More local government areas in Australia are going without news coverage in print or digital formats, according to PIJI’s latest monthly and quarterly research report.
PIJI’s June monthly and quarterly research report shows an increase in the number of geographic areas without a print or digital news service.
Thirty local government areas have no local print or digital news publisher, an increase of six since the last quarter, according to PIJI’s June monthly and quarterly reports released this week. Separately, PIJI has been unable to identify any publisher or radio local news producers in five local government areas, unchanged from the previous quarter.
Overall, close to 500 market changes in news production and availability have been recorded since January 2019, translating to 148 fewer news outlets as a net effect.
Other key findings in this edition include:
- There are 1212 print, digital, radio and television news outlets listed on the Australian News Index as of 30 June 2023. This is an increase of 12 since 31 May 2023.
- 21 changes were made to outlet records, all backdated, including one outlet closure and one updated name. The rest were additions to the database. Most of these changes are related to ongoing work to improve data related to radio news producers.
- 16 new business entity records were added to the database.