Solutions must be found for communities which have lost their local news service and whose local democracy is at real risk, according to the incoming president of the New Zealand Journalism Education Association (JEANZ).

Auckland University of Technology senior lecturer Dr Greg Treadwell said recent closures of Aotearoa New Zealand news organisations, including dozens of local papers over the past few years, will hurt community resilience when, in the face of climate change, it’s never been needed more.

“It’s simply not tenable in a democracy to leave these communities without verified local news and information.

“Not only will democracy suffer as unverified information, including harmful disinformation, circulates in its place, but community identity and the resilience that comes with that identity will be lost,” said Treadwell.

Solutions had yet to be found but organisations such as the American Journalism Project were working on it, he said.

“Since corporate media is largely abandoning our communities, having bought up our local papers when they were profitable and mostly now closed them down, we need to find solutions fast.”

Community news hubs, run by a mix of professional and citizen journalists, were one possibility but how to fund them was the real issue, he said.

Treadwell’s comments came after the association’s annual conference, which was themed, Local Matters: Community and Journalism.

AUT researcher Dr Merja Myllyahti told the conference direct funding of journalism by the State had proved controversial in Aotearoa New Zealand, while in the US, it was now supported by tax credits for those who hired journalists, credit vouchers to buy news subscriptions, and state-funded journalism fellowships.

“Additionally, California has partnered with tech companies to pay $250m over five years to support local news media news and their AI programmes,” Dr Myllylahti said.

Professor Susan Forde, of Queensland’s Griffith University, whose research centres on community and alternative media, gave the opening keynote address.

The closing keynote address was by Professor Juliane Lischka, of the University of Hamburg, whose recent research looked at how evolving technologies, including AI, were influencing employers’ expectations of journalism graduates.

The newly elected JEANZ executive is:- President, Greg Treadwell, AUT; deputy president (conference), Akhteruz Zaman, Massey University; secretary, Teresa Howell, Massey; treasurer, Cathy Strong, Massey.

BIO: Dr Greg Treadwell is a senior lecturer in journalism who worked as a reporter, photographer and newspaper editor before he joined Auckland University of Technology in 2005. He completed a PhD on the loss of freedom of information experienced by public-interest journalists in Aotearoa New Zealand. His teaching specialities include public-affairs journalism, investigative journalism, media law and ethics, and news photography. His research focus is on public-interest journalism, trust in news and journalism education.

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