This inquiry was initiated to look into the current state of public interest journalism in Australia and globally, to consider what the role government should play in assisting the sector in meeting the challenges and capitalising on the opportunities of the digital age.

As news organisations battle charges of 'fake news' and face low levels of trust from a skeptical public, this study suggests that news outlets still play the largest role in content that gets shared on Twitter, at least when it comes to one contentious issue in the news - immigration.

Australia's media market has long been under pressure and now the only national children's newspaper, Crinkling News, has printed its last edition.

Amid the changing informational landscape, media trust in the U.S. has been eroding, making it harder for the news media to fulfill their democratic responsibilities of informing the public and holding government leaders accountable.

Publics around the world overwhelmingly agree that the news media should be unbiased in their coverage of political issues, according to this Pew Research Center survey of 38 countries.