📩 In the latest edition of Sustainable Connections, we go to South Australia to talk with the founder of Murray Bridge News: award-winning and community-minded journalist @peristrathearn.bsky.social Here are five lessons media leaders can apply to their own organizations 👇

Marty Baron's Post thrived because it took meaningful steps away from false balance, toward a defensible north star. As long as media execs insist financial pressures require wooing back right-wing audiences, why help them build a false sense that this is possible? www.offmessage.net/p/a-requiem-...

News MAP money is coming! Actual grant funding by the federal government, 3.5 years after it was first promised by a Labor opposition two elections ago. Applications to the $67.6 million Journalism Assistance Fund will open in mid-November. #NewsMAP

I'm so excited about this. The @lina.org.au summit is my favourite few days of the year. Getting to host it in Murray Bridge in 2026 is gonna be a career highlight. Can't wait to welcome you all to the Murraylands.

National news summit will be held in Murray Bridge

Murray Bridge News will co-host a national conference of the Local and Independent News Association in March 2026.

murraybridge.news

It has been 20+ years since I did my undergrad degree, but I agree with Chrisanthi here: the experience wouldn't have been so formative without in-person, shoulder-to-shoulder learning, including in lecture theatres. (I'm curious about the idea of viva voce too, but that's another story.)

Opinion: Fears lecture model broken at SA's merged uni - News | InDaily, Inside South Australia

Dr Chrisanthi Giotis calls for Adelaide University to protect in-person lectures, describing any loss as a tragedy for SA students.

indailysa.com.au

For news publishers, there's a lot to take out of this recent report by Kristy Hess, Angela Ross et al, looking at public broadcasters' partnerships with other media around the world...

Keen to give this whole report a read, but here's a taste. What can public broadcasters do to help amid a crisis for local news?

Should public media help solve the local news crisis? - Public Media Alliance

A new report explores how public media can work with local news media, to uphold local democracy and prevent news deserts.

publicmediaalliance.org

I'm not a subscriber, but even the free section of this piece by Doug Shapiro is insightful. This is the big-picture thinking we need to survive in media.

What If All Media is Marketing?

The Logical Conclusion of Plummeting Creation Costs

open.substack.com

"Only if the ACMA now imposes a new condition that breaching the decency standard for a tenth (11th; 12th?) time could affect the licence, might we see an actual commercial consequence." This s*** gives everyone in media a bad name. ACMA, or someone, needs to bring it to heel.

The Kyle & Jackie O Show receives a gumming from ACMA's toothless tiger

Today: The ACMA is slow and powerless, as The Kyle & Jackie O Show demonstrates once again. And further down, SCA’s share price goes negative as the market digests the SWM merger plan.

unmade.media

Excited to be bringing ice cream mogul Dimi Kyriazis to Murray Bridge on October 15 for a breakfast chat about his business' expansion plans in the Murraylands.

Golden North’s Dimi Kyriazis will speak at business breakfast

Murray Bridge News is bringing business breakfasts back to the Murraylands, starting with an event featuring an ice cream manufacturer in spring 2025.

murraybridge.news

Chalk another win up for public pressure + local media: a major Murraylands employer has agreed to tighter licence conditions after neighbours complained about the smell.

Thomas Foods agrees to improve after locals raise a stink

Pressure from neighbours and the EPA has prompted one of the Murraylands’ biggest businesses to lift its game.

murraybridge.news

To my colleagues in Canberra: please be better than this! I know you have professional FOMO. I know it's your responsibility to ensure your readers get access to every story. But not on ridiculous terms dictated by the government or opposition, surely.

Ep 31 - No journalism today - Media Watch

Reporters urged to embrace the beauty of a one-sided story.

abc.net.au

"Genuinely open democracies start with the assumption that all info should be freely shared unless there is a strong public interest reason why not. Australian institutions often start with an assumption that you shouldn’t share info unless you have to." I hate how right Tim Burrowes is on this.

BotW: Northbound

Today: Crushed nuts and taking the free out of freedom of information.

open.substack.com

From me: How can a community get rid of its bad, old reputation? I ask a couple of Murraylands marketing experts, and put their thoughts to the council CEO.

Murray Bridge’s reputation is out of date, so how do we change it?

The river city is in need of a new identity if it is to shake its “meth town” label, local marketing experts say.

murraybridge.news

To watch a publication that came up at the same time as my own, on the same platform (albeit in a market 150x bigger), go on to this kind of success is just incredible. Hats off to @joshiherrmann.bsky.social and his team.

From Washington Post to Manchester's Mill Media for new investigations editor

Ex-Washington Post managing editor Cameron Barr hopes to help "restore and revive investigative accountability" at Manchester-based Mill Media

pressgazette.co.uk

Now the movers and shakers are talking about tax offsets for journalists' salaries instead of a digital platforms levy, or a bargaining code, reports @timburrowes.bsky.social. More than three years have passed since Labor (in opposition!) promised certainty to the media sector. We're still waiting!

Suddenly, offsets are the next thing on the news industry's lobbying agenda

Going to Canberra yesterday reminded me of a trip to Dallas to see Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band a few years back.Visiting Dealey Plaza, the scene of JFK’s assassination, created a distinct ...

unmade.media

Congrats to Belinda Willis as she settles into one of the most important roles in South Australian media.

News | InDaily, Inside South Australia announces new Editor - News | InDaily, Inside South Australia

An award-winning South Australian journalist is the new Editor of InDaily.

indailysa.com.au

The identity of a jockey who suffered a nasty fall in Murray Bridge last week has been revealed. Thankfully her condition is stable.

Jockey airlifted to Adelaide after fall in Murray Bridge

Apprentice Rachael Kraemer is in a stable condition following an accident on a property in the city’s west last week.

murraybridge.news

This spring has been a bad time for fires and accidents in the Murraylands. Yesterday it was a shed fire on my old street.

Fire destroys shed on Hill Street

A Murray Bridge family has escaped a blaze which broke out behind their home on Monday.

murraybridge.news

Mis- and disinformation are among the biggest threats to world peace at the moment. Why is our government dragging its feet on addressing the problem?

Why Australia's media literacy must improve

At a time when technology makes it easier than ever to mislead, media literacy is vital. Yet too many Australians lack the skillset to sort truth from false.

piji.com.au

File this under friggin' cool. I recently wrote a story about an analogue photographer who had produced a book about car culture. During our interview, he shot a pic of me on his old twin-lens Mamiya C330. He just sent me the developed image. Thank you Ethan Klemm!

"Audiences want local news that is related to their everyday lived experiences, initiatives and achievements in their local community, and stories that highlight community resilience." Encouraging bit of research by @skpark.bsky.social and her colleagues.

The missing ingredients holding local news back - 360

From dwindling newspaper pages to news fatigue, regional communities feel a growing gap between their lives and their local coverage. Audiences are now asking for stories that reflect positivity, crea...

360info.org

Finding out what's happening in the world shouldn't be depressing, should it? That's why, at Murray Bridge News, we've introduced a Good News section, with all the celebrations, award wins and sporting victories you could want – not a crime or disaster in sight.

🙂 Good News - Murray Bridge News

Sick of all the negativity? We aim to tell positive stories about the Murraylands – here's a selection.

murraybridge.news

I was delighted this week to chat with James Dibble from Grange Development, and get an update on one of the biggest residential developments in SA's history: Gifford Hill.

Gifford Hill development progresses: ‘We’re going as fast as we can’

Exclusive: Here’s what the proponents behind one of the biggest land developments in SA’s history have accomplished in the past year.

murraybridge.news

Murray Bridge has a reputation as a "meth town". Is that fair? We investigate.

Not just meth, and not just Murray Bridge: Drug use is a problem everywhere

A counselling service provider has confirmed what wastewater testing suggests: illicit and legal drugs are an issue all over regional Australia.

murraybridge.news

I'm not really up with current music any more, not like I was back in my 20s. But I tell you what, I'm excited to give the new album by the Beths a spin. Top shelf songwriting.

Liz's first song was about Harry Potter. Now she's playing Coachella

The Beths are known for pairing deeply personal, anxiety-fuelled lyrics with punchy, upbeat indie rock melodies, earning them the attention of former US president Barack Obama and propelling the band ...

abc.net.au

Individual organizations can survive in a destroyed ecosystem, but for publishers to thrive, they need to figure out how to both address the rise of AI, which feels inevitable, and connect directly with audiences who are hungry for information.

The next internet for news? Publishers gather to discuss protocols over platforms

Journalists and tech industry workers gathered at Protocols for Publishers to talk about building an internet that works for news.

niemanlab.org

When Georgina Sutton started flying, there were no female pilots for her to look up to. Things are different now, as the first women to serve as chief pilot of an Australian airline looks back on her career.

Pioneering female pilot retires to Sunnyside

Georgina Sutton has had a career like no-one else in Australian aviation, and now has the freedom to reflect on it after 40 years.

murraybridge.news

Ethan Klemm's grandfather likes working on old cars – he has a 1947 Chevy Fleetmaster. Ethan likes analogue photography – he sometimes shoots on a Mamiya C330. Both hobbies require dedication and purpose. Now Ethan has found a way to combine them.

Ethan Klemm documents chrome culture, one analogue photo at a time

Meet the Murraylands photographer who has made it his mission to snap South Australia’s classic cars and the people who love them.

murraybridge.news

It was wonderful on Friday to be at the opening of the Moorundi Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Service's swish new clinic. The dream of a health centre for the Ngarrindjeri nation has taken 23 years to realise, and I'd been following it for more than half of that time.

Moorundi health centre’s opening fulfils a 23-year-old dream

The Moorundi Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Service has moved into a multi-million dollar clinic in Murray Bridge.

murraybridge.news