Australian News Sampling Project - 2023 Report

In the 2012 report of the Independent Inquiry into the Media and Media Regulation, the authors acknowledge that there is “almost unanimous agreement on the importance of a free press for the vitality of democracy”.2 This is because uncensored, diverse and reliable journalism allows citizens to make well-informed decisions, which contribute to ‘healthy’ politics and life.3 Recognition of public int. [...] show that the closure of The Ridge News resulted in a loss of community identity and the loosening of the social fabric, with citizens feeling denied the possibility to undertake civic actions and participate in the town’s political and social activities. [...] In focus groups, community members lamented the loss of a ‘single source’ of information about their community, and noted that other sources that emerged to replace the newspaper – listservs established by the local school and a community arts organisation, a newsletter from the chamber of commerce, expanded efforts by a newspaper in a nearby city, a digital news startup – led to piecemeal coverag. [...] Descriptive variables are akin to article metadata: the outlet that published the article, the date it was published, the title of the article, the body text of the article, and a preliminary assessment of the type of content (News, Audience, Opinion), whether it appears to be reported content, whether it is promotional content, and whether the content has been syndicated from another source. [...] Content variables answer the research questions and are concerned with the subject(s) of the article, whether the article could be considered part of a larger, ongoing discourse (such as an election or natural disaster), the scale(s) at which the stories take place, and the local government area(s), region and state or territory in which the story takes place.