Although we are one of Australia’s biggest media sectors, the contribution of community broadcasting is not always well understood by policymakers.
In recent years, the CBAA advocated for our sector’s contribution to news to be properly recognised in the ACMA’s Media Diversity Framework, which is a major foundation for many government policy and funding decisions.
Over 2024, the CBAA’s Advocacy Team worked closely with the ACMA to ensure that its first report on that Framework would accurately capture our sector’s contribution.
News Media in Australia 2025 Report, released in March, reflects some important aspects of our sector’s contribution. It notes that radio is the second most prevalent form of media outlet after websites/apps and, of the 880 radio outlets the ACMA counted for the report, 51% are community radio. We continue to work with the sector to improve measurement around news, and this is covered in a community broadcasting case study in Appendix D.
Importantly, in a section on the impact of media, the ACMA has included a great 4-page case study about the excellent work done by Ngaarda Media and how important its news content is for the community.
The next report will be published in 2 years and we will continue to work with the ACMA to improve how our sector’s contribution to media diversity is understood