Submission to the Senate Select Committee on the Future of Public Interest Journalism

Submission to the Senate Select Committee on the Future of Public Interest Journalism from Dr Tanya Notley, Western Sydney University and A/Prof Michael Dezuanni, Queensland University of Technology Our report, News and Australian Children: How Young People Access, Perceive and are Affected by the News presents key findings and analysis from a survey we conducted in September 2017 based on a representative sample of 1000 young Australians aged 8-16 years. The purpose of our survey was to provide baseline data regarding young Australians news consumption practices and experience of news as well as their capacity and inclination to trust, critique and verify news media. We would like to use this opportunity to inform the committee of our report as well as our intention to carry our further research on young people’s engagement with news media, including their experience of encountering and critiquing news, including fake news. We believe this is an important topic that is understudied in Australia, particularly when it comes to young people. We believe our survey and related research shows that young Australians regularly consume news from many different sources: family members, teachers, friends as well as from news media channels and social media. However, many feel they can’t trust news media organisations while they struggle to distinguish fake news online. Of most concern to us is how few young people are receiving lessons in school to help them critique news media. We hope that our report will be used to support evidence-based discussions – with governments, schools, parents, news producers, online platforms and most of all, with young people