The changing face of content: what we want and how we want to consume it

Join Women in Media Canberra and a stellar expert panel as we unpack the latest trends in media consumption including why women are avoiding the news, how to reach youth audiences, and the rise of audio and social media over traditional platforms.

Our panel includes The Squiz news email and podcast Founder Claire Kimball; University of Canberra Professor of Communications and research fellow at the News and Media Research Centre, Sora Park; and Michelle Ainsworth, Editor of Politics at the ABC.

In our final networking event for the year, enjoy champagne and hors d’oeuvres at the National Press Club as we celebrate the huge news year that was, and discuss the way forward in reaching audiences who are no longer rusted on to the old way of doing news.

With a topic sure to be relevant for anyone working in media and communications, the panel discussion will be informal, lively and open to questions from the audience. It’s also a chance to meet other Canberra journalists and communications professionals.

Always friendly, always informative and lots of fun, put Wednesday 16 November in your diary, starting from 6.30pm with the panel to get underway by 7pm.

YOUR PANEL

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Claire Kimball

Claire Kimball is the founder of Squiz Media, which publishes the Squiz Today and Squiz Shortcuts newsletters and podcasts. Independent and agenda-free, The Squiz aims to get busy people, particularly women, across the news of the day. Started from her kitchen in 2017, Squiz Media now employs 17 people across The Squiz, Squiz Kids and commercial/growth functions.

Before that, Claire was an adviser/press secretary to the Nationals’ Larry Anthony (1998-2004) and Liberals’ Tony Abbott (2005-07 & 2009-10). Claire also worked for seven years in the corporate sector, including as Woolworths Group’s head of retail and corporate communications, and as the director of corporate affairs. Claire is an avid tracksuit pants wearer, even before the COVID era.

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Professor Sora Park

Professor Sora Park is a Professor of Communication and Professorial Research Fellow at the News and Media Research Centre, Faculty of Arts & Design, University of Canberra. Her research focuses on digital media users, media markets and media policy and is the lead investigator of the ARC Discovery Project ‘The rise of mistrust: Digital platforms and trust in news media’.

She also leads the Digital News Report: Australia, a global annual study on digital news consumers. The 2022 report found that despite everything going on in our world right now, interest in news continues to fall. And that fall is most pronounced in women, with more than half of women (54%) in Australia say they have low interest in news. These rates increase to 67 per cent among women under the age of 25.

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Michelle Ainsworth

Michelle Ainsworth is the Editor, Politics at the ABC. She’s had a 30-year career in journalism, working in Sydney and Canberra for the ABC, as well as commercial radio and television. At the ABC she played a key role on flagship programs such as 7.30 and AM, and led the Canberra bureau team that launched the ABC’s news channel in 2010.

Although Michelle has spent half her working life in the federal press gallery, she did escape for a few years to manage the ABC’s local radio and news team.