A new report from the University of Canberra (UC) and RMIT University, which encompassed multiple studies, has found local news organisations risk becoming irrelevant if they don’t adapt to their audiences’ shifting habits.
Recommendations from the report include placing audiences at the centre of the local news ecosystem, as being informed on local issues is one of the strongest predictors of community wellbeing and civic participation.
Researchers surveyed audiences, analysed more than 3,000 news stories and interviewed more than 200 people from regional communities across the country. It investigates the gap between journalistic norms and audiences’ perception and confirmed a void in the provision of local news able to serve the local community.
It also found that the shift to digital in regional news has enabled a unique news ecosystem where audiences are actively engaged in news through digital platforms, especially using visual formats.
Report lead author and Director of UC’s News and Media Research Centre, Professor Sora Park told the National Tribune:
“The Australian regional audience profile is shifting. Regional audiences want more hyperlocal news, human-interest stories and practical information like weather and local events.
Local communities are finding ways to produce news themselves to fill information gaps relevant to their needs.
If news organisations invest in local news topics and formats that resonate with audiences, they stand to better serve their communities.
People trust local news because journalists have local knowledge and tell locally relevant stories.
This is usually because the journalists live in, understand and care about the communities they’re reporting on.”
The full report can be read here: https://apo.org.au/node/331538
New UC and RMIT University report looks at local news around Australia and recommendations for its survival
This is why Australian radio should adopt and rollout Digital Radio Mondiale. Unlike DAB+ digital radio used in our metro areas it can cover the area used by AM broadcasters. DAB+ and DRM can both provide Journaline® which can provide live indexed stories including colour images and text ie an electronic newspaper from that broadcaster, in addition to emergency announcements only to affected areas, leaving normal programming to continue.
This means a radio in vehicles and elsewhere can receive reliable signals complete with stereo sound. China has just adopted DRM for domestic vehicle production and it is in most Indian new cars.