PIJI’s latest quarterly data release shows just how many news outlets have been lost.

Australia’s public interest journalism landscape continues to feel the squeeze, with PIJI’s latest quarterly results revealing contractions in the industry continue to outpace expansions.

PIJI has recorded a total of 494 changes in news production since it began tracking in 2019. According to data released for the third quarter of 2023, there were 323 contractions and 171 expansions since 1 January 2019, for a net change of -152. This is compared to the 296 contractions and 158 expansions – and net change of -138 – at the same time last year.

The latest data also reveals 29 local government areas have no print or digital publishers.

The September quarterly report also includes the latest monthly figures from the Australian News Index. As of 30 September 2023, there were 1214 print, digital, radio and television outlets of community, local, metropolitan, state/territory or national primary coverage listed on the index. This is an increase of one on the previous month.

The September report also features sampling of news in the Sunraysia region, which was found to have high news outlet density with five print outlets, one digital, and nine each of radio and television.

For the full results, read our September 2023 report here.