These media sources have a slight to moderate liberal bias.  They often publish factual information that utilizes loaded words (wording that attempts to influence an audience by appeals to emotion or stereotypes) to favor liberal causes.  These sources are generally trustworthy for information but may require further investigation. See all Left-Center sources.

• Overall, The Age holds left-leaning editorial views and reports news factually; therefore, we rate The Age Left-Center Biased based on story selection and editorial positions that usually favor the left. We also rate them High for factual reporting due to proper sourcing and a clean fact check record.

Detailed Report

Bias Rating: LEFT-CENTER
Factual Reporting: HIGH
Country: Australia
MBFC’s Country Freedom Rank: MOSTLY FREE
Media Type: Newspaper
Traffic/Popularity: High Traffic
MBFC Credibility Rating: HIGH CREDIBILITY

History

The Age is a daily newspaper from Melbourne, Australia, founded in 1854 by John and Henry Cooke and Walter Powell. Two years later, they sold the paper to Ebenezer Syme and James McEwan. After Ebenezer passed away, David Syme joined McEwan as a partner. David Syme eventually became the publisher and subsequently became the owner. Due to his managerial practices, The Age became profitable and reputable. After the death of David Syme, his sons took control of the paper. Finally, after the last son Oswald Syme passed away, his grandson Ranald Macdonald took control and appointed Graham Perkin as editor-in-chief.

Under their management, The Age became the most influential paper of its time. The Australian Dictionary of Biography (maintained by the Australian National University – ANU) states, “Perkin turned The Age into a more interventionist and campaigning newspaper. It exposed financial scandals in State governments and corruption in the police force and attacked Federal governments for suppressing information. In the process, it attracted critics who thought it too ‘leftist.’”

In 1972, John Fairfax Holdings started buying stock in Age publisher David Syme & Co, and eventually, Fairfax took over David Syme & Co completely by the early ’80s. As a result, Ranald Macdonald stepped down and was replaced by Greg Taylor. In 2018, Nine Entertainment Co. and Fairfax announced that they would be merging, resulting in Nine shareholders retaining 51 percent ownership. The current editor is Gay Alcorn.

Read how government influences media in Australia.

Funded by / Ownership 

The Age is currently owned by Nine Entertainment Co., formerly known as PBL Media. Peter Costello is the Chairman. Please see the financial reports of the company here.  Advertising and a subscription paywall generate revenue.

Analysis / Bias

In 2020, Reporters Without Borders ranked Australia 26/180 in their Press Freedom Index, stating, “Investigative journalism in danger.” The Prime Minister of Australia is Center-Right  Conservative Scott Morrison. The Liberal-National Coalition, known as The Coalition, an alliance of center-right political parties with Morrison serving as the leader. In the 2019 elections, according to its editorial, The Age endorsed Center Left Labor Party candidate Bill Shorten, “Shorten has made a compelling case for change.”

In review, The Age publishes opinion pieces that are critical of the Morrison government with strong emotionally loaded language such as “Bring in the Barbarians: the Morrison government is marching us towards anti-intellectualism.” Editorials also feature emotionally loaded wording that is critical of the current government’s environmental climate change strategies, such as this article “If Morrison wants climate credibility, he should be pushing electric vehicles.” A quote from the article referring to Scott Morrison’s Government environment policies reads, “Put shortly, there is no strategy. There is no policy, no target, and so far little evidence of a plan.” However, the editorial is thoroughly sourced through credible sources such as “environment.gov.au” and “Parliament of Australia.” In general, The Age reports news factually and with a moderate left-leaning bias.

Finally, a Reuters institute survey found that 52% of respondents trust their news coverage and 17% do not, ranking them #11 in trust of the major Australian news providers.

Failed Fact Checks

• None in the Last 5 years

Overall, The Age holds left-leaning editorial views and reports news factually; therefore, we rate The Age Left-Center Biased based on story selection and editorial positions that usually favor the left. We also rate them High for factual reporting due to proper sourcing and a clean fact check record. (8/14/2016) Updated (M. Huitsing 03/23/2022)

Source: http://www.theage.com.au/