{"id":1255,"date":"2025-04-07T03:20:20","date_gmt":"2025-04-07T03:20:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.radioindustrynews.com.au\/?p=1255"},"modified":"2025-04-07T03:20:20","modified_gmt":"2025-04-07T03:20:20","slug":"safeguarding-community-voice-in-australian-media","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/radioindustrynews.com.au\/index.php\/2025\/04\/07\/safeguarding-community-voice-in-australian-media\/","title":{"rendered":"Safeguarding community voice in Australian media"},"content":{"rendered":"

Election 2025: Policy recommendations for community broadcasting<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/h3>\n

Community broadcasters\u00a0have issued the following\u00a0policy blueprint for all political parties and candidates contesting the 2025 Federal Election.<\/span><\/p>\n

Australia\u2019s media landscape is becoming more influenced by global,\u00a0online\u00a0and unregulated forms of media content. Australian media ownership\u00a0is becoming more concentrated and centralised,\u00a0with most\u00a0outlets\u00a0headquartered and staffed in Australia\u2019s east coast\u00a0capital cities. In this context, Australian Government support is vital to strengthen over 500\u00a0independent,\u00a0locally-embedded, democratic, community-controlled radio and television services\u00a0across Australia.<\/span><\/p>\n

For\u00a0Australia\u2019s remote and regional areas,\u00a0and\u00a0communities that speak languages other than English, having\u00a0locally-produced\u00a0news, information and entertainment that\u00a0brings together\u00a0local communities is especially important.\u00a0Australian communities value their community\u00a0radio and television\u00a0broadcasting services. Over 18,000 Australians volunteer for community stations, over 5 million Australians tune in each week and over 2\/3 of station income is raised through community sources: in 2023,\u00a0community broadcasters raised $84.7m from community sources including listener fundraising, memberships and subscriptions, donations and grants from community groups and local business and other sponsors.<\/span><\/p>\n

Australia has a proud, bi-partisan history of providing Government support for community broadcasting activities. These services provide for community voice in the media and give all Australians choice about the media they listen to beyond the ABC, SBS and commercial services.\u00a0Government funding for community broadcasting\u00a0contributes 7% of revenue for community\u00a0broadcasters.<\/span><\/p>\n

2025 Election priorities for community broadcasting are as follows:<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/h4>\n
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  1. Secure and reliable funding<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    All Federal Government programs of support for community broadcasting are secured with ongoing and indexed funding that provides security and certainty for all community broadcasting organisations.<\/span><\/p>\n

    <\/span><\/p>\n

      \n
    1. Investing in our Independence<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

      All Federal Government funding for community broadcasting is delivered through independent, sector-governed\u00a0and transparent grant allocation processes managed at arms-length from Government.<\/span><\/p>\n

      <\/span><\/p>\n

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      1. New support\u00a0to tackle misinformation, emergencies and support Australian music<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

        New,\u00a0additional\u00a0funding is considered to enable community broadcasters to play a bigger role addressing key areas of concern for communities including:<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n