A paradox from the COVID-19 pandemic is that demand for public interest journalism has soared at the same time as economic pressures have closed many newsrooms, in Australia and around the world.
The media statement below announces the release of a Croakey Health Media report, Profiling innovation and developments in healthy journalism: Report to Stakeholders 2018 – 2019, (download here), showing significant growth in readership and other activities.
Below the statement is an analysis demonstrating the breadth and impact of our coverage of the COVID-19 pandemic, from 28 January-1 June (download here.)
New report shows demand for healthy public interest journalism
Statement by Croakey Health Media
Demand for public interest journalism that focuses on health equity is growing strongly, suggests a new report from Croakey Health Media.
Croakey Health Media is an innovative, non-profit public interest journalism organisation that provides social journalism with a focus on health equity, the cultural and social determinants of health, and sustainability and health.
The new report, titled ‘Profiling innovation and developments in healthy journalism: Report to Stakeholders 2018 – 2019’, gives an overview of Croakey’s work over the past two years.
It documents a strong increase in readership and engagement, with Croakey.org reporting a 29 percent increase in readers between 2019 and 2018, with 290,000 visitors to the site in 2019.
Dr Janine Mohamed, Chair of Croakey Health Media, says readership has continued to grow strongly in 2020, spurred by Croakey’s in-depth, informed coverage of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“This report documents a transformative period in the history of Croakey, including our establishment as a non-profit journalism organisation,” said Dr Mohamed.
“It comes as the pandemic has intensified the crisis in public interest journalism, both in Australia and globally. Advocating for public interest journalism as a vital determinant of health is one of our key strategic priorities at Croakey.”
Dr Mohamed thanked individuals and organisations supporting Croakey at this critical time for public interest journalism.
• Download the report to stakeholders, and see the analysis of Croakey’s COVID-19 coverage.
• Please download and share the media statement.