Our final report for 2023 reveals the state of play for public interest journalism for the last quarter of the year.

The latest edition of the Australian News Data Report is a revealing portrait of an industry still reeling from the turmoil of the COVID emergency years and ongoing digital disruption.

The December 2023 report, which also includes the latest quarterly data, logged 171 sector expansions and 327 contractions since 1 January 2019. This equates to a net result of -156 at year’s end, a deeper decline than the -144 recorded at the same time in 2022.

Two more regional news producers closed during the December period, the Yarrabilba Bulletin and the Yass Phoenix. 

As noted elsewhere in the December report the Australian News Index closed out the year with 1211 number of outlets listed, an increase of 32 outlets compared to the final quarter of 2022. This increase is due to several factors, including PIJI’s efforts to identify outlets that had previously been missed in the data, and new outlets opening throughout the year.

Read more about the state of Australia’s public interest journalism in the December 2023 report.