As you may remember, Croakey recently issued an urgent call for support, as part of a collective fundraising campaign organised by the Local and Independent News Association (LINA).
This was the first such campaign from LINA, which matched donations to 33 publications that participated in the campaign.
Altogether Croakey received donations from 48 people during the week-long campaign. After receiving the matched funding from LINA, we raised a total of $10,308.
This is making a real difference in helping us to meet operating expenses as a not-for-profit public interest journalism organisation. We extend our warm thanks and appreciation to all donors, as well as those organisations and individuals who support our work on an ongoing basis.
Going forward, however, the viability of many local and independent media organisations is under threat. At the same time, many mainstream media organisations are cutting back on journalism.
This is a crisis for democracy, public health and the right of communities to be informed about the matters that affect our lives and wellbeing.
We encourage our readers and supporters to engage actively in media policy debates; you can read some of our policy submissions here.
Media policy is too important to be left to media organisations; the wider engagement of civil society, including the health sector, is critical.
On that note, Croakey was pleased to recently participate in a COVID-19 Response Inquiry roundtable meeting on the news media and information environment – see a summary of the discussions.
Some of the takeaway messages noted by the inquiry include:
“We need to ensure that we still have trusted and independent sources of information for the next pandemic, including a strong network of community-responsive media outlets.
“The Australian Government must consider the broader information environment to understand how it affects access to trusted, sustainable, and reliable information during a pandemic that is critical for social cohesion.
“When COVID-19 occurred, the media landscape was already changing – significant decline in newsrooms, ongoing concerns about media diversity, ‘news deserts’ resulting in a lack of regional and local news, and expansion of digital platforms.”
Some wider context
We’d also like to give a shout-out to our readers, who persist with us and our focus on issues that can often seem overwhelming and insurmountable (unlike many media organisations, our editorial decision-making is not driven by analytics).
At a time of wide-ranging existential threats to our health and wellbeing, now is not the time to look away; we appreciate your engagement and commitment.
The latest stocktake of digital news trends in Australia reminds us of the importance of nurturing civic engagement and participation, as well as evidence-informed debate.
The Digital News Report: Australia 2024, produced by the News and Media Research Centre at the University of Canberra, is based on an online survey conducted between 10 January and 7 February 2024, involving 530,682 adult Australians.
It’s important to note that the sample under-represents the consumption habits of people who are not online (typically older, less affluent, regional residents, and with limited formal education). Also, the survey was conducted in English and does not represent the linguistic diversity of Australia.
Key findings include that:
- Concern about misinformation has increased, from 64 percent in 2022 to 75 percent this year. This is well above the global average (54 percent).
- Distrust in news has increased by eight percentage points since 2016, while trust in news has fallen three percentage points.
- In 2016, 64 percent of Australians had high interest in news but now only 54 percent say they do.
- News avoidance remain high (68 percent) along with news fatigue (41 percent).
- Only 23 percent of Gen Z women say they are very interested in news, compared to 47 percent of Gen Z men. This growing divide is a sign that young women are finding mainstream news less and less relevant.
- One in four Australians (25 percent) now say their main source of news is social media, compared to 18 percent in 2016. One in ten (11 percent) use only social media to get their news.
- Facebook (32 percent), YouTube (26 percent) and Instagram (16 percent) are the top social media platforms for news among Australians.
- Instagram is now the top social media platform for news among Gen Z (34 percent).
- Newspapers remain an important source of news only among those highly educated. Only 17 percent say they read newspapers.
- A portion of the community consumes very little or no news (seven percent in Australia and 4.4 percent globally).
The report examines the use of artificial intelligence (AI) by media organisations, and also finds low levels of awareness about AI amongst people who do not consume news.
“In a year when half of the world is having elections, it is critically important that voters are aware of AI and its impact on the information they receive,” say the researchers.
On a final note, if you’d like to find out more about ways to engage with Croakey, check out this page detailing our journalism services and Croakey Professional Services.
See Croakey Health Media’s policy submissions
