International conference

The International Communication Association's 2024 conference is the largest gathering of academics I've ever been too - with about 4500 attendees, there were so many presentations and sessions that it was impossible to get to everything I wanted to see.

I did manage to attend several sessions where local news and journalism was the focus. Topics I honed in on were methods, mapping, sustainability and place. The studies presented spanned the globe, from China to America, Canada to South Africa, and Spain to Norway.

A highlight was obviously the launch of our Australian Local News Proximity Index - which has been developed by the team as part of the broader ARC Linkage project with the ABC, which my Post Doc is attached to. Angela Ross, from the ABC, did a great job of stepping out this complex but valuable measurement tool in her presentation.

Another highlight was the Post Conference event where Kristy Hess's keynote address put five provocations to the crowd and really left them thinking about local news futures.