Deakin University has partnered with Australia's national broadcaster to explore new ways to support local news sustainability.
The three-year Deakin-led Australian Research Council study will determine how the ABC can best develop partnerships and collaborations with regional news outlets to support public interest journalism.
It 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.
The research comes at a time of declining local media coverage in regional and rural Australia and is supported by Griffith University.
Lead investigator Professor Kristy Hess, of Deakin's School of Communication and Creative Arts, said rural and regional communities wanted and deserved access to reliable, original and quality local news and information.
"We need to look at what existing media infrastructure and service provisions are out there and determine whether there is an appetite to work together to support especially vulnerable areas of the ecology," she said.
"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."
ABC News Strategy Research Lead, Dr Angela Ross, said 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," Dr Ross said.
She added the ABC had been able to fill some of the local news gaps with around 60 additional journalist roles placed in regional locations through funding from commercial agreements signed with Google and Facebook in 2021.
"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," Dr Ross said.
"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."
The research team 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 led by Professor Hess and supported by Professor Matthew Ricketson (Deakin University), Professor Susan Forde (Griffith University), Dr Ross and ABC Victorian regional editor Hugh Martin, 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).
