To ABC attackers: Three strikes and you're out

Colleagues and scholars from coast to coast, across Bass Strait and all the ships at sea.

Dateline: Australia, Federal Politics, The ABC. June 2015.

My word, the usual suspects are out in force again swinging their well oiled and trusty baseball bats at the ABC.

The attacks have become such a regular event that one could set one's watch by them. 

We shall examine three pieces of evidence to discover how well (or otherwise) the public views the trustworthiness of the ABC, other media outlets and other well-known institutions.

Exhibit A - during the intensity of the 2013 Federal Election.

On the 19th August 2013 Essential Research published its results to the following question:

"How much trust do you have in the way the following media have reported and commented on the election campaign so far? - A lot of trust, some trust, not much trust, no trust at all, don't know, don't use."

The combined responses (in descending order) to 'a lot of trust' and 'some trust' were as follows:

Media	A lot of trust/ some trust %
ABC TV	58
SBS TV	52
ABC Radio	49
The Age (VIC)	42
Sydney Morning Herald (NSW)	39
The Australian	31
Herald Sun (VIC)	30
Commercial TV	29
Commercial Radio	25
The Telegraph (NSW)	25
Courier Mail (QLD)	23

Exhibit B - On the 23rd June 2015 Essential Research published its results to the following question:

"How much trust do you have in what you read or hear in the following media? - A lot of trust, some trust, not much trust, no trust at all, don't know, don't use."

The combined responses (in descending order) to 'a lot of trust' and 'some trust' were as follows:

Media	A lot of trust/ some trust %
ABC TV news & current affairs	63
SBS TV news & current affairs	61
ABC radio news & current affairs	58
News & opinion in local newspapers	50
ABC radio talkback programs	46
Commercial TV news & current affairs	46
News & opinion in daily newspapers	45
Commercial radio news & current affairs	44
News & opinion websites	39
Commercial radio talkback programs	34
Internet blogs	20

Exhibit C - On the 16th June 2015 Essential Research published its results to the following question:

"How much trust do you have in the following institutions and organisations? - A lot of trust, some trust, not much trust, no trust at all, don't know, don't use."

The combined responses (in descending order) to 'a lot of trust' and 'some trust' were as follows:

Institution	A lot of trust/ some trust %
Federal police	68
State police	66
The High Court	61
The ABC	56
The Reserve Bank	56
Charitable organisations	46
Environment groups	40
Your local council	39
Commonwealth public service	35
State Parliament	32
Federal Parliament	31
Business groups	28
Trade unions	26
Religious organisations	25
Political parties	16

To the ABC's relentless attackers, I think that's called: three strikes and you're out.