Most Conservative voters don't trust media election reports: poll

Canadians have a low opinion of the media, with only 32% believing journalists provide “accurate and impartial” news. This distrust is highest among Conservative voters compared to Liberal voters, who support media bailouts.

Alex Dhaliwal
  |   April 23, 2025   |   News   |   1 Comment

 

A new poll shows that over half (56%) of Conservative voters distrust media coverage of federal party leaders in the current election. About 25% of Liberal voters and 40% of NDP voters surveyed also distrust the media.

Canadians head to the polls on April 28 after Liberal leader Mark Carney called a snap election on March 23.

Overall, 52% of Canadians surveyed trust media election coverage, while 43% are skeptical, learned the Leger pollster.

“Canada is facing not one news crisis but two,” Jeanette Ageson, publisher of the Vancouver news site The Tyee, testified at 2022 hearings of the Commons heritage committee. “One is financial and the other is the crisis of mistrust.”

“Canadians are expressing unprecedented distrust towards the news and the reporters who deliver it,” said Ageson, speaking on behalf of the Independent Online News Publishers of Canada. “Canadians need to know who is funding the news they receive and on what terms.”

Liberal voters trust the media the most (73%), followed by BQ (54%), Green (55%), NDP (50%) and CPC voters (41%).

Further research is required to understand why Liberal voters are more trusting of government media funding than Conservative voters, and why some Canadians avoid the news altogether.

Prior government research reveals that Canadians have a low opinion of the media, with only 32% believing journalists provide “accurate and impartial” news.

Canadians are wary about “misinformation” during the election campaign, with nearly two-thirds (64%) of survey respondents concerned about encountering fake media during the election.

Experts suggest that safeguards in the Canadian news ecosystem are still effective. Only 28% report they've witnessed attempts to misinform voters.

As first covered by Blacklock’s, the data follows Statistics Canada figures showing reporters are considered less reliable than politicians or lawyers.

In 2019, Parliament approved a $595 million bailout fund for legacy media, which included doubling newsroom rebates to a maximum of $29,750 per employee.

The Local Journalism Initiative, a $19.6 million annual fund, was praised in a report for its role in combating the "crisis in local journalism." This subsidy is separate from a $595 million yearly bailout for government-approved newsrooms.

John Gormley, broadcaster and former MP, testified that government handouts to news publishers do not enhance their independence or reliability, nor does it necessarily improve journalism or restore credibility. 

Trust in Canadian news media has decreased by 4% year over year, with only 36% of those surveyed trusting the information from broadcasters and news media.

Canadians 65 and older and Francophones were more trusting of news media than those 34 and younger, who showed only 23% trust.

Gormley argued that taxpayers are not responsible for the troubles of the Canadian media.

Technology and social media have caused modern journalism to “backfire,” losing audiences and revenues, according to the former Conservative MP.

The Department of Canadian Heritage found that subsidies, including the Online News Act, did not save money-losing media, despite temporarily hiring 342 journalists.

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Alex Dhaliwal

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Alex Dhaliwal is a Political Science graduate from the University of Calgary. He has actively written on relevant Canadian issues with several prominent interviews under his belt.

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  • Bernhard Jatzeck
    commented 2025-04-23 21:27:59 -0400
    I’m hedging my bets on this. I wouldn’t put it past the Chicoms to steal this election on behalf of the Liberals.