Research Projects

Sense of belonging among multilingual audiences in Australia

Sora Park, Kieran McGuinness, Jee Young Lee, Rebecca Griffiths, Thu Nguyen

This project is a collaboration between the News & Media Research Centre the Special Broadcasting Service (SBS), Australia’s multilingual and multicultural broadcaster. The study focuses on how the news media can play a role in driving a sense of belonging among multilingual audiences. The aim is to better understand the relationship between multilingual audiences’ sense of belonging, their participation in Australian society, and perceptions of trust and representation in the news.

The research draws on a multimodal survey method to achieve a balanced and inclusive sample that closely matches the community profile of the 2016 Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) Census. The survey was conducted in six languages — Arabic, Cantonese, Italian, Mandarin, Vietnamese and English.

We hope to spark a new conversation about how multicultural Australia thinks and talks about informed citizens, participation and social cohesion. The research represents an important early step in uncovering attitudes among Australia’s ever-evolving linguistically and culturally diverse communities. It shows the vital role that fair representation of multilingual communities in the news media plays in encouraging migrants to feel at home and empowering them to participate in society.

Download the report

The Creative Economy in Australia, What Census 2021 Tells Us

Briefing paper 2

This Briefing Paper is an output of a collaboration led by the University of Canberra in partnership with the Australia Council, the City of Sydney, the South Australian Government’s Department for Industry, Innovation and Science and the Western Australian Department of Local Government, Sport and Cultural Industries. Read More

Briefing paper 1

This Briefing Paper is an output of a collaboration led by the University of Canberra in partnership with the Australia Council, the City of Sydney, the South Australian Government’s Department for Industry, Innovation and Science and the Western Australian Department of Local Government, Sport and Cultural Industries. Read More

^{Content Warning: This webpage discusses child sexual abuse. This means that some of the information may be confronting, triggering or cause distress – particularly if you have been impacted by violence, abuse and trauma. If you or someone you know is feeling overwhelmed, distressed or in crisis, there is help available.}

Initial consultation on media guidelines for the reporting of child sexual abuse

Research and consultation is now underway to inform the development of the DRAFT guidelines for media reporting of child sexual abuse, and interested stakeholders are invited to contribute.

The N&MRC has been appointed by the National Office for Child Safety to develop both evidence-based guidelines for journalists to refer to when reporting on child sexual abuse, and a guide for victims and survivors when dealing with the media. The key aim is to empower victims and survivors when they share their personal experiences with the media. Please find the full story on this project here.

N&MRC researchers are currently reviewing a range of related guidelines from around the world, and conducting media analyses of reporting on sexual abuse of children to identify issues and best practice.

Feedback will be sought on the draft guidelines from all interested stakeholders in February 2023 once they are developed; however if you’re interested in contributing to help broadly inform the development of the DRAFT guidelines, you can do this in a number of ways.

• Survey: you can undertake this 10 minute survey. All responses are anonymous and confidential, and all views will be considered in the development of the draft guidelines.
• Online interview: If you’d prefer to talk with researchers from the N&MRC, you can contact us.

The initial consultation phase will close in mid-November 2022. The next round of consultations on the guidelines will open in February 2023.

ACT Creative Industries Research

Jason Bainbridge, Jen Webb, Cathy Hope, Denise Thwaites, Ben Ennis Butler, Vahri McKenzie, Robert Tanton, Lain Dare, Leonie Pearson, Yogi Vidyattama, Stehen Cassidy, Jee Young Lee

The ACT Creative Industries: Economic, Environmental and Policy Assessment will identify the current state, scope and potential of the creative industries in the ACT, including the benefits, challenges and opportunities for future growth of these industries.

Chief Minister Treasury and Economic Development Directorate, ACT Government Funded Project

Amplifying Indigenous News: A digital intervention

David Nolan, Kerry McCallum, Peter Radoll, Lisa Waller, Scott Wright, Luke Pearson (IndigenousX)

This project aims to road-test, document and analyse an innovative strategy for amplifying Indigenous voices in news media. The project will deploy and assess the impact of a new digital application designed to enable access to a diverse range of Indigenous voices, stories and agendas. The anticipated outcomes will assist the project’s industry partners to meet their strategic goals of increasing the level of Indigenous media representation in Australia, and consolidate their roles as leading outlets for Indigenous content and coverage.

Australian Research Council Funded Project

ASRP – Co-developing a new approach to media literacy in the attention economy – Part 1

Rachel Cunneen, Mathieu O'Neil, Reece Cheater, Lelly Turner, Margetts Wayde

This innovative project brings together researchers from the Faculty of Arts and Design and the Faculty of Education. The contemporary media environment is saturated with a multiplicity of claims, some of which are dubious, whilst others actively seek to misinform. In the so-called attention economy time is precious, and deep engagement with dubious claims is a poor strategy. Instead, students should acquire the means to decide which claims are worth their attention. Drawing on cutting-edge fact-checking methodologies, this project will (a) investigate to what extent ACT school teachers are open to the SIFT (Stop, Investigate, Find, Trace) fact-checking framework and (b) co-develop with ACT school teachers a series of lesson plans that will actively engage students and enable them to identify dubious claims, ad hominem strategies, and unscientific magical thinking. When confronted with dubious claims students will be encouraged to engage in best fact-checking practice.

ACT Education Directorate - Affiliated Schools Research Program Funded Project & Deputy Vice-Chancellor Research and Innovation Industry Collaborative Research Grant

ASRP – Co-developing a new approach to media literacy in the attention economy – Part 2

Mathieu O'Neil, Rachel Cunneen

We live in an online media ecosystem in which false or misleading information can be created and disseminated with ease, so that the risk of people being exposed to misinformation (incorrect information) and disinformation (intentionally misleading information) is very significant. Instilling in young people ecosystem-appropriate media literacy skills is of the utmost urgency.

Embassy of the United States Funded Project

Breaking silences: Media and the Child Abuse Royal Commission

Kerry McCallum, Lisa Waller, Kristy Hess, Tanja Dreher, Eli Skogerbø

This project aims to analyse the role of media, journalism and social media activism in the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse (2013-17) (RCIRCSA). By focusing on the nexus between media and commissions of inquiry in the digital era, the project will investigate the impacts of a rapidly changing media environment on this national ‘listening’ exercise. Through case studies the project will analyse the role of a transitioning local, national and social media in triggering, reporting on and keeping alive the findings of the royal commission.

Australian Research Council Funded Project

Digital media and women in West Papuan tribal life

Jee Young Lee, Sora Park

The research project will focus on the impact digital media has on West Papuan tribal life - particularly in respect to women. For example, 'Sugar Daddy Apps' on mobile phone has potential to disrupt tribal norms. It will be an unique pilot study which has potential to garner interest from other Melanesian regions (PNG, Vanuatu, Fiji, Solomon Islands).

Geoff Hartwig Funded Project

Digital media literacy for building resilience in Indonesia's unprecedented pandemic crisis

Jee Young Lee, Didin Hidayat, Maya Defianty, Ummi Kultsum

This study aims to respond to pressing issues around teaching and learning in Indonesia pandemic crisis by increasing our understanding of social, cultural, and individual factors in the disadvantaged communities. Further, this study aims to explore digital media literacy as a conduit for building education resilience for COVID-19 crisis mitigation.

Indonesia Ministry of Religious Affairs Funded Project

Engaging Culturally Diverse Communities in Times of Crisis: Identifying best practice for the ACT

Kate Holland, Barbara Walsh, Kerry McCallum, Jee Young Lee

The COVID-19 pandemic highlighted many challenges for governments in engaging with all sectors of the community. It also highlighted how government communicators could innovate to ensure that vulnerable populations received necessary information and messaging. The ACT Government wants to develop more effective ways of engaging groups within the community that they have identified as harder-to-reach. These include Culturally and Linguistically Diverse (CALD) and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander (ATSI) peoples. This project will identify how the government currently seeks to communicate and engage with these communities, how these communities interact with and respond to government messages and strategies and how they could be improved through the development of more trusting and meaningful relationships.

ACT Government Funded Project & Deputy Vice-Chancellor Research and Innovation Industry Collaborative Research Grant

Framing and sharing news on social media

Sora Park, Caroline Fisher, Michael Jensen, Glen Fuller, Jee Young Lee, Yoonmo Sang

In the digital environment, news consumers are accessing news sources directly by ‘following’ organisations and individuals on social media, bypassing the news media. Consumers also constantly create, co-create and distribute information and news via social media platforms by using the interactive functions afforded by the platforms. The main focus of this project is to examine how these new behaviour are affecting the news ecosystem in Australia. We investigate how Facebook users respond to different types of information by interacting with the information that is shared within their Facebook network. We examine what types of news and information are widely shared and how they are framed by the person who shared the information. It also examines the responses to the sharing activity through likes and comments and the shape of diffusion networks. The project has three aims: identify distinct temporalities between categories of news and non-news platforms, analyse differences in interactions with news and non-news URLs and domains, and investigate polarisation in news and its implications for sharing practices.

Social Science Research Council Funded Project

Mapping DEI Across News in APAC

Sora Park, Kerry McCallum, Janet Fulton

The focus of this project is to understand what DEI means for news media in Australia.

Internews Funded Project

Measuring the impact of the eSmart Media Literacy Lab

Sora Park, Kieran McGuinness, Barbara Walsh, Caroline Fisher, Jee Young Lee, Emma John

The AMF’s eSmart Media Literacy Lab (MLL) aims to empower young people to think critically, create responsibly, and be effective and active citizens online. This project evaluates MLL by reviewing the curriculum, students’ and teachers’ engagement. We analyse student knowledge and skills in media literacy, and their digital civic engagement with media in relation to their participation in the MLL, and explore educator attitudes towards their own professional knowledge and practice in media literacy education in relation to their participation in the MLL.

Alannah Madeline Foundation Funded Project

Media literacy intermediaries

Sora Park, Barbara Walsh

Despite the rapid growth in media technology uptake and use over the past ten years, media literacy education in Australia has been offered in ad hoc and disparate ways.  For school-aged children there is a national curriculum. Research highlights that the quality and delivery is neither consistent nor effective.  As for the adult population, we lack a national policy or strategy.  Where there is support, the main focus has been on mitigating online abuses and scams, or on developing a defined set of technology skills. The importance of informal networks and intermediaries have been found in many studies but there are very few empirical studies on how intermediaries and informal networks can effectively deliver media literacy programs and more importantly, very little is known about those who serve as intermediaries, their attitudes, needs and perspectives about their impact and influence. This project investigates the perception and attitude of library and information professionals (LIS) in the role they can play in improving the public’s media literacy.

Australian Library and Information Association Funded Project & Deputy Vice-Chancellor Research and Innovation Industry Collaborative Research Grant

News trust and representation amongst multilingual audiences

Sora Park, Kerry McCallum, Kieran McGuinness, Jee Young Lee, Caroline Fisher, David Nolan

By adapting the communication infrastructure theory and applying it to multilingual audiences, we will examine how non-English language news programs (TV and online) are related to trust in SBS news generally and the SBS brand overall. The assumption is that audiences who view news programs in their own language will have a greater sense of being represented in the news. Furthermore, the perception of representation and trust will be higher among those who actively utilise the information (i.e., share, discuss) within their language community compared to those who merely consume the information. These audiences are also more likely to feel more connected to, and empowered to participate in, the broader society.

SBS Funded Project

Pedalling for change: Cultural geography for traffic congestion innovation

Gordon Waitt, Teresa Lea, Ian Buchanan, Glen Fuller

This project aims to offer new knowledge about why commuter cycling has failed to increase at a time when leisure cycling grows exponentially. The project seeks to provide evidence about what cycling enables people to achieve through analysis of a database of media discourses, policies and the experiences of cyclists. Expected outcomes include an enhanced understanding of cycling as response to congestion and improved strategies for increasing purposeful cycling in cities including moving the focus from cycling participation rates to cultures of cycling.

Australian Research Council Funded Project

Pulse of the regions

Sora Park, Jee Young Lee, Caroline Fisher, Kerry McCallum

"Heartbeat of the Regions Survey".

Australian Community Media (ACM) Funded Project

Safe online together: an integrated approach to navigating the risks and opportunities of digital media for families and young people

Catherine Page Jeffery, Yoonmo Sang, Kerry McCallum, Susan Atkinson

Safe Online Together aims to develop and deliver a series of evidence-based, innovative workshops and online resources to provide families with school-aged children with the skills to balance the risks and opportunities of digital technologies and reduce family conflict around technology use.  By training young people to deliver the programs to parents and children as a family unit, the project aims to promote intergenerational knowledge and understanding, facilitate discussion about managing online risks, and develop a set of tailored family protocols for digital technology use amongst families.

eSafety Commissioner Funded Project

Scoping review and synthesis of evidence of the impact of policy and regulatory settings on the potential for mitigating gambling harm

Raechel Johns, Naomi Dale, Catherine Ordway, Tricia Brown, Caroline Fisher, Amanda George, Kate Holland, Kerry McCallum, Michael Roche, Rachel Davey

The Commission is seeking to better understand the impact policy and regulatory settings have on the potential to mitigate (or conversely, exacerbate) gambling harm, while building the evidence base for gambling harm prevention strategies. Thus, an overall research question of “what is the best practice for the link between policy, regulatory settings, and gambling harm?” will underpin the scoping study. This detailed, mixed-methods study will contribute toward the Commission’s Research Themes in the Research Agenda. In particular, it will contribute toward Monitoring; Community Impact; and Harm Prevention.

ACT Gambling and Racing Commission Funded Project

Understanding gambling harms in the digital age

Kate Holland, Kerry McCallum, Caroline Fisher, Raechel Johns, Catherine Ordway, Naomi Dale, Tricia Brown, Michael Roche, Amanda George, Rachel Davey

The project will benefit the ACT community and potentially alleviate gambling harm by providing an evidence base about knowledge, awareness and understanding gambling and its harms. The project will provide the basis for a socially grounded approach to public health messaging to improve public understanding of the relationships, health, psychological, financial, work/study, cultural and criminal harms of gambling. It will provide evidence of how messages about gambling are consumed in the digital media environment, and trial and recommend gambling literacy resources. The project will contribute to development of the concept of gambling harm literacy and examine models for measuring the efficacy of gambling harm messages on gambling behaviours.

ACT Gambling and Racing Commission Funded Project

Valuing News: Aligning Individual, Institutional and Social Perspectives

Sora Park, Caroline Fisher, Terry Flew, Derek Wilding, Tim Dwyer, Aljosha Schapals

The ongoing crisis of news media business models, and its implications for journalism, have thrown up new questions about the value of news, and the role of governments in financing its production. This project makes a distinctive contribution in identifying the links between three levels: the preparedness of individuals and organisations to pay for news through subscriptions (micro); the value of news brands and the decisions of news organisations (meso); and social and public value contributing to a democratic public sphere (macro). It advances key debates about the future of public interest journalism in an age of social news, as well as addressing policy issues about funding journalism as advertising transfers to digital platforms.

Australian Research Council Funded Project

Wakul and First Nations community media: Amplifying Indigenous news through action research

David Nolan, Kerry McCallum, Peter Radoll, Alanna Myers

This project aims to amplify news from First Nations community media organisations through an innovative action research partnership with First Nations Media Australia (FNMA). It involves deploying and assessing the impact of Wakul, a software application that aggregates content from news outlets that are owned, produced, or regularly accessed by First Nations people. For mainstream media organisations, it is a practical listening tool helping journalists to increase their awareness of critical conversations that are not on mainstream news agendas (Latimore et al. 2017; Nolan et al. 2020). For First Nations media organisations and audiences, it aims to increase connectivity and sharing of news and information produced across diverse and geographically dispersed First Nations communities. First Nations broadcasting and media are recognised as community assets that contribute to strengthening culture, community development and the local economy.

University of Canberra Collaborative Indigenous Research Initiative (CIRI) Funded Project

Wakul and remote Indigenous media: amplifying Indigenous news through a digital listening tool

David Nolan, Alanna Myers, Peter Radoll, Kerry McCallum, Sam Hinton

The project seeks to expand the content offering of Wakul, a digital news aggregator designed to help amplify Indigenous voices, agendas and stories in the Australian media landscape. We propose to explore and test options for incorporating more content from remote Indigenous media into Wakul, including options for integrating customised automatic transcription software into the Wakul infrastructure. This development will significantly enhance Wakul’s social impact and commercial appeal by amplifying and increasing the accessibility of this content to our target market of journalists and media organisations.

ANU Connected Ventures, University of Canberra & First Nations Media Australia Funded Project