Local newspapers and coronavirus: conceptualising connections, comparisons and cures Hess, Kristy and Waller, Lisa Jane 2020, Local newspapers and coronavirus: conceptualising connections, comparisons and cures, Media International Australia, pp. 1-15, doi: 10.1177/1329878X20956455. Attached Files Name Description MIMEType Size Downloads Title Local newspapers and coronavirus: conceptualising connections, comparisons and cures Author(s) Hess, Kristy orcid.org/0000-0003-3027-7492 Waller, Lisa Jane Journal name Media International Australia Start page 1 End page 15 Total pages 15 Publisher Sage Place of publication London, Eng. Publication date 2020 ISSN 1329-878X 2200-467X Summary Within weeks of the nation-wide COVID-19 shutdown, more than 200 regional and community newspapers across Australia announced they could no longer keep their presses running due to the unprecedented crisis. A drain in advertising spend, a broken business model and the refusal of digital behemoths to pay for content were blamed for their collapse, ironically as audiences’ demand for credible news and information soared across the globe. There is no doubt the COVID-19 crisis has widened existing, deep cracks in the news media industry. In response this article sets out to explore possible solutions and strategies for local newspapers in the post-pandemic media landscape. We take an analogical approach to argue some of the issues that emerged during COVID-19 and strategies used to fight the global health pandemic also present valuable lessons for the preservation of public interest journalism and news at the local level. We conceptualise five coronavirus-related themes that resonate with a much-needed innovations agenda for local newspapers in Australia: (1) support for essential services, (2) warnings of complacency against an evolving biological threat, (3) appreciating the power of the social (4) coordinated government/policy responses and (5) ‘we are all in this together’. Notes OnlineFirst Article Language eng DOI 10.1177/1329878X20956455 Indigenous content off Field of Research 16 Studies in Human Society 19 Studies in Creative Arts and Writing 20 Language, Communication and Culture HERDC Research category C1 Refereed article in a scholarly journal Free to Read? Yes Persistent URL http://hdl.handle.net/10536/DRO/DU:30143081 Document type: Journal Article Collections: Faculty of Arts and Education School of Communication and Creative Arts Alfred Deakin Institute for Citizenship and Globalisation Open Access Collection Related Links Link Description Link to full-text (open access)     Unless expressly stated otherwise, the copyright for items in DRO is owned by the author, with all rights reserved. Every reasonable effort has been made to ensure that permission has been obtained for items included in DRO. If you believe that your rights have been infringed by this repository, please contact drosupport@deakin.edu.au. Versions Version Filter Type Wed, 23 Sep 2020, 16:07:37 EST Thu, 24 Sep 2020, 05:06:33 EST Mon, 05 Oct 2020, 11:00:39 EST Tue, 06 Oct 2020, 05:03:40 EST Tue, 06 Oct 2020, 12:54:01 EST Tue, 06 Oct 2020, 12:57:03 EST Tue, 06 Oct 2020, 12:57:47 EST Sat, 10 Oct 2020, 01:31:21 EST Filtered Full Citation counts:   Cited 0 times in TR Web of Science Cited 0 times in Scopus Search Google Scholar Access Statistics: 42 Abstract Views, 1 File Downloads  -  Detailed Statistics Created: Mon, 05 Oct 2020, 11:00:39 EST

Every reasonable effort has been made to ensure that permission has been obtained for items included in DRO. If you believe that your rights have been infringed by this repository, please contact drosupport@deakin.edu.au.