PIJI CEO Anna Draffin recently appeared at the public hearings for the Productivity Commission’s inquiry into philanthropy. Below is the speech she gave at the hearing.

Public interest journalism is essential to an informed citizenry, and vital in holding those with power and influence to account. It helps to build community cohesion and also keep communities safe in times of natural disasters and other emergencies.

The Public Interest Journalism Initiative’s interest lies in the health of public interest journalism across the nation and as found by the ACCC, the public benefit that it generates for all, not just for those who pay and consume it. 

The development and evolution of digital technologies and social media platforms have irreversibly transformed the news sector. Where advertising once subsidised the high costs of producing public interest news, these dollars have now largely fled to digital platforms. Around the world, governments, industry and the community are grappling to find sustainable solutions. 

Against this backdrop, PIJI appreciates the opportunity to appear before the Productivity Commission’s inquiry into philanthropy. 

We also welcome the Commission’s draft recommendation for “a simpler, refocused deductible gift recipient system that creates fairer and more consistent outcomes for donors, charities and the community” and your explicit inclusion of “public interest journalism” as a charitable category in your draft report.

Over the past five years, PIJI has pioneered the mapping and indexing of Australia’s news industry. According to our data, there are over 1,000 print, digital, radio and television news outlets around Australia. 88 per cent of these are local news outlets.

For the period 2019-2023, we have observed nearly 500 market changes in news production and availability – positive and negative. Within this data, are 150 news outlet closures – a marked uptick from ACCC data of 106 news closures over the preceding decade (2008 – 2018). Furthermore, roughly 60 per cent of changes have occurred in regional and remote Australia, a ratio disproportionate to their population compared to metropolitan centres.

Now there is a new urgency to this situation. 

In 2024, we face the fast, rising tide of generative AI, ripe for experimentation in a year of elections – most notably the US. PIJI is aware of alleged generative AI news sites recently entering local Australian news markets without clear attribution. This demonstrates a new, rapid – and evolving – disruption to public interest journalism, which we believe will be felt more immediately and acutely than previous digital waves. It is likely to further fragment the shared public information space, leaving the community vulnerable to the severe and intensifying threats posed by dis and misinformation.

The explicit recognition of public interest journalism in charities law is no silver bullet but it presents clear opportunities that PIJI and others have suggested, to help diversify revenues, encourage more news production and benefit communities already experiencing an undersupply of media diversity or plurality.

All Australians, regardless of economic means or location, deserve to be informed and have access to a variety of public interest journalism at all levels – local, regional and national.

The deliberate development of a well-regulated, not-profit news sector is key. 

We have seen green shoots appear domestically in recent years, including growing donor appetite. Internationally, has seen greater growth – such as the recent $US 0.5 billion investment by US foundations through Press Forward into non-profit news.

Now we need decisive action in Australia to remove the mechanical barriers, and to actively encourage a thriving and diverse, charitable news sector that serves our communities.