Latest news from the Heartbeat survey
Posted 22 October 2025
Earlier this year, we ran the annual Heartbeat of Australia survey and the results are in. More than 7,300 Austalians were surveyed and here are links to two news articles published in The Canberra Times.
What 70% of tree- and sea-changers say about saying bye-bye to the Big Smoke
The ACM Newsroom writes that “Regional Australians are more community-minded and feel less stressed and more connected than people living in the big metropolitan cities, even amid continuing cost-of-living pressures.”
Women, Gen X carrying the load for Australia, new Heartbeat study shows (paywall)
Carla Mascarenhas writes about women and Gen X: “Women are feeling less satisfied with their lives, including their health and finances, than men, and Gen-X is the least satisfied of all the generations when it comes to their personal circumstances.”
Engaged journalism in the heartland – Understanding regional news audiences
Posted 28 August 2025
Report now available
We’re excited to announce the release of Engaged journalism in the heartland: Understanding regional news audiences, a new report that examines how to situate audiences at the centre of the local news ecosystem as a way to encourage local news consumption.
Report launch: Engaged journalism in the heartland – Understanding regional news audiences
Posted 27 August 2025
The News and Media Research Centre is launching the report Engaged Journalism in the Heartland – Understanding Regional News Audiences at 11 am AEST on 28 August 2025.
Based on a national investigation of what audiences want from local news and how they might be involved in the production and dissemination of news, this report identifies the void in the provision of local news as news organisations struggle to find optimal business models to serve the local community.
It is an online event and you can register for the event here: Report Launch.
2025 Heartbeat of Australia survey
Posted 12 May 2025
(This survey has now closed.)
We’ve been surveying Australians since 2022 to build an understanding of local news ecosystems, audiences’ connection with community, and what they think about local news and advertising.
News Industries: Funding Innovations and Futures – Report now available
Posted 13 November 2024
We’re excited to announce the release of News Industries: Funding Innovations and Futures, our report on the ICA postconference event held on the Gold Coast (Australia) in June.
News Industries: Funding Innovations and Futures – After the event
Posted 20 June 2024
The post-conference event was a busy day packed with interesting discussions, presentations, keynotes and panels. The organising committee would like to thank everyone who was there for making the day so successful.
We welcomed 60 academic and industry delegates from around the world to Kurrawa Surf Club on the Gold Coast to engage in an open dialogue about funding models in the news environment.
News Industries: Funding Innovations and Futures – registration now open
Posted 29 February 2024
News Industries: Funding Innovations and Futures is a one-day ICA 2024 post-conference that will bring together the research community and stakeholders from the news industry to have an open dialogue about what has worked and what hasn’t in developing funding models in the online news environment through a global comparative lens, and futures for news media sustainability.
News Industries: Funding Innovations and Futures – ICA 2024 Postconference event
Posted 20 November 2023
News Industries: Funding innovations and Futures is a one-day ICA 2024 postconference event that will bring together the research community and stakeholders from the news industry to have an open dialogue about what has worked and what hasn’t in developing funding models in the online news environment.
Heartbeat of Australia 