In brief
- Star News spun Christchurch’s top council confidence ranking into a negative, leading with “Confidence still low.”
- Star News seemingly did not want to use bell curve marking- Christchurch’s 38% confidence rating is the highest among major NZ cities and up from 29% in 2022.
- The city also saw the biggest quality of life improvement nationwide.
- Meanwhile, trust in the media is even lower than trust in the council—27% vs 38%.
Ever heard of a Rorschach Test?
Christchurch residents have more confidence in their council’s decision-making than any other major city in New Zealand, yet media coverage has twisted this achievement into a negative.
The latest 2024 Quality of Life survey shows 38% of Christchurch residents trust the council’s decisions under centre-right mayor Philip Mauger—the highest among the eight cities measured. This marks an increase from 29% in 2022, when the city was under former Labour mayor Lianne Dalziel.
Despite this clear improvement, Star News, under its “We’re for Canterbury” banner, ran with the headline: “Confidence in Christchurch council’s decision-making still low – survey.”
The basis of a Rorschach test is that what you see, in something open to multiple interpretations, is often a reflection of how you think.
Rather than acknowledging Christchurch’s improvement or its position as the most trusted council among major cities, Star News chose an angle that portrayed the opposite. The article’s first sentence declares:
“Most people do not have confidence in Christchurch City Council’s ability to make decisions in the best interests of the community.”
This sweeping statement, while technically correct, sets a negative tone, implying Christchurch is performing particularly badly. Contrast that with the third sentence :
“Out of the 524 respondents in Christchurch, just 38% said they have confidence in the council’s decisions, compared to 29% in 2022. Across New Zealand’s big cities, the average was just 30%.”
Christchurch’s confidence rating isn’t just improving—it’s leading the country. The phrase “just 38%” attempts to maintain the negative spin, but the comparative data (Christchurch at 38% vs. the national city average of 30%) raises questions. We suggest more objective framing would have acknowledged Christchurch’s ranking while still discussing concerns.
This may be a good use of “bell curve” marking, where the grades are based on the marks from that test, so 50% doesn’t have to be the passing grade and the top mark is still considered an achievement, regardless of the actual percentage.
Omitting key facts to fit a narrative
Some may argue Star News simply chose an angle, but their approach involved omitting key data points that would have provided a more balanced picture of the survey results. Instead of reporting Christchurch’s leading position, they focused on “confidence still low,” knowing many readers would take the headline at face value rather than checking the full report.
Several survey results were downplayed or ignored:
Christchurch ranked first in council trust among New Zealand’s largest cities and saw the biggest quality of life improvement nationwide, with 26% of residents reporting a better standard of living than the previous year. It also ranked third overall in trust in local government, behind only Hutt City and Porirua. Additionally, 80% of respondents said they enjoy life in Christchurch, slightly above the national city average of 77%.
Instead of highlighting these positive trends, the article emphasised crime and roading issues—concerns shared by every city surveyed—while downplaying Christchurch’s relative success.
Media trust lower than council trust
Perhaps most tellingly, the same survey reveals trust in the media is even lower than trust in the council—sitting at just 27% nationwide compared to 38% for Christchurch’s council. If media outlets are wondering why public confidence in their reporting continues to decline, this kind of misleading framing may offer a reason.
Image: Robert Cutts.
