Australian News Data Report - Monthly issue

The planned redevelopment of a public oval and recreational facilities by the Barossa Council, a nearby local government area to the sampled region, was covered by The Bunyip and The Leader. [...] A major issue across the month was the proposed redevelopment of the Crown & Anchor, a city pub, and the balance between protecting a cultural institution in Adelaide and the need allow development of sought-after locations. [...] At the public broadcaster, this was partly due to a number of court appearances and crimes being the subject of ongoing coverage, such as an accomplice of the Snowtown murders being released from jail, the alleged murder of a 21-year-old man in the City of Charles Sturt, and a court case involving a former newspaper deputy editor injured by a speeding car. [...] The data also flattens the complexity of what is gained and lost by not having any assessment of the output, institutional characteristics or content of the news companies: the closure of a newspaper with ten working journalists appears equivalent to the opening of a website of one. [...] A news media ecosystem in which many news entrepreneurs had the confidence and the capital to establish organisations and outlets, the majority of which might fail, could be a healthy environment of public interest journalism production and competition but might appear in our data like a failing system due to the high number of closures.