AUSTRALIAN REGIONAL JOURNALISTS: WHAT THEY NEED AND HOW THEY SEE THE FUTURE • Caroline Fisher • Sora Park • Saffron Howden • Jee Young Lee • Kieran McGuinness This Report was supported by Google News Initiative. The project received ethics approval from University of Canberra Human Ethics Committee (No. 2203) For further information, please contact: Caroline Fisher, [email protected] Published by the News & Media Research Centre, Canberra, Australia. ISBN: Electronic (978-1-74088-495-2) DOI: http://doi.org/10.25916/5ef96413ef837 Australian regional journalists: What they need and how they see the future is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non-Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 International License. CONTENTS THE AUTHORS 5 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY 6 Key findings 6 INTRODUCTION 8 Number of regional journalists in Australia 9 Number of regional newspapers 9 METHOD AND DATA 10 The survey 10 The interviews 11 THE ROLE OF REGIONAL JOURNALISTS 12 Connection to community 12 Serving the community 13 Advocating for the local community 14 EMPLOYMENT 16 Type of work 16 Moving for current work 18 Job satisfaction 18 Overworked & underpaid 20 Mental health & wellbeing 21 PROFESSIONAL PRACTICE 22 Reporting responsibilities 22 Time spent on reporting 24 Confidence in using digital technology 26 Mixed views about social media 26 TRAINING AND SKILLS 28 Important skills for a regional reporter 28 Training needs 32 Delivery of training 34 CHANGES AND CHALLENGES 35 Changes 35 Challenges 37 Solutions 39 More resources 39 More recognition and acknowledgement from city-based leadership 39 THE FUTURE 40 Difference in perspective: Independent and Large Media Organisations 41 Optimism about the future 41 Concerns about the future 41 Learning from independent news organisations: Connecting to the community 42 CONCLUSION 43 Discussion: Ways forward 44 REFERENCES 45 4 AUSTRALIAN REGIONAL JOURNALISTS: WHAT THEY NEED AND HOW THEY SEE THE FUTURE LIST OF TABLES Table 1 Respondent characteristics 11 Table 2 Type of media organisation 11 Table 3 Obstacles that affect the job (open-ended responses) 37 LIST OF FIGURES Figure 1 Role of regional journalists 14 Figure 2 Role of regional journalists by medium 14 Figure 3 Role of regional journalism by type of organisation 15 Figure 4 Role of regional journalists by length of employment 15 Figure 5 Position of respondents 16 Figure 6 Employment by gender 17 Figure 7 Employment by type of organisation 17 Figure 8 Age distribution by type of organisation 17 Figure 9 Moved for current job by age group 18 Figure 10 Moved for current job by medium 18 Figure 11 Moved for current job by type of organisation 18 Figure 12 Job satisfaction 18 Figure 13 Job satisfaction by age group 19 Figure 14 Job satisfaction by length of employment 19 Figure 15 Job satisfaction by type of organisation 19 Figure 16 Job satisfaction by media 19 Figure 17 Topics of reporting 22 Figure 18 Topics by gender 23 Figure 19 Topics by age group 23 Figure 20 Topics responsible for reporting by length of employment 23 Figure 21 Topics by media 24 Figure 22 Topics by type of organisation 24 Figure 23 Average number of stories per day 25 Figure 24 Time spent producing one story (hours) 25 Figure 25 Time spent online and social media per day (hours) 25 Figure 26 Levels of digital confidence 26 Figure 27 Important skills for regional journalists 29 Figure 28 Important skills by age group 29 Figure 29 Important skills by type of organisation 29 Figure 30 Important skills by media 30 Figure 31 Training in the past year by years of experience 30 Figure 32 Training received in the past 12 months 31 Figure 33 Training activities in the past year by experience 31 Figure 34 Training activities in the past year by media 32 Figure 35 Training needs for the future 32 Figure 36 Training needs by experience 33 Figure 37 Training needs for the future by media 33 Figure 38 Changes in journalism in the past five years 35 Figure 39 Most influential changes in the past five years 36 Figure 40 Strengthened influence by type of organisation 36 Figure 41 Strengthened influence by media 37 Figure 42 Obstacles in work by experience 38 Figure 43 Perceived obstacles by media 38 5 THE AUTHORS Caroline Fisher is Deputy Director of the News and Media Research Centre, Associate Professor of Journalism in the Faculty of Arts & Design, University of Canberra and co-leader of the Digital News Report: Australia project. Sora Park is the Associate Dean of Research for the Faculty of Arts & Design and Professor of Communication at the University of Canberra. Her research focuses on digital media users, media markets and media policy. She is the Leader of the Digital News Report: Australia project. Jee Young Lee is the Digital News Report Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the News & Media Research Centre and Lecturer at the Faculty of Arts & Design, University of Canberra. Her research focuses on digital inclusion practices and policies, particularly for emerging digitally excluded social groups and the growing digital media consumption in emerging markets. Kieran McGuinness is a Research Associate for the Digital News Report project. He is a current PhD candidate with the News & Media Research Centre. His research looks at defence journalism and the role of the news media in shaping political discourses of military planning and procurement. Saffron Howden is a journalist, independent researcher, former trainer with the Google News Initiative, and editor of Crinkling News. NEWS & MEDIA RESEARCH CENTRE The N&MRC researches digital news consumption and the impacts of digital technology on journalism, politics and society. Our research occurs in three hubs: the Digital News+ Lab; Critical Conversations Lab; and the Media Cultures Lab. The Centre conducts both critical and applied research projects with partners and institutions in Australia and internationally. More information at: www.canberra.edu.au/nmrc EXECUTIVE SUMMARY The contraction of news services in regional Australia over the past decade has led to increasing concern about the future of journalism in Regional Australia. This has been heightened by the This study focusses on economic impacts of the COVID-19 outbreak. regional journalists across the country, The health crisis has hastened the decline of already vulnerable news outlets. While audiences have what they need to keep increasingly turned to news for information about the spread of the virus, the rapid withdrawal of serving their local advertising resulted the closure or suspension of many local news outlets. Since 2019, it is estimated communities, and how more than 200 local and regional news services have temporarily or permanently shut down. they see the future. While we can’t predict how well the regional news industry will recover, we do know that reliable local news in times of emergency is essential. The dedicated reporters in regional newsrooms will need more support than ever to meet the needs of their communities in a time of ongoing transition and uncertainty. There have been government and industry programmes developed to assist regional journalism, but the voices of practitioners are often missing from the debate. The central aim of this study was to find out what regional journalists themselves need to keep serving their communities and how they see the future. This report is based on a survey of 307 regional journalists working TV, radio, print and online, and 31 in-depth interviews. The research was conducted prior to the outbreak of COVID-19. KEY FINDINGS Regional journalists are very busy multitaskers who work across a range of platforms, roles and stories. The majority are in full-time employment (86%), but female journalists and those working for independent local outlets are more likely to be part-time. STRONG CONNECTION TO COMMUNITY Regional journalists feel they have a closer connection to the community they report on, than journalists in the city. Journalists working for local independent news outlets are more likely to see themselves as EXECUTIVE SUMMARY 7 advocates for their local community. They are There is also high demand for support in workload to be critical obstacles. For junior committed to serving their communities and general journalism practice (writing, headlines, journalists it was the lack of time. The most find it satisfying. Those who work for larger building contacts) and more specialist urgent issue to be resolved is increasing the news organisations were less likely to see reporting skills (court reporting, data journalism, resources for news production whether in the themselves as champions of local community investigative, FOI). There is also big demand form of new public funding, reallocating existing who advocate for change, whereas print and for audio, video and photography skills and resources or increasing advertising revenue. online journalists were much more likely to media law. Senior journalists with 10+ years’ embrace this role. Female journalists were much experience want digital skills training (28%) the • HEAVY WORKLOADS more likely to see themselves as community most. Mid-career journalists with 5-10 years’ advocates than male. experience feel the need for audio/video skills While they enjoy the work of journalism, many (19%) and digital skills (19%). Junior journalists feel overworked and find it hard to strike a work- IMPACT OF SOCIAL MEDIA most wanted audio/video skills training (16%) life balance. On average they are expected to and to a lesser degree, digital skills (14%). produce around 6 stories a day (median is 5 Over the past five years, social media was Leadership and management skills were also stories a day), but during major events, such as nominated by 95% of these regional journalists regarded as important especially among mid- bushfires, the demand is much higher. as the biggest change to their work, followed by career journalists. While journalists identified the need for more visual content.