We have developed the Media Diversity Measurement Framework to monitor the state of the Australian news market and measure levels of diversity across Australia’s news media landscape in relation to:
- source diversity – the extent to which news media markets are populated by a diverse array of content producers and publishers
- content diversity – the extent to which news presents different voices, viewpoints, and demographic profiles
- exposure diversity – the extent to which audiences consume a diverse array of news.
As part of the government’s News Media Assistance Program, the Framework will provide a robust long-term evidence base to help inform government decision making in support of public interest journalism and media diversity in Australia.
The ACMA will report against the Framework through the biennial News media in Australia series. This ongoing series will provide an opportunity to examine and update the Framework and identify new sources of data and research, giving us a more comprehensive picture of news media diversity in Australia over time.
Development of the Framework
The Framework originated from research we first undertook and published in 2020 and was informed by a public consultation process undertaken in early 2023.
In August 2023, we provided advice to the government on the outcomes of its public consultation and made a series of recommendations on how it could implement the Framework, which the government accepted on 12 December 2023.
In 2024, we refined the scope of the Framework and key parameters following stakeholder consultation. In February 2025 we published the first report against the Framework, the News media in Australia: 2025 report.
Resources
Read the first report under the Framework: News media in Australia: 2025 report
Read our 2023 paper: A new framework for measuring media diversity in Australia
Read the ACMA’s consultation paper and public submissions
Read the ACMA’s original 2020 paper News in Australia: diversity and localism – News measurement framework