Journalism is facing systemic pressures that threaten Australians’ access to quality, public interest reporting, and further consolidate control over production and distribution of news in an already concentrated sector. At the same time, government intervention can risk undermining press freedom and editorial independence essential to the role played by journalists.

This policy framework, informed by public consultation feedback, identifies the Australian Government’s policy objectives for news and journalism. The framework aims to foster a common understanding of the policy challenges, public interest, and the roles of government, industry, academia and civil society. It also aims to ensure that future policy interventions for news and journalism are developed to address clear policy objectives and are based on the best available evidence. 

This framework:

• sets out the role of the Australian Government
• details policy objectives for the Commonwealth in relation to public interest journalism
• outlines principles to guide the practical implementation of these objectives in public policy
• provides a consistent reference point for policy development and public discourse, including key terms, and
• explains next steps for the development of the framework, evidence base and policy.