This report examines how best to provide regional media with the resources it needs to produce quality public interest journalism, and, with that journalism, to establish links to metropolitan media, so that all Australians have a sense of what the significant issues facing regional dwellers are and how they can best be tackled by policymakers.

In the second of their regional media reports, the Centre for Media Transition has been examining the flow of narratives between metro and regional news media on important policy discussions.

This report is the first of three over as many years investigating the impact of contraction of regional media in New South Wales on metro coverage of news and issues significant to Australia which originate in non-urban areas.

The Australian government has released this media policy statement, which outlines a range of measures to progress reforms to the media sector. The statement represents the government’s response to the reform green paper process that was initiated in late 2020.

This paper was commissioned by the Page Research Centre in August 2021 to evaluate and analyse whether regional Australians are satisfied with, and believe they are getting full value from, the programmes and services of the Sydney-headquartered Australian Broadcasting Corporation.