"Across our combined research, we found a common thread—that audiences want more engagement with news and the ability to engage with each other through news media platforms. The future of local news will depend on finding new ways—and rediscovering tried and traditional approaches—to reach and engage audiences in the digital age, while securing sustainable funding needed to support quality journalism. At the heart of this challenge, we found the three
Cs—community, commitment, and continuity—to be a useful frame. By working collaboratively with local communities, delivering relatable news, and maintaining a close connection to local issues, news providers can strengthen audience trust, engagement and long-term organisational sustainability. The key takeaways across our combined research include:
1 Diversifying news formats: Audiences appreciate a variety of news formats, especially those that resonate with their connection to the community. Simply republishing content on an outlet’s website from the print edition isn’t making use of the affordances of different channels to best engage audiences across different demographic cohorts.
2 Co-creation of news: It is also important to leverage the willingness of community members to participate in the production of news. Participatory approaches,
including arts-based methods such as photo voice activities and poetry competitions, can play an important role in this process. These activities can engage different demographic cohorts to identify the topics that are relevant to them and that they want to discuss with the community (for examples of participatory approaches, please see Sampler of engaged journalism approaches on page 11)
3 Paying and sharing: News paywalls are considered as one of the key barriers to accessing quality news among many Australians. Knowing this, many are willing to share content that they purchased with others. Some are willing to pay so that others can access news for free. Others—what might be termed ‘latent’ news audiences—indicate they would be more engaged with news content if it was available free.
4 Relational trust: Trust, legitimacy and the reputation of local news providers develops through ongoing relationships and a shared sense of place along with the belief that journalists have the community’s best interests at heart. We have termed these ideas as ‘relational trust’, ‘mediated social capital’ and ‘news presence’.
Local journalists are often part of the community they cover, reporting on issues that directly affect residents’ daily lives, with a shared sense of identity.
5 Social media undermine trust: There is also growing concern that social media are becoming an increasingly toxic environment and a breeding ground for misinformation, leaving many people without access to trusted, reliable local news and information.
6 Local media are about community connection: Local and national news organisations are responding to digital transformation in different ways. National media tend to prioritise scale and reach, using multi-platform distribution, audience analytics and diversified content strategies to serve increasingly fragmented audiences. Local media—especially place-based news providers—tend to prioritise relevance, focusing on community connections, hyperlocal content and building
audience trust.
7 Revenue diversification: To ensure access to news for all, news organisations may need to diversify their revenue models. Local journalism can be supported through a mix of subscriptions, advertising, philanthropy and public funding. There is also growing potential to harness the goodwill and local knowledge among members of the community and organisations through participatory models. By engaging audiences not just as consumers, but as stakeholders, local news
can strengthen both its financial sustainability and its connection to the communities it serves." (Key findings and focus areas, pages 8-9)