Research Projects
N&MRC conducts breakthrough research with industry, government and community partners, locally and internationally. Download our 2019 Annual Report for more information on our current partnerships and collaborations.
Please complete our online briefing request form to have a member of the N&MRC present on our research.
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.
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
Adult Media Literacy in Australia: Attitudes, Experiences and Needs
Tanya Notley, Simon Chambers, Sora Park, Michael Dezuanni
The report involves a collaboration between researchers at the Institute for Culture and Society at Western Sydney University, the Digital Media Research Centre at Queensland University of Technology and the News and Media Research Centre at the University of Canberra.
This Report was funded by the National Association for Media Literacy Education (NAMLE) in the United States.
'Australian News Media and Indigenous Policymaking 1988-2008'
Kerry McCallum (First Chief Investigator) and M. Meadows. Australian Research Council Discovery Grant, (2009-2011). $225,000
Australian Perspectives on Misinformation
Mathieu O'Neil, Michael Jensen
The report brings together several sources of data. The background of the report is the results from two existing N&MRC reports: Digital News Report: Australia 2020 and COVID-19: Australian news and misinformation report, both of which tracked perceptions of misinformation in the Australian news consumers in 2020. The report next profiles two case studies: an analysis of campaigns by Russian Internet Research Agency “troll” accounts on in the Australian Twittersphere in the leadup to the 2016 Australian Federal election, and an interview with a young ABC Digital journalist about how misinformation affects her work practice. The report also features expert comments by three leading Australian journalists and researchers. Finally, the report relays a set of practical messages to help teachers and politicians communicate about information literacy, and outlines a series of hypothetical steps for how people might establish a fact-based common understanding with a conspiracy believer.
Australian Regional journalists: What they need now and how they see the future
Caroline Fisher, Sora Park, Saffron Howden (Crinkling News), Jee Young Lee, Kieran McGuinness
While it has become easier to access quality news at the national and international level, the provision in quality local news is declining. The purpose of the project is to investigate the state of regional journalism in Australia, the work conditions of journalists in regional news outlets, their perception of the changing role of journalists in the community, their professional challenges and needs.
Google Funded Project
'Conversations about Alcohol and Pregnancy: Investigating Media Portrayals and Women's Experiences'
Kate Holland, Kerry McCallum and R.Warwick Blood. Foundation for Alcohol Research and Education, (2014). $19,537.60.
Covering COVID-19
David Nolan, Sora Park, Caroline Fisher, Kerry McCallum, Glen Fuller
This study will capture how the COVID-19 was reported, how that changed over the course of the pandemic, and how journalists perceived and performed their roles during the outbreak.
This Report was supported by Deputy Vice-Chancellor Research and Innovation Strategic Funds, University of Canberra.
COVID-19: Australian news and misinformation
Sora Park, Caroline Fisher, Jee Young Lee, Kieran McGuinness
This report examines how Australians responded to a health crisis in the period shortly after social distancing measures were put in place by the government to stop the spread of coronavirus. We conducted a national online survey of 2,196 Australians aged 18 or above to ask questions about how they get information about COVID-19, how they understand and respond to the crisis, how concerned they are and what sources of information they find to be trustworthy.
This Report was supported by Deputy Vice-Chancellor Research and Innovation Strategic Funds, University of Canberra.
COVID-19: Australian news and misinformation longitudinal study
Sora Park, Kerry McCallum, Jee Young Lee, Kieran McGuinness, Caroline Fisher, Kate Holland
The COVID-19 pandemic has proven that everyone is thirsty for credible and fast news. Across the globe reporters, governments and public health professionals have worked overtime to inform communities. News consumption has increased as the public tries to make sense of this rapidly evolving crisis. This project will enhance understanding around the access, consumption and critical engagement with news and information during a global pandemic. A repeat survey of news consumption and misinformation during COVID-19 will be accompanied by a qualitative research will provide insights into how and where Australians are getting information about COVID-19, which sources they find trustworthy, and what impacts misinformation has on news consumers.
Australian Communication and Media Authority Funded Project
'Deficit Discourse and Indigenous Education: mapping the discursive environment, assessing impact, and changing the conversation'
Kerry McCallum (co-Chief Investigator), ARC Discovery Indigenous Project (2015-2017) with the ANU, The University of Queensland, Notre Dame University and Deakin University.
'Enhancing public organisations' digital literacy to facilitate online engagement'
Sora Park, Academy of the Social Sciences in Australia Australia-Canada joint-action program (2013-2014).
Fake but not Fatal: Optimal Social Media Regulation in the Era of Fake News
Benedict Sheehy, Yoonmo Sang, Sujin Choi, Bruce Arnold, Jaejin Lee
To develop a viable South Korea-specific strategic policy response to address harms attributable to fake news on digital platforms (particularly social media) while deepening appropriate freedom of press and freedom of speech rights in environments where traditional media are of decreasing importance.
Korea Foundation Funded Project
Health and Misinformation in Social Media
Mathieu O'Neil, Irfan Khan, Kate Holland, Xiaolan Cai
This project explores the spread of health misinformation and disinformation across online social networks. Using a combination of advanced data harvesting techniques and qualitative interviews, the project will focus in a first stage on how health professionals interact with COVID-19 rumours prevalent in major social media platforms such as Twitter and YouTube. The findings of this research are expected to assist in developing strategies to combat COVID 19 misinformation within the Australian healthcare context.
This project was supported by Deputy Vice-Chancellor Research and Innovation Strategic Funds, University of Canberra.
'Linked data policy hub stage II: Urban and regional planning and communications'
Jerry Watkins (co-Chief Investigator), ARC Linkage Infrastructure Project (2016) with RMIT, Swinburne University, Sydney University and Melbourne University.
Local News Consumers
Caroline Fisher, Sora Park, Jee Young Lee
This report is based on a survey of 2,038 regional news consumers. The aim of the study was to identify gaps in local news provision in regional parts of Australia and whether there is an appetite for new grassroots news offerings. The study finds the strongest desire for additional news services among residents of communities where news outlets have closed. In light of the ongoing decline of regional news services, accelerated by the impact of the COVID-19 outbreak, this report points to the types of news people in information reduced communities are looking for and how much they are willing to pay for it.
Google News Initiative Funded Project
Mapping the co-production of digital infrastructure by peer projects and firms
Mathieu O’Neil, Laure Muselli, Mahin Raissi, Stefano Zacchiroli
The long-term viability of innovation-rich peer projects managed by international teams of volunteers is a key concern in the digital space. But as the not-for-profit and commercial sectors increasingly collaborate to produce digital infrastructure, questions arise concerning how commercial firms’ rules, priorities, and institutional logics emerge in peer projects, and how communal logics seep into commercial firms. This project will combine computational data analytics, qualitative content analysis, and ethnography to explore related questions across F/OSS (Free/Open Source Software) projects, with a focus on waged labor.
Ford Foundation Funded Project
Media Literacy in Australia: A Qualitative Study
Sora Park, Jee Young Lee, Susan Atkinson, Jing Su
This report complements an earlier study based on a survey that was published in April 2021. We acknowledge that there are hard to reach groups that online surveys cannot fully represent. To address this, between January and July 2021, we carried out a series of interviews and focus group discussions with 22 participants across 17 organisations that serve communities with specific media literacy needs. The aim was to better understand the diversity of media literacy needs among Australians.
The report is part of the Adult Media Literacy in Australia research project, which was funded by the National Association for Media Literacy Education (NAMLE) in the United States.
'Mediating Mental Health: An Integrated Approach to Investigating Media and Social Actors'
Kate Holland, ARC Discovery Early Career Researcher Award (2014-2016).
'Mobile digital communication and health management: An mHealth pilot program at the ACT GP Super Clinic'
Sora Park and Sally Burford, Funding: ACT Strategic Opportunities Program (2014-2015).
'Mobile Indonesians: social differentiation and digital literacies in the twenty-first century'
Jerry Watkins (co-Chief Investigator), ARC Discovery Project (2013-16) with QUT, ANU.
Motivating ACT Youth Engagement Pilot
Kerry McCallum, Barbara Walsh, Prue Robson
This project will provide baseline evidence to the ACT Communication and Engagement Directorate on how young people 18-25 understand local government and what motivates local civic engagement. The project team will undertake a review of grey and academic literature, consult with the ACT Youth Advisory Council, and conduct focus groups through the ACT Government YourSay panel. A final report will provide the ACT Government with recommendations on the development of a youth civic engagement communication campaign.
ACT Government Funded Project
News media literacy: What works and does it make a difference?
Caroline Fisher, Sora Park, Mathieu O'Neil
Commonwealth Department of Communications and Arts Funded Project
News and Wellbeing: Older Generations and News Consumption
Caroline Fisher, Sora Park, Jee Young Lee, Kate Holland, Emma John
This report examines the connection between information and news consumption and the wellbeing of 562 older Australians living in the national capital, Canberra. It explores how their use and perceptions of news have changed over their lifetime and identifies some of the barriers and opportunities for older Canberrans to staying informed.
Council on the Ageing ACT Supported Project
'Opportunity Spaces - Community Engagement in the Planning, Use and Governance of Shared School Facilities'
Jerry Watkins (co-Chief Investigator), ARC Linkage Project (2012-15) with RMIT, Department of Education and Early Childhood Development (Victoria).
Our Watch National Media Engagement Project: Media Analysis
Kate Holland
The aim of the research is to evaluate the implementation of professional training for practicing journalists on best-practice reporting of violence against women by undertaking pre-post training content analysis and critical discourse analysis to assess how the use of trained victim advocates affects reporting.
Legal Light Bulbs Funded Project
Podcast Trends and Issues in Australia and Beyond: Global Perspectives
Yoonmo Sang, Jee Young Lee, Sora Park
The aim of the report is to examine Australians’ podcast listening habits and trends in comparison with other countries and to identify key industry issues. Part 1 of the report is an analysis of data from 40 countries surveyed in the Reuters Institute Digital News Report 2020. In Part 2, nine expert contributions from around the globe representing Asia, Africa, Europe, the Americas, and Oceania are presented.
This Report was supported by Deputy Vice-Chancellor Research and Innovation Strategic Funds, University of Canberra.
'Public and media understandings of A/H1N1 (swine flu) within a risk communication environment'
R.Warwick Blood (First Chief Investigator), with University of Sydney, University of Melbourne. National Health and Medical Research Council (2010). $107,340.
'Sensing, shaping, sharing: Imagining the body in a mediatized world'
Deborah Lupton (co-Chief Investigator), The Swedish Foundation for Humanities and Social Sciences (2016-2018) with Halmstead University, Lund University, RMIT, Univerity of Helsinki.
'Shaping the national outlook: International news in the Australian press, 1900-1950'
Peter Putnis (sole Chief Investigator), ARC Discovery Grant, (2010-2012).
This project entails publication of a database recording the results of a sample-based content analysis of overseas news stories published in the Australian press between 1905 and 1950. The content analysis was undertaken as one component of the Australian Research Council-funded Discovery Project ‘Shaping the National Outlook: Overseas News in the Australian Press, 1901-1950’ (DP1096677, CI Peter Putnis). The content analysis provides snapshots of overseas news coverage in The Age and The Sydney Morning Herald for the years 1905, 1920, 1935 and 1950. The dataset comprises 3928 news stories with substantial ‘overseas country’ news content coded according to range of variables including country, prominence, source, and main topic. The database is publicly available to interested researchers and students.
Sharing information on WeChat and WhatsApp: Generational and cultural differences among Chinese and Australian messaging app users
Jee Young Lee, Sora Park, Sun Ping, Chen He
With the rapid uptake of digital platforms in both China and Australia, the ways of accessing and sharing information have become diverse. In particular, the uses of messaging apps to share information and news have grown, with news consumers taking part in group discussions, indicating a preference for more private and less confrontational space to share news and information. This study explores this emerging trend of information sharing and communication via messaging apps focusing on technological (WhatsApp vs WeChat), generational (Under 35 vs 35+) and socio-cultural (China vs Australia) factors by conducting a cross-cultural and generational study. Focus group interviews in both countries will be conducted to better understand information sharing activities on messaging apps. This study will provide a deeper understanding of how digital platforms are used by citizens to share and circulate information in different cultural contexts.
Academy of the Social Sciences Australia Funded Project
'Shrinking the food-print by creating consumer demand for sustainable and healthy eating'
David Pearson (co-Chief Investigator), ARC Discovery Project (2013-2015) with ANU, Deakin University.
'Small technology, big data and the business of young people's health: an international investigation of the digitisation of school health and physical education'
Deborah Lupton (co-Chief Investigator), ARC Discovery Project (2015-2017) with Southern Cross University, Monash University and Northern Illinois University.
Social Media: connecting and sharing in a bushfire crisis
Jee Young Lee, Susan Atkinson, Kerry McCallum, Chris Kim
Building on a pilot study[1] in early 2020 which investigated official communication from the ACT Emergency Services Agency and the NSW Rural Fire Service using Facebook during the Orroral Valley Bushfire emergency, this project aims to better understand social media use during emergencies to better inform public decision making. This study will survey social media users in the ACT and surrounding areas of NSW over the summer months to collect data around what kind of information they seek, where they go to look for it, and how they make decisions in a crisis.
[1] Atkinson, S., Kim, C., & Lee, J. (in press). ‘Facebook as an official communication channel in a crisis’, Australian Journal of Emergency Management, Vol. 36 No. 1 January 2021
So what do you do?: tracking creative graduates in Australia and the UK's Creative and Cultural Industries
Scott Brook, Roberta Comunian, Alessandra Faggian, Jonathan Corcoran, Sarah Jewell, Sora Park, Jen Webb, Phil Lewis
This project brings together an international team of scholars from communication and cultural studies, labour market economics and cultural geography, in order to better understand the employment outcomes of creative graduates. It will draw on quantitative data, including longitudinal graduate destination surveys (GOS-L and LDLHE) and the Household, Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia survey, (HILDA) in order to understand creative graduate outcomes, and the significance of key variables for these outcomes, such as gender, geography and skills utilisation.
State of the News Media in Asia
Caroline Fisher, Sora Park, Jee Young Lee, Kerry McCallum
This investigation of news and media in Asia will provide journalists, policymakers and communication professionals with valuable information and ideas about audiences, news infrastructures, and policy frameworks. We have designed a comprehensive program of work to address an urgent need for analysis of the state of the media industries in Asia. This will be the first multi-site comparative
study of news media industries, policy frameworks and news consumption in the Asian region. Its innovative research design is underpinned by robust, proven and independent comparative analysis methodologies into digital media consumption that can yield real impact for journalism, industry and government.
Judith Neilson Institute for Journalism and Ideas Funded Project
The Australian Health News Research Collaboration
R. Warwick Blood (Co-Chief Investigator), Kate Holland and Melissa Sweet, with University of Sydney, University of Melbourne. National Health & Medical Research Council, Capacity Building Grant in Public Health (2009-2013). $1,897,375.
The digital health generation: the impact of healthy lifestyle technologies on young people's learning identities and health practices
Deborah Lupton (co-Chief Investigator), Wellcome Trust Grant (UK) (2016-2017) with University of Bath, University of Salford, UK.
'The prevalence of deficit metrics in Indigenous education and their impact on public discourse, policy and educational practice'
Kerry McCallum, UC Collaborative Indigenous Research Initiative Research Grant Scheme (2016-2018).