This is the first of three reports the CMT will produce over the three-year span of the research.
Key findings from our first year of research are:
- There are mixed levels of coverage of regional Australia in metro media, with News Corp’s The Daily Telegraph significantly ahead of either Guardian Australia or the Nine News Group’s newspaper The Sydney Morning Herald.
- In broadcast outlets, Nine News produces more regional coverage than either the ABC or the Seven Network.
- Coverage is overwhelmingly responsive rather than initiated by research within newsrooms. This was evident too in regional news coverage during the 2022 federal election campaign which may indicate a marginalisation of local issues, resourcing challenges or that models premised on local-to-national editorial drivers are less efficient during election campaigns.
- There is a role for a healthy regional news ecosystem to play in ensuring the integrity of information used by metro-based outlets.
- Despite the financial difficulties facing regional media, journalists are finding new ways to build sustainable businesses using variations of the traditional advertising-supported models.
Download the report here:
