Claire Stuchbery, Executive Director of Local & Independent News Association, discusses the challenges and opportunities faced by local news producers in Australia in this contributed piece.

The 2024 Digital News Report released last month found that more Australians are interested in local news than any other news topic, but only half of them say they are getting enough. Perhaps it’s no coincidence that in the context of a news cycle dominated by international conflict and catastrophe, people are hungry for news that brings communities together and connects us all to one another. Local news plays a critical role in acting as watchdog to local authorities and leaders, raising awareness of issues unreported by larger media outlets, contributing to local economies through supporting workforce recruitment, and providing advertising platforms for local businesses. The Digital News Report confirmed once again that people want news that tells them what’s going on around them, read: immediately around them. Local news has an important role in sharing notices and information about day-to-day activity in our communities that directly impacts our lives.

In times of crisis, local publishers provide timely and locally specific information to communities and contribute to community resilience and emergency preparedness. When Cyclone Jasper hit the Douglas Shire in December 2023, regional Queensland digital-only publication, Newsport, used their live blog to provide hour-by-hour emergency updates, coverage of road conditions, and other essential information about emergency services. The team of four journalists and two regular columnists continue to report on clean-up actions, repairs, and available support to help the community rebuild following the disaster. This is just one example whereby local news literally saved lives in real-time by sharing critical information.

Other newsrooms around Australia are delivering similar services to their local communities, increasingly relevant in the context of climate change driving up the occurrence of natural disasters, and other emergencies such as the COVID-19 pandemic. Local newsrooms are also key to combating mis and disinformation. Strengthened by local knowledge and connections to the communities they are embedded in, local news outlets are well-placed to identify misinformation circulating in their area, investigate and report the truth quickly and efficiently, and operate to deadlines that allow enough time for fact-checking and contextualising. For example, while heated discussion was underway last year along the coast of NSW about a proposal to build offshore wind farms off the coast of Wollongong, opponents in the community, national media, and parliament began circulating claims that wind turbines were dangerous to whales, supported by a supposed University of Tasmania study. Local independent masthead, The Illawarra Flame, investigated and found the research to be entirely fabricated, with no scientific evidence worldwide of wind farms harming whales, and were acknowledged for their commitment to fact-checking by Media Watch.

However, publishers are highly susceptible to disruptions from third-party platforms, as we are seeing unfold currently following the decision by Facebook and Instagram’s parent company, Meta, to withdraw from news deals with Australian media and remove the News Tab on Facebook. Concerns about mis and disinformation are compounded by Meta taking steps to deprioritise and potentially even remove news content from its platforms, leaving a vacuum for the uninterrupted circulation of mis and disinformation to fill. Similarly, in an age of social media and citizen bloggers, many news consumers prefer to scroll through free content online rather than subscribe to paywalled news sites or papers. Attracting regular, ongoing income is the greatest challenge most local newsrooms face when it comes to producing important public interest journalism. The concept that "news is free, but journalism isn’t" rings true from a business perspective. This has particularly impacted the media’s ability to serve diverse and regional voices. Publishers' decisions on whether to paywall content are fraught, with newsrooms torn between wanting to provide accessible services to their communities, needing to pay professional reporters, and audience capacity / willingness to pay for news content, all of which make for many sleepless nights for those trying to build sustainable news businesses.

As audiences have shifted to digital news consumption, business models sustained by advertising have weakened globally. Yet there is growing awareness and support for local news, fuelled by audience appetite for news that is relevant to their lives. The recent "Our News. Your Voice" campaign, during which 32 LINA member newsrooms around Australia called for support, raised a collective AUD$92,000 in donations from their local communities. LINA’s work is focused on providing hands-on capacity building support, training, networking, and services, and helping local and independent digital publishers with anything that may be a barrier to producing quality, public interest journalism. LINA is also encouraging the government to implement legislation to enable deductible gift recipient status for public interest journalism, facilitating the growth of a not-for-profit news sector in Australia. It is also pushing to require a portion of governments’ advertising budget at all levels to be dedicated to local news services, reaching audiences that are currently not being served with essential messaging.

The more we can help local and independent newsrooms by providing resources and support, the more time they can dedicate to reporting on the important news that keeps us all connected and isn’t being covered elsewhere. Like the concept that all politics is local, all news originates somewhere local. Our job is to help journalists uncover those stories and provide the news Australian communities are telling us they need.

'Perspectives' is a Telum Media submitted article series exploring topics related to the industry. If you would like to contribute a piece for our Perspectives series, contact [email protected]