• Media industry leaders, including Professor Stan Grant Jnr and the Managing Director of the ABC Mr David Anderson, come together at Charles Sturt University to discuss the challenges facing regional media

Charles Sturt University is hosting a summit to discuss the issues facing regional media and how digital media has contributed to the recent changes to the traditional media landscape.

The ‘ Regional Media in the Digital Age Summit’ will feature a thought-provoking panel discussion examining digital disruption and the future of media on Friday 5 November.

New technologies have disrupted delivery models and the event will look at the role local media plays in instilling a sense of community and how accelerating the loss of regional media undermines the community.

The event is being hosted by the University to celebrate 50 years of the School of Communication at Bathurst (now the School of Information and Communication Studies) and to launch the new Bachelor of Communication (with specialisations).

The new degree has been co-designed, co-developed and co-delivered with distinguished alumni and leading industry partners.

The event will be co-hosted by Charles Sturt Vice-Chancellor's Chair of Australian/Indigenous Belonging Professor Stan Grant Jnr, a renowned journalist with more than 25 years’ experience, and Emeritus Professor Christina Slade.

Keynote speakers will be Managing Director of the ABC Mr David Anderson and CEO and Managing Director of Southern Cross Austereo Grant Blackley, who will be then joined on the discussion panel by journalist Zoe Daniel, academic Associate Professor Caroline Fisher, Head of Content Curation and Platforms at the ABC Lee Glendinning and Head of Media for The Mindaroo Foundation Mr Shaun Devitt.

Professor Slade said Charles Sturt has a long-standing history of producing quality communication graduates.

“Charles Sturt University and its predecessor, the Mitchell College of Advanced Education, trained a generation of Australian journalists, known informally as the Mitchell mafia,” she said.

“This year we celebrate the 50^th anniversary and the new Bachelor of Communication to be offered in Bathurst in 2022.

“The summit reaffirms the importance of the regional media in the globalised digital world of media.”

The summit will be held from 1pm to 4pm on Friday 5 November in the Honeycomb Room of Building 1305 at Charles Sturt in Bathurst.

Due to COVID-19 regulations, numbers at the live event will be limited and all attendees will need to be double vaccinated.

The event will also be available to view live online.

Registrations for the face-to-face event or the livestream can be made via Eventbrite.