First up – an announcement! We are very happy to report that our second regional news media report is now published. CMT’s aim is to eventually offer metro news media some options for greater coverage of regional news and issues given the current low levels of coverage. In this report we – unfortunately - find overall declining levels of coverage in metro media of the issues which regional Australians are facing, compared to the previous year, as published in our first report. Where there is heightened coverage, it tends to be reportage of crime and natural disaster.
To find out if regional media is producing journalism on issues which also impact metro audiences, and being picked up by metro-based media, we delved into two case studies. The first is on water management and the second on bans on alcohol in Indigenous communities in the Northern Territory. In neither did we find significant evidence of narrative movement from regional news ecosystems to metro news ecosystems. In fact, we found in coverage of the Murray Darling Basin Plan that local newspapers focus on local issues, responding to developments from local policy actors; metropolitan and national media tend to focus on state- and national-scale issues and relied on state and federal governments and business groups as sources. Nor did regional media produce journalism uncovering new facts about the Plan which might attract editors from outside the local ecosystem.
Our research of media coverage of successive legislated alcohol bans imposed on Indigenous communities in the Northern Territory found regional media played a significant role as an independent voice interrogating policy decisions and their impact on local populations. But this didn’t carry over to metro media.
All in all, there’s clearly much work to be done to find the pathways for regional representation and coverage in metro media.
Also in this newsletter, Derek takes a look at how media standards schemes work in Germany – as part of CMT’s broader work on how well or otherwise, our own many media standards schemes are working. And he’s happened upon a curiosity in the German system that defines journalism and news media rather more expansively than we do. It’s an interesting read!
Tim interviewed Genevieve Jacob, from the Canberra based start-up Region Media for our Double Take podcast. They talked about Australia’s infamous lack of media plurality and what that means for regional audiences and the businesses trying to fill the gap.
In the meantime, Michael has been listening in on Senate Estimates hearings and the concerns of some MP’s about the proposed new ACMA powers to combat misinformation on digital platforms. As he argues the responses show us a lot about what is wrong with how the government is thinking about the legislation.
Read it in full here.
Monica Attard, CMT Co-Director