In this submission to the House of Representatives inquiry into regional Australian newspapers, MEAA says local public interest journalism must be seen as an indispensable part of a community's civic infrastructure - in all communities.
Regional and rural communities, in particular, are being progressively denied local public interest journalism for the reasons set out in this submission. The tide must be turned so that communities are adequately informed and can contribute to local debates and decisions.
The time has well and truly arrived that Federal Government takes concrete steps to sustain local public interest journalism by embracing the need for multi-year, arms' length funding that is tied to the production of local content. Anything less will foster a continuation of the progressive decline of regional journalism.
