Regional journalism was a hot topic at the University of South Australia Mount Gambier Campus’ recent public lecture.
The audience heard from UniSA journalism lecturer Dr Chrisanthi Giotis, who presented ‘What will Australia lose if regional journalism dies?’
Dr Giotis has a wealth of experience, with careers as a suburban local paper reporter, a regional reporter in Dubbo, deputy editor of social enterprise magazine in London, and reporter of inspiring stories from Africa.
Dr Giotis shared information about news deserts and lessons from overseas, how regional journalism forms stronger communities and overcoming stereotypes and new business models.
She also shared a case study from the Guardian which explored what happens when regional audiences train young journalists from metro areas.
Dr Giotis said she presented the public lecture in Mount Gambier due to the local news ecosystem.
“It is fantastic that Mount Gambier does have three papers and the ABC are based here, so that is a great sign for the community, and I thought it would be really interesting to get the community’s response to the research,” she said.
“I do really think it is important as researchers to make sure that we are making use of UniSA being based here in Mount Gambier and getting the community response.
“It is different talking rather than reporting, so it pushes me, especially coming into regional communities because I learnt so much as a regional reporter.”
Dr Giotis has seen the industry change over the years and believed the future of journalism was looking bright.
“I do see that journalism has an exciting future in terms of the community really starting to understand why journalism is so important, we saw that during the pandemic, the response from the community,” she said.
“I think journalism is probably heading to an exciting place, I do think that we do need to get better at reporting on how local issues impact the nation and how they impact locally, so I do think we need to get better at telling those stories to make journalism relevant going forward.”
Dr Giotis was thrilled with the response to the presentation and hoped attendees gained some key takeaways.
“I hope they understood why local newspapers are so important, not just in terms of how they appeal, but actual statistics, which show that when newspapers are not there, governments perform poorly, the community loses trust,” she said.
“I also hope they took away a feeling of responsibility, they also are caretakers fork the newspaper and for then local media, the local journalism environment, so they should think about what can be done to make sure they thrive.
“I am really grateful to see that people are interested in hearing about this topic and I hope people will respond to the government enquiries going on about regional journalism and keep pushing for quality regional journalism.”
