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Insights from Nine's State of the Nation Panel //
Trust, Truth, and the Mental Dividend
April 23, 2026
Panellists
Jordan Baker
Editor, The Sydney
Morning Herald
Katie Davies
Executive Editor,
nine.com.au
Kylar Loussikian
Business Editor, The Australian Financial Review
The current media landscape presents a striking irony: while information is more abundant than ever, certainty has never felt scarcer.
Earlier this week, Nine Publishing’s Managing Director, Tory Maguire joined industry leaders to unpack the state of the nation, and the critical forces shaping our nation’s future. Between fluctuating interest rates and the AI revolution, for marketers and business leaders, the desire to cut through the "noise" has never been stronger.
The Flight to Fact: A Transfer of Trust
Ash Thomas, Nine Publishing’s Commercial Director, opened the session by revealing insights from the "News Nation" research by ThinkNewsBrands, and how with the rise of AI-generated content and social media scepticism, 74% of Australians are deeply concerned about misinformation.
The result? A significant "flight to quality." Trust in national news publishers has climbed to 78%, with two in five Australians now using mastheads like The Sydney Morning Herald, The Age and The Australian Financial Review as a verification layer to fact-check their social feeds.
"For brands, this provides a massive mental dividend," Thomas noted. "Readers slow down and lean in when they engage with our journalism. Ads in these environments see 6.4 times higher unprompted recall than anywhere else on the web."
Navigating the Wild Ride of Current News
Host and Nine Publishing’s Managing Director Tory Maguire, took the room on a journey of her three-hour morning window, being served updates around global events, and how they can drastically change from moment to moment. Posing to the panel, how do newsrooms manage the sheer volume of global events, and curating desired content for each of their audiences?
Jordan Baker, Editor, The Sydney Morning Herald, highlighted the success of live blogging, noting that readers are personally invested in global conflicts. “They are fascinated with what we are going to wake up to, as current economic events such as the fuel crisis raises curiosity – will we still be driving our cars in a few months?” The news cycle is treated as both essential information and a high-stakes narrative, and the SMH has adapted by putting significant resources into the live team because the current state of global events is so consequential.
Katie Davies, Executive Editor, nine.com.au emphasised that in a 24/7 cycle, it’s not about being “first” anymore but being "right", which is essentially the only way to maintain the 10 million-strong audience that relies on Nine’s mass-reach platform and trusted voice.
Economic Resilience and Structural Shifts
On the economy, Kylar Loussikian, Business Editor, The Australian Financial Review provided a nuanced take on the current "optimism bias" in the markets. Despite the Strait of Hormuz closures and inflationary pressures, the ASX remains resilient. However, Loussikian warned that the full impact of global supply chain disruptions, affecting everything from PVC piping to resin, has yet to fully trickle down to company bottom lines.
The panel also touched on the growing sense of "intergenerational disenfranchisement." Jordan Baker pointed to the housing crisis and the rising cost of education as drivers for a shifting political landscape, where younger Australians are increasingly seeking immediate change and "plain speaking" from leaders, hence the rise in “grievance parties."
AI: A Tool, Not A Replacement
The conversation concluded with a forward-looking discussion on Artificial Intelligence. The consensus across Nine’s mastheads was clear: while AI is a powerful labour-saving tool for data analysis and research, it cannot replace "boots on the ground."
"AI can’t go to a crime scene, and it can’t have background conversations with sources to find the real story," Baker said. The panel noted that as AI becomes more prevalent, the value of "soft skills" – EQ, relationship building, and critical thinking – will become the most sought-after traits in the workforce.
Key Takeaways
Verification Matters: Australians are hungrier than ever to validate the "truth" of what they see on social media. The role of responsible journalism in Nine’s newsrooms, and being the trusted voice for the nation, will remain at the core of everything we do.
High Engagement: Cost-of-living and practical "help" content (from budget winners to value-tested products) are driving record engagement across all brands.
The Trust ROI: Partnering with Nine Publishing brands delivers an average ROI of $3.90 for every $1 spent, driven by the "transfer of trust" from journalism to advertising.
For more insights, Nine has launched The News Effect, a five-part video series exploring the impact of premium news environments on brand outcomes.
