Putting news in its place: An index measurement tool to evaluate local news access

Defining and understanding the contexts in which local news is both sustainable and meeting audiences’ needs and expectations has become a complex issue to ‘pin down’ in Australia, as it has in other parts of the world. This paper introduces and outlines the value of a new measurement tool that comprehensively assesses the availability of local news provisions in specific geographic locations. Referred to as the Local News Proximity Index (LNPI), it gauges local news accessibility for a given town or city. It overlays this with an assessment of the extent to which a news provider demonstrates a local connection to and investment in a given place, by examining the interplay of physical, cultural and social proximity. The index is platform agnostic, in that it does not preference one medium of news over another, instead focusing on an outlet’s commitment to a place through its physical presence and the focus of its news content. We argue the index has immense value in being able to (a) more accurately identify vulnerable areas of a local news ecology, (b) identify areas where collaboration within the ecology may be most beneficial and (c) help policymakers determine where and how to best direct support for local news futures, especially in regard to grants, subsidies and distribution of government public messaging and advertising spend.