News

Towards Sustainability of Rural & Regional Media

In September 2021 the VFFF Board granted $1.4 million over 3 years to The Centre for Media Transition (UTS) in partnership with the Guardian Australia (GA) to support the development of a rural and regional media network and, in parallel, undertake research on post-philanthropic business models to support and sustain commercially viable news media enterprises in rural and regional Australia.

Sadly, regional media has been in decline for some time and the role of journalism to uncover, oversee and be a voice in rural and regional communities is being damaged by the problems in identifying viable business models for rural and regional news. How to make it sustainable is a burning issue in the sector.

Over the course of the three year grant, the GA Rural Network was established and included building a network of freelance journalists and launching the careers of five young UTS graduate journalists in newsrooms of independent regional mastheads in QLD (Burdekin/Townsville and Warwick) and NSW (Gilgandra, Deniliquin and Cowra). The team has published over 670 articles covering biosecurity, environment, health, crime, social issues and energy. The Network’s success was celebrated through winning a Young Walkley Award and several National Rural Press Club Awards. VFFF are pleased to see that the Network remains in operation post VFFF funding and continues to play a role in elevating the stories of Australia’s rural communities.

Across the same 3-year period, The Centre for Media Transition (CMT) Rural News Media team at UTS conducted detailed research, producing three reports including reflections from the UTS graduate journalists placed in the GA Rural Network team. The research surveyed the flow of regional news into metro news outlets, as well as seeking out regional news start-ups to examine how difficult the environment is for them. CMT examined post-philanthropic models (globally) to provide regional media with the resources to produce quality public interest journalism and inform relevant policy makers.

The reports, which make for fascinating reading, can be found here.

CMT has completed three years of research which we hope will pave the way for deeper collaboration between regional and metro news markets. The GA rural and regional editor/s also built a network of freelancers, employing the GA “hub-and-spoke” model, which will underpin GA reporting beyond the project. The continued decline of regional media has given us a clear focus going forward in reporting rural and regional stories, allowing us to identify gaps in the national conversation. As a result of the lessons learned over the course of the funding we are well prepared to continue delivering news on rural and regional issues to national and international audiences. CMT will socialise its prototypes for renewed and reinvigorated regional coverage and test them against the commercial and editorial realities in the coming years”.

Joint statement CMT and Guardian Australia