they talk about bias by exclusion or bias in and of itself”,  Levine said.

“It's really interesting because right-wing people think the ABC is incredibly biased. Left-wing people just say that Sky News is the devil incarnate. It's very, very polarising on that bias. Sensationalism and just … leaving the things out that media don't even bother to tell us about if it's not really sensational – that’s another cause.” 

Conversely, social media’s trust issues are “all about privacy” Levine said. “It's what they're doing with your data – that really kicked in after the Cambridge Analytica scandal.”

Rising public distrust or otherwise, The Nightly has expansionist ambitions – more advertiser-supported, dedicated sections are coming and a “streamlined advertising infrastructure.”    

“We’ve focused hard on the content in the first year and really tried to make the most of our digital formats,” Dore said. “That has allowed us to be nimble and current with our stories and it’s paid off for us.”