How have changes in Australia's newspaper industry shaped their content?

Embargoed until: Publicly released: 2025-01-06 15:30

VIC

What does this mean?

Jump to: MultimediaAttachmentsExpert Reaction

Major takeovers of newspapers across the Australian media landscape have come with changes in political slant on the news stand, according to Australian research. The researchers analysed how three major acquisitions influenced Australian newspaper content over recent years; News Corp's 2016 acquisition of a set of regional newspapers, Nine Entertainment's merge with Fairfax and their subsequent sale of Australian Community Media. Using transcripts of parliamentary speeches, the researchers developed a system to measure political slant in news text, and say according to that system, the acquisitions were linked to shifts in slant of different natures. The News Corp acquisition was linked to a conservative shift in papers it already owned but not its new papers, the researchers say, while both Nine's acquisition of Fairfax and the sale of Australian Community Media were linked to shifts away from conservative slants in papers that changed ownership. The researchers say their results are evidence of how media ownership can influence news content.