News Media Assistance Program (News MAP) - Submission to the Department of Infrastructure,

News Media Assistance Program (News MAP) Submission to the Department of Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development, Communications and the Arts Thursday 28 March 2024 Introduction The Public Interest Journalism Initiative (PIJI) welcomes the opportunity to make this submission to the Department of Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development, Communications and the Arts’ consultation on t. [...] In preparing the following comments, PIJI is guided by the key defining principles that inform all our work: to act in the public interest; to ensure plurality of news production and neutrality of support; and to be independent, practical and evidence-based in consideration of any option. [...] Such an approach also provides policy consistency and harmonisation to the NMBC legislation, to the accompanying ACMA registration of news outlets for the purposes of the Code and to other recent short-term interventions such as the Department’s 2022 Regional and Local Newspaper Publishers (RLNP) program. [...] 5.2.4 Jobs and skills In seeking the recognition of ‘public interest journalism’ in charities and taxation law, based on its use as a public good, it may also be prudent to consider the inclusion of a similar definition for the purposes of jobs and skills development, and which can be targeted to markets of news undersupply, such as regional and rural Australia. [...] PIJI supports this approach, and strongly believes that staff tasked with overseeing the operation and output of Gen AI tools should be properly trained in the technical fundamentals of the technology to ensure the integrity of the output of this public good, as distinct from other information sources.