Welcome!

Welcome to PIJI’s first newsletter.

PIJI is now fully operational and experiencing support that is indicative of a growing recognition of the challenges confronting public interest journalism.

Recent developments highlight the pressures and the ever increasing need to secure diverse and viable forms of support for public interest journalism. The Nine-Fairfax merger; the subsequent sale of its community and regional newspaper portfolio; the data, analysis and recommendations emerging from the ACCC Inquiry on Digital Platforms; the troubled roll-out of the Small and Regional Publishers Innovation Fund; the shake-up within the ABC; the plethora of issues emerging from coverage of the current election. Taken together these developments represent a dramatically escalating disruption of the news environment.

How it all began

It all started with a lunch hosted by Karen Mahlab in 2017.  At the end, a small huddle of philanthropists, journalists, publishers and academics was left lamenting the issue of the day – the Federal Government’s bill to change media ownership and the demise of public interest journalism.

“What came out of it was a sense of urgency to do what we could to help with the negotiations over media laws at the time,” says Leslie Falkiner-Rose, former journalist and Acting PIJI Chair.

The group turned into a steering committee, comprising Pro Bono Australia’s Karen Mahlab, publisher Eric Beecher, journalist and academic Margaret Simons, philanthropic CEO John Spierings and Leslie. They passed around a virtual hat and hired former Whitlam Institute CEO Eric Sidoti to put together a strategy. Their first action was to organise a roundtable discussion with journalists, editors, publishers, former political advisers, philanthropists, academics and thinkers of various types.

“People had experience from lots of different areas. The issue wasn’t just about losing journalism jobs. What was deeply concerning was the impact of losing those jobs. We decided we needed to make sure we could get really good factual information about the impact on our democratic structure.”

PIJI, now led by a high calibre Board, is well on its way with a number of projects in train, including research into the impacts of the decline of independent journalism in regional areas and work on various options for sustaining public interest journalism.

“We’re agnostic about what those solutions might be right now,” says Leslie. “We’re about being a catalyst, an engine for change.”

What we’re doing now

The impact of the decline of public interest journalism is particularly evident at the local and regional level. This emerged from our stock-take of current research and is a priority focus for PIJI.

In collaboration with the Australian Local Government Association, we have surveyed the local government experience of media in their regions. The findings will be presented at the Australian Local Government Association National Assembly this weekend and will appear as a chapter in this year’s State of the Regions report. This research complements research emerging from other institutions such as the UTS Centre for Media Transition.

We have embarked on a series of discussions with news organisations large and small, including editors and publishers, digital platforms, and organisations that have a direct interest, such as the Walkley Foundation, Judith Neilson Institute, the Alliance for Journalism Freedom and the MEAA. We are developing close working relationships with the key research centres and individuals guided by our Expert Research Panel. The discussions have varied, including sharing experience, testing thinking and policy ideas, uncovering data and analysis, and looking to develop partnerships on future research and policy development activity.

PIJI is also very engaged with discussions focused on future policy options including those convened by the ACCC, Google News Lab and government officials. You can read more about this in PIJI’s Submission Further to the ACCC Inquiry into Digital Platforms Preliminary Report. As shown in the ACCC’s preliminary report, there is growing interest in the potential benefits from tax offsets to support public interest journalism. PIJI is currently looking to commission tax modelling to support informed consideration of the options being canvassed.

PIJI has also been involved with the serious consideration being given to expanding eligibility for Deductible Gift Recipient to foster greater philanthropic support of journalism. PIJI and others see considerable benefit in this as one element in a suite of policy measures and there is little doubt of its potential.

These are the first steps in PIJI’s substantial program for the next twelve months. We’ve been very much encouraged by the openness of the people with whom we have met, the recognition of the challenges and the shared concern for the future of public interest journalism. The pressures on news organisations and the journalists they employ is top of mind.

A real shift is the recognition that government can support public interest journalism better through tax and other measures is apparent. It is certainly evident in our discussions, but also in the submissions to the ACCC.

Board member profile:
Grant Rule, man with a message

The world of business is full of humble-beginnings-to-success stories, but few read like Grant Rule’s. Raised in Adelaide by his single mother, Grant completed a year of university none the wiser about what he wanted to do in life. Several blue collar jobs followed until maturity and ambition led him back to a business and economics degree and a job with Arthur Andersen. By his own admission, he wasn’t a very good auditor, lasting only a year.

Instead Grant started a business importing second hand heavy machinery, “fighting declining Australian exchange rates” until he “came across this idea”. The idea from Justin Lau, an MBA student friend, was using new instant messaging technology to communicate with customers and workers. Business was slow from 2000 until 2002 when help in terms of both capital and expertise came from Regina Hill, just as they were ready to close the doors.

The rest, as they say, is history. Message Media, in which he still holds a major shareholding and executive position, now has revenues of 120 million a year and employs 200 people in Australia, New Zealand, the UK and the US.

As much as Grant enjoys the success he’s created, he quietly admits his business is funding a newer and potentially greater force in his life, The Susan McKinnon Foundation, named after his mother. “If she hadn’t had the courage to leave a dysfunctional household of alcohol, gambling and domestic violence, I wouldn’t have everything I have now – the business, the foundation and my family. She had a really tough life and I’m so grateful for what she did for me and my sister.

“She has a really strong social conscience. When my business started making real money, she was prodding me about what I was going to do to give back.”

The foundation, run with Grant’s wife Dr. Sophie Oh, is giving back plenty. By the end of this financial year, he expects the figure will be $5 million a year and growing. But Grant runs the foundation with the same strategic focus he applies to business, pinpointing the areas where he feels the money can make the greatest social difference – effective government, international leadership and obesity prevention.

So why PIJI? “Public interest journalism is fundamental to the health of our democracy. It’s a bit like justice needing not just to be done, but to be seen to be done. If the public loses faith in democracy, it risks an unravelling of democracy. If people lose faith in democracy, people tend to donkey vote, back candidates or parties like what we’ve seen in the U.S. or perhaps more importantly, it can affect the quality of candidates. If we have worse candidates, we have worse government.”

A message indeed.