Is declining trust impacting newspaper sales?

While we all know that digital platforms are disrupting print newspapers, I wonder if declining trust is impacting print as well.

In the recent federal and Victorian elections we saw print newspapers that lobbied for a result failed to make an impact for their chosen candidates, demonstrating that once great mastheads that could decide an election outcome no longer have that clout.

Every piece of lobbying dressed as ‘news’ further challenges trust.

A few days ago, the Launceston Examiner newspaper was caught publishing a letter that was found to contain a made up claim on a serious matter.

Key points.

• A letter published in a major Tasmanian newspaper claimed a man undressed in front of children in the female changerooms at Launceston aquatic centre — but the pool has denied this ever happened

• The following day the newspaper published a clarification, saying “unfortunately we appear to have been misled”

• The editor of the newspaper is a former adviser to former PM Malcolm Turnbull and failed Liberal candidate Katherine Deves

The letter claimed that a male entered female change rooms at a pool and started to undress, and ‘wrote’ to the newspaper over trans related concerns.

The council has quickly confirmed that the incident did not occur.

The newspaper editor claims to have spoken to the letter writer. I think she made it up, he has said.

If there is such a letter, and that is a big if, the editor has failed to appropriately check prior to publishing. This is where repetitional damage is done to the Examiner.

The Launceston Examiner is not alone. News Corp. outlets have a reputation in this area I think. And, it leads me to wonder if these games of political and public opinion interference diminish trust in the medium and whether that is a factor in declining print newspaper sales.

I mean, do people want to pay to be told what to think?