Good news for local journalism

The Our News, Your Voice fundraising drive was spearheaded by the not-for-profit Local & Independent News Association (LINA).

The week-long campaign which ended on Sunday, brought together 52 digital news outlets across the nation in a collective effort to secure community support for grassroots journalism.

LINA executive director Claire Stuchbery said the cash would be used to produce public interest journalism for communities.

“LINA member newsrooms report more than 2,400 stories each week that would otherwise go untold, and this money helps resource journalists to cover those stories,” she said.

A similar campaign last year raised $184,000 for 32 newsrooms after attracting more than 941 individual donations and matched funds.

Stuchbery said the fundraising campaign was particularly timely given the federal election campaign, which LINA members played an important role reporting on.

“While it’s important for people to know what’s happening at a national and state-wide level in politics and in other aspects of life, we all need to vote in our own electorates,” she said.

“Local news services have been instrumental in helping voters understand the options on the ballot paper they complete.”

Stuchbery said newsrooms worked hard during the election campaign running meet-the-candidate stories and reporting on the issues that were front-of-mind for people in their communities.

This included amplifying voter concerns to a wider audience and alerting voters on where they could get a democracy sausage at the polling booth.

“Creating a public forum for transparent and accountable reporting on candidates in each electorate is essential to voters making informed choices, so it really strengthens our democracy and civic engagement.”

Stutchbery agreed that in today’s polarised post-truth world, support for independent community journalism is more important now than it's ever been.

“In a world where it’s becoming increasingly difficult to navigate through mis- and disinformation, providing news that meets professional editorial standards, produced by journalists who are embedded in the communities they serve means we have access to reliable, accurate and timely information - particularly in the many areas across Australia where there is only one source of local news.”

LINA’s membership has grown to include newsrooms in all states and territories across Australia, publishing public interest journalism and meeting high editorial standards for fairness, independence, and accountability.

Stuchbery described these newsrooms as the “green shoots” of an industry in crisis. 

“The news industry has been struggling through a period of transition for years now and we’re starting to see independent newsrooms emerge to fill gaps in information for local communities, along with print news services expanding their distribution channels to meet audience demand in digital spaces,” she said.

Stuchbery said many of these news services were started by community-minded individuals who identified ‘news deserts’ in their local areas, which were lacking timely, verified information during emergencies, accountability from local authorities, and a record of events to bring the community together.

“They reflect the communities we live in,” she said.