Protecting journalism’s future

Hundreds of media workers have been put out of work in Australia and internationally over the past few weeks.

Some publishers are straining to keep up in an ever-changing, competitive digital world. Some cheerily-forceful pushes towards generative AI uptake are soon followed by human redundancies. Some overworked journalists find themselves juggling the parts of writer, editor, videographer, presenter and social media superstar. Some politicians take great delight in discrediting those who seek to hold them to account.

While the pool of employed journalists shrinks and sweats, major media conglomerates continue to grow, swallowing up smaller upstarts and sometimes each other.

But it’s not all bad news.

Broadcasters and publishers push on as far as they can for as long as they can, finding new ways to survive and thrive. Good journalists continue to report on the stories that matter, searching for facts in a murkier sea of information.

And new journalists, passionate and ready to work, are still entering the force, breathing new life into an industry taking hits on multiple fronts.

It is the responsibility of those already in the mix to protect what’s left and improve what we can so the next generation can run ahead and leave the world better informed than the day before.

PIJI is an independent advocacy organisation. We appreciate your support.

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The latest move into news by a billionaire highlights a lack of protections against expanding media oligarchies and their influence on democracy.

Next generation of journos braving tough industry conditions

The industry is battling for survival, but Australia’s next generation of journalists are eager to jump into the fray.

Have your voice heard!

Researchers at Canada’s Simon Fraser University are comparing regulations that aim to address the imbalances between digital platforms and news publishers, and their consequences for journalism.

As part of the project, Dr Sarah Anne Ganter and Dr Simran Agarwal are seeking Australian journalists to complete an online survey on their thoughts and experiences regarding the News Media Bargaining Code.

The results will be used exclusively for scholarly purposes, including policy reports, academic articles and book chapters.

Keen to participate? Click this link to take the survey.

ICYMI: Industry updates

Australia

• Southern Cross Media Group announced it will axe up to 300 jobs as part of its pursuit of up to $150 million in savings.
  The group downgraded its full-year earnings guidance to between $1.86 billion and $1.87 billion, down 2.5 per cent from previous guidance, with much of the blame put on low advertising revenues.
  The announcement follows similar job cuts by Seven West Media and Southern Cross Austereo pre-merger, in 2024 and 2025, respectively.
• In the midst of job cuts, remaining staff at Seven were reportedly told to use a new AI tool to write online news articles based off the broadcaster’s TV scripts.
• WIN Network confirmed it will proceed with a restructure of NBN News operations. The process will, in some cases, halve newsroom staff numbers. The company said it intends to explore redeployment opportunities for affected staff.
  WIN Network cited shifting viewing habits, rising cost pressures and technological change as the drivers of the restructure.
• Vinyl Group confirmed plans to halve staff numbers at youth publisher Pedestrian, a recent acquisition from Nine.
• Youth-focused title Punkee will shutter and its stablemate Junkee will transform into a smaller operation in the face of a difficult advertising market, publisher RACAT Group announced. A number of roles will be affected.
• One Nation leader Pauline Hanson told the National Press Club if she were to come to power, she would axe the SBS, and would scale back funding for the ABC while putting in place a subscription model in metropolitan areas.
  Hanson also said she will limit the ABC and the Guardian from her media conferences, and called Guardian journalist Sarah Martin “trashy” for questioning her daughter’s employment by One Nation.
  Her speech (in which she made several false and misleading claims) was briefly interrupted when a banner was unfurled behind her, featuring the words: “I opposed a pay rise for workers, while I took a $100,000 pay rise for myself.” Political activist group GetUp! claimed responsibility for the stunt, and the National Press Club referred the matter to the Australian Federal Police.
• South Australia committed $2.6 million over four years to make childhood media literacy program Newshounds available in all of the state’s public, independent and Catholic primary schools.
  Newshounds founder, journalist-turned-educator Bryce Corbett, said with mis- and disinformation fracturing social cohesion, “there’s never been a more important time for kids to learn to ‘Stop, Think and Check’ before believing everything they see online.”
• The University of Canberra’s 2026 Digital News Report revealed several insights into Australians’ relationships with news.
  Findings included 60 per cent of 18 to 24-year-olds have never read a printed newspaper; younger and more highly educated audiences are driving growth in news payment; and although overall trust in news remained unchanged at 43 per cent, more than two thirds of Australians continue to avoid the news.
• Applications are open for the Walkley Mentorship Program. The fee-free program is open to journalists no matter their career status, age or specialty, and offers to match up to 10 participants with a highly experienced journalist for one-on-one sessions over the course of a year.
  Applications close 11:59pm, July 14.

Around the World

• The BBC announced 550 job cuts as part of the first stage in its plan to save £500 million over the next two years. The public broadcaster hopes this step will save £160 million, including £25 million from 200 job cuts in the news division.
  Total expected job losses resulting from the BBC’s downsizing are expected to reach up to 2000.
• New York State Senate passed a bill prohibiting AI ‘stealth crawlers‘ from being deployed in a manner that would “damage, impair or burden the operation of a covered news source or otherwise cause a news source economic harm.”
  The new legislation will allow affected news organisations to request a subpoena against a service provider to identify an alleged offender, and to seek penalties of up to US$15,000 per day for each violation.
  A law aiming to tackle the harms of AI bots is also being drafted in the UK.
• More than 20 European news publishers are taking legal action against Google, seeking damages of up to €640 million for Google’s abuse of its dominance in online advertising technology.
  The case comes after the European Commission fined Google €2.95 billion in 2025 for breaching EU antitrust rules by distorting competition in adtech.
• Publishers in the UK can now choose not to appear in Google’s AI Overviews without losing their place in main search results. Google said it is testing the change with a subset of website owners in the UK before a global rollout.
  Some media organisations reported drops in traffic since Google began placing AI summaries at the top of its search page. Until now, they were unable to opt out of the feature without also withdrawing from Google’s traditional search results.
• In the US, current and former 60 Minutes staff alleged editorial interference by broadcast network CBS News, following several high-profile firings of the show’s journalists and producers. The network has denied the allegations.
  The turmoil comes more than a year after CBS News editor-in-chief Bari Weiss pulled a 60 Minutes story hours before it was set to air in a move described by the segment’s key correspondent as “political”.
• China expelled New York Times journalist Vivian Wang from the country over a video appearance by Taiwan’s president at the paper’s DealBook summit last year. The New York Times said Wang was not involved in the event.
  China’s decision came amidst heightened tensions in the region and Wang’s coverage of sensitive matters such as censorship and the country’s handling of Covid.
  In possible retaliation, the US revoked the visa of a Chinese state media journalist, a move the Times had not requested, a spokesperson for the paper said.
• Uganda’s military chief ordered the closure of two ​leading media outlets, the Daily Monitor and NTV Uganda, reportedly writing in a since-deleted post that he did “not believe in ‌a free press”. Both outlets are owned by Nation Media Group (NMG).
  Discussions between the government and NMG are ongoing, with one defence official posting that NMG was “committing to adopting a more patriotic, balanced, and objective approach to their journalism moving forward.”
• The number of countries from which media professionals have fled doubled in five years, Reporters Without Borders found.
  The organisation also noted several countries that welcomed fleeing journalists simultaneously cracked down on domestic reporters critical of authorities.
• Around the world, trust in news has fallen to 37 per cent – the lowest level since Reuters Institute began measuring trust in 2015.
  The report found some factors behind the drop included wider anxieties beyond the news industry, such as declining trust in institutions and leaders; high-profile politicians’ attacks on journalism; and concerns about misinformation, particularly given the increasing use of social media, video networks and AI chatbots as news sources.

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