Australia's news industry is under increasing pressure. It is fragmented, under-resourced, and struggling to adapt to a high-choice online environment where digital platforms such as Meta and Google dominate the advertising market, and audience attention has shifted to these platforms.

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Since 2011, the number of journalists in Australia has dropped by 19 per cent, with the print sector suffering the most with a 49 per cent reduction to its workforce.

Where there are gaps in quality news provision, misinformation rapidly fills the void. The public's concern is at its highest level in recent years, with Australians among the most concerned globally. This raises existential questions about the role of journalism in society.

To date, we have considered journalism through a narrow lens of market viability. Whenever there is a redundancy in a news organisation, we simply regard it as another casualty of a disrupted sector.

Maybe we have been looking at this the wrong way. Journalism is not another industry struggling to adapt to the digital environment.

Rather, it is a fundamental cultural good, similar to education or libraries, that society needs to support for its broader benefits. It informs the public by providing factual and verified information, gives people the confidence to participate in society, and fosters social cohesion.

The ongoing contractions in the workforce have created precarity among those who remain, particularly in areas where resources were already limited.

Regional newsrooms are facing greater difficulty attracting and retaining journalists due to lower salaries, fewer full-time opportunities and limited career pathways.

Yet these outlets play an essential civic role, providing trusted local reporting on councils, community issues and public affairs for highly engaged audiences.

The census data reveals that journalists in the "not elsewhere classified (nec)" or "not further defined (nfd)" categories comprise 36 per cent of the workforce. These groups are emerging occupations........

© Canberra Times