The media and democracy : information sources about political candidates in a Queensland region

This paper investigates the contradiction between a highly concentrated media ownership and an increasingly volatile electorate by examining the findings of a survey which suggests substantial number of voters use strategies to either avoid the media, or go elsewhere to compensate for negative impacts of Australia's media oligopoly. Data were gathered by adding questions to the annual Central Queensland Social Survey (CQSS) about ways in which voters in local, state and federal elections use media, and the analysis in this paper shows that large numbers of electors tum to non-mainstream media sources and rely on informal information networks to inform their votes. They turn to brochures, local networks, word of mouth and contact with candidates - which implies use of local networks. Nearly 70% dismissed the media altogether, or use sources other than the mainstream media, and a quarter rated the media's influence on their vote as "small" and almost a third saying it had no influence at all. The type of election had an impact on voters - the closer to home, the greater the use on non-media local networks. Almost a third of voters in local council elections said they did not use the media to help inform their vote - however in state and federal elections this proportion halved to 15%. In all elections a steady proportion of voters ranging between 17-21 % who did not use the media said they relied on local networks and word of mouth. "This warrants further investigation into the makeup of local networks to see, for instance, if this includes specialist publicationslbroadcasts by trade union and other membership organisations.