Submission to the Select Committee on the Future of Public Interest Journalism, Submission 44

Abstract

We argue that it is essential for government to study the impacts of social media news consumption and loss of public interest journalism on media diversity before it moves to enact changes to legislation than may reduce diversity or measures to support journalism that may not target the forms of reporting that are most lacking. Further, we will also argue that is essential for government to understand the consequences of further local media consolidation for employment in the sector. With these two considerations in mind we will recommend research into how changes to digital news consumption and production are affecting local source and content diversity, as well as the size and composition of the media workforce.