So there’s some good news, and there is some dangerous news.
The good news is extra Australians than ever earlier than are paying for digital media subscriptions.
But the dangerous news is girls’s curiosity has fallen to the purpose the place Australia has the widest gender hole on the planet.
The ninth annual Digital News Report for Australia surveyed 2025 folks between January 10 and February 12.
One in 5 Australians pay for news and those that do pay are rising the variety of retailers to which they subscribe.
Australia is without doubt one of the high nations on the planet for paid news subscriptions.
Consumers stated the highest motive is for entry to larger high quality tales, comfort and a want to fund good journalism.
Australians additionally confirmed robust help for public service media such because the ABC and SBS, with 60 per cent of respondents recognising their significance, valuing it greater than audiences for comparable publicly funded retailers in Canada and the United Kingdom.
General belief in Australian news grew by two proportion factors to 43 per cent.
But challenges stay, with the survey discovering the worldwide cost-of-living disaster is affecting news consumption – and Australians are cautious of algorithms and news personalisation.
There remains to be a big proportion of Australians who keep away from news and there was a drop within the general stage of curiosity.
Almost one in three news avoiders say they’re checking news much less usually or scrolling previous it.
The drawback is worse with girls, whose curiosity in news has fallen to a file 43 per cent, dropping six proportion factors from 2022.
The Ukraine struggle, cost-of-living pressures, rate of interest rises and the federal election had been key components within the drop and they’re much less seemingly than males to seek out finance and economics news straightforward to grasp.
Gen Z, or these aged 18 to 25, proceed to be a problem for mainstream retailers to succeed in and the most well-liked social media platforms for them to get news from are Instagram or TikTok.
Many folks advised the survey they wished constructive news, significantly these individuals who don’t pay for news.
Solutions Journalism Network co-founder Tina Rosenberg believes a turnaround may lie in reporting on the way to resolve the issues which are usually the bread and butter of news protection.
“Solutions journalism can provide a sense of power and hope that positive news can’t,” she stated.
“It covers responses to our problems that are systemic, not individual – and therefore, offer real paths forward.
“Solutions journalism is a method to re-engage our communities within the news, whereas telling needed truths concerning the world.”
The Digital News Report is part of a long-running international survey coordinated by the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism at Oxford University.
The News and Media Research Centre on the University of Canberra is the Australian companion institute.
Source: www.perthnow.com.au
