In its Federal Election Position Paper 2022, PIJI is calling for commitment to a comprehensive media policy as an imperative in maintaining sector and community confidence, and investment in PIJI’s ongoing data and active monitoring projects
The gathering and distribution of news and journalism has declined across the country – as demonstrated by our Australian Newsroom Mapping Project. The absence of a clear policy statement and of rigorous industry data means a lack of effective, evidence-based measures to reverse these trends.
PIJI Federal Election Position Paper 2022; Key Recommendations:
This paper was overseen by the Policy Working Group and jointly prepared by;
Anna Draffin, Chief Executive Officer, Public Interest Journalism Initiative
Isabelle Oderberg, Communications Strategy and Media manager, Public Interest Journalism Initiative
Gary Dickson, Research and Projects Manager, Public Interest Journalism Initiative
Explore the changing local news landscape with PIJI’s Local News Producers mapping project.
Across the country, there are now 31 local government areas without local print or digital news coverage – with rural and remote regions worst affected.
PIJI’s position paper recognises that significant investment is needed to measure and monitor the national health of public interest journalism and shape effective policy.
States and territories: changes in news production as of Dec 2021
Our paper calls upon government to fund PIJI to build upon its specialist expertise and ongoing mapping work to become an independent data centre that produces longitudinal open-source data on news product and availability.
Data investment, alongside initiatives to stimulate news diversity and production and to increase transparency, form a key suite of endeavors by which government can safeguard the future of public interest journalism.
This submission draws key insights from PIJI research, including;
