The ACMA has released the first report in its Media Diversity Measurement Framework project. The Framework is part of the Australian Government News Media Assistance Program, helping to inform government decision-making in support of public interest journalism and media diversity in Australia.
The News media in Australia: 2025 report is the first in a biennial series reporting against the Framework, which will establish a robust long-term evidence base for measuring the diversity of Australia’s contemporary news landscape.
Media diversity and public interest journalism are integral to supporting pluralism and democracy. News plays a critical role in informing citizens, particularly in times of crisis or emergency, and promoting transparency and accountability of government and institutions.
While there is no consensus on the optimal or ‘correct’ amount of news media diversity, a comprehensive and regular assessment of levels of media diversity offers benefits to industry, government and the regulator.
The report, which is the first of its kind, examines Australia’s news market across six indicators that measure the state of diversity across professional news in Australia. It includes an accompanying interactive data report published on the ACMA website.
Insights from this first report include that:
- Australia had a total of 2,864 professional news outlets across 9 platforms in 2024.
- The number of people in Australia for whom journalism is their main job decreased by 19 per cent from 2011 to 2021.
- Free-to-air TV and news websites continue to be the most popular platforms Australians use to consume news (for the third year in a row), while social media continues to be the most popular platform for accessing news among younger Australians (aged 18 to 34).
- The ABC holds a greater share of audience attention* for Australians aged 45 and over, while Google and Meta (which includes Facebook and Instagram) each hold a greater share of audience attention for Australian adults under 45.
The report indicates that there are limitations to currently available data, which need to be addressed to allow a fuller consideration of media diversity in Australia.
The next phase of the project will involve reviewing and expanding data sources, including via the commissioning of new research to address gaps and priorities identified in the report.
* Share of attention looks at how much time a person spends accessing one news source relative to their other news sources.