Local news is a lifeline for rural and regional communities, yet it faces unprecedented challenges. Deakin University is leading the charge to sustain and innovate local journalism, ensuring its future in a digital world.
Deakin researchers, backed by the Australian Research Council Linkage grant, are tackling the critical challenge of sustaining high-quality local news in rural and regional Australia. In an era where local media continues to decline, this research explores innovative solutions to ensure the future of community journalism, which remains vital for these areas.
With almost 30% of the nation’s population living in rural and regional areas, country and regional news outlets represent a vital part of Australian journalism.
The COVID-19 pandemic and natural disasters have exacerbated some of the challenges facing the local news sector – especially traditional print newspapers – at a time when reliable, credible information sources are essential for local communities.
‘Big Tech’ has also disrupted the advertising model that has largely sustained journalism and small outlets have been hit hard.
These challenges raise critical questions about the future of local news: What do we want from local news providers, who will produce it and how can it thrive in the digital era?
With local and international research highlighting the importance of community news, Deakin University researchers are tackling the urgent challenge of sustaining local news outlets.
Leading this vital work is media expert Professor Kristy Hess of Deakin’s School of Communication and Creative Arts and the Alfred Deakin Institute for Citizenship and Globalisation.
‘Countries across the globe are mapping increasing news deserts and gaps as outlets struggle to be commercially competitive in a world dominated by Big Tech like Google and Meta,’ says Professor Hess.
‘As a society, we are faced with existential questions about what we want and expect from local news providers, from who produces it to how it is disseminated and shared.’
Professor Hess and her team are developing sustainable models to support local news industries and inform federal communications policies, ensuring local news can thrive in the digital landscape.
‘Rural and regional communities want and deserve access to reliable, original and quality local news and information,’ Professor Hess says.
‘For millions of Australians, local news matters. As a research team, we’ve been reminded of just how important local news is – especially in rural and regional areas – for democratic, social, economic and cultural reasons.
'If people see themselves as being ‘local’ or connected to somewhere, chances are they have reached for (or searched online for) the local masthead to maintain that sense of place. That said, if people reach out for the local paper and it just doesn’t ‘feel local’, then the connection is lost. Game over.’
Local newspapers remain important for regional and rural Australians to feel connected to their local community, however researchers found many local papers rely on advertising and syndicated stories from metro outlets.
The ABC, Australia’s national broadcaster, has sought Deakin’s expertise to determine how it can best develop partnerships and collaborations with regional news outlets to support public interest journalism.
The three-year Australian Research Council (ARC)-backed study follows a recommendation by the 2022 Parliamentary Inquiry into Regional Newspapers suggesting Australia’s public broadcasters should increase their efforts to support regional news sustainability through partnerships.
ABC News Strategy Research Lead Dr Angela Ross says the crisis in local news deepened during the pandemic, as hundreds of regional and rural newspaper titles closed.
‘The cuts and closures have led to fewer regional issues, stories and perspectives being reported and, worryingly, less accountability reporting at the local level,’ she says.
‘The ABC plays a critical public service role in connecting rural and regional communities and elevating regional stories and issues, but it can’t fill all local news gaps.
'The ABC is keen to use this project to consider how it may help design a unique and effective partnership model targeting regional areas underserved for local news.'
During the project, the research team – which includes Deakin’s Professor Matthew Ricketson, Professor Susan Forde (Griffith University), Dr Ross and ABC Victorian regional editor Hugh Martin – will identify the challenges faced by regional broadcast, print and digital news providers, particularly in communities underserved by local media.
It will then recommend the best ways in which the ABC can support the local news sector. The team will also consider and incorporate lessons learnt from existing partnerships between the ABC and groups such as the Local and Independent News Association (LINA) and First Nations Media Australia (FNMA).
Professor Hess says rural media plays a powerful role in the local towns and cities building social capital and helping people to develop a sense of belonging within their community.
‘We need to look at the existing media infrastructure and service provisions and determine whether there is an appetite to work together to support especially vulnerable areas of the ecology,' she says.
‘Ultimately this is about helping to secure the long-term sustainability of a sector that has struggled in a period of digital disruption to ensure rural and regional audiences have access to genuinely local news.
‘Given Deakin’s commitment to rural and regional communities explicitly outlined in our charter, we’re ideally placed to lead these types of research projects.'
This is about helping to secure the long-term sustainability of a sector that has struggled in a period of digital disruption to ensure rural and regional audiences have access to genuinely local news.
Professor Kristy Hess
School of Communication and Creative Arts
The ABC partnership follows the extensive work and report developed by Deakin and Country Press Australia (CPA) over more than a decade of partnership.
In 2018-2022, Professor Hess led a key ARC-funded project that involved a national survey of 4000 local news readers, the largest of its kind in Australia. This research produced a blueprint for sustaining local news and ensuring regional voices are heard in future media discussions, culminating in 22 key recommendations for policymakers.
The final ‘Media innovation and the civic future of Australia's country press’ 2023 report found that audiences value original, locally focused content but are frustrated by excessive syndicated material and multinational advertising. It also confirmed that print remains essential for rural communities and called for more targeted government subsidies for small news outlets. The study further emphasised the need for clearer definitions of ‘local’ in news provision and greater collaboration among regional providers.
Bruce Morgan, CPA’s former Executive Officer, says the tabling of the CPA-Deakin research project was a highly significant event.
‘It is a beginning, not an end; a launching pad, if you like, for what will be the new model of community-based journalism, where publishing in regional and rural communities is very much still a business but also a critical part of their fabric,’ he says.
‘This research report now provides an academically tested framework from which policymakers can better understand the importance of community journalism, and act accordingly.’
The research has since had a strong influence on government and media policy and continues to inform more than 174 local newspaper operations across Australia.
For more information about this project, contact Professor Kristy Hess.
