Australian Community Media’s mastheads include The Canberra Times, The Newcastle Herald, The Border Mail (in Albury), The Illawarra Mercury (in Wollongong), The Ballarat Courier, The Examiner (in Launceston) and the Bendigo Advertiser.
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The sale of Australian Community Media may signal better fortunes for regional publishing. But there are ongoing concerns about the viability of the local news business model.
Newcastle, Australia’s second-biggest non-capital city. Research confirms just how important a local newspaper is to a local community.
Darren Pateman/AAP
What does the Nine Fairfax merger mean for diversity and quality journalism?
Eric Beecher of Private Media, Stephen Mayne of the Mayne Report and ABC finance presenter Alan Kohler join Andrew Dodd and Andrea Carson to discuss what the Nine Fairfax merger means for quality journalism.
The Sydney Morning Herald’s Kate McClymont is one of Australia’s leading investigative journalists. Under the Fairfax-Nine merger, how well will work like hers be supported?
AAP/Dean Lewins
Fairfax Media has a long and highly successful history in investigative journalism, which may be at risk if the company merges with the Nine Network.
Only the competition regulator stands in the way of further media concentration in Australia, but few expect the first of probably a number of mergers to be blocked.
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Australian media ownership is already among the most concentrated in the world, but if the competition regulator approves the Nine-Fairfax deal, expect the race for survival to produce more mergers.
Two companies with very different histories and cultures will now be forced to work together in search of efficiencies and revenue in a brutal media landscape.
There is a huge question mark over the future editorial quality of the newspapers after the merger.
AAP/Joel Carrett
The recommendations of the Senate inquiry into the future of public interest journalism are unlikely to get much traction, but the very real issues it was investigating remain unresolved.
Public interest reporting is often equated with watchdog or investigative reporting. But it can include other factual stories that serve the public interest.
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Public interest journalism exposes corruption and wrongdoers, and holds the powerful to account. But it is increasingly under threat, and we need to find ways to protect it.
Staff from The Age protest Fairfax Media cuts in May.
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Imposing local content levies on Facebook and Google to help fund public interest journalism would take Australia towards a more European model of media regulation.
Culture depends on the conversations between artists and critics, audiences and researchers.
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As the federal government looks to reform media ownership laws, the Australian media environment – in diversity and stability – is looking decidedly shaky.
With every round of redundancies, significant questions arise around the long-term viability of mainstream news media in Australia.
AAP/David Moir
David Leyonhjelm’s complaint over being called an ‘angry white male’ could showcase the difficulty in launching a successful action under Section 18C and undermine an argument in support of repeal.
Chinese propaganda arms are offering tempting commercial arrangements.
Reuters/Damir Sagolj