Open access global wire service 360info partners with Medianet to fight misinformation in ANZ
In an initiative to counteract misinformation and boost public interest journalism, Medianet and 360info are proud to announce their partnership.
360info will now be using Medianet’s pitching and distribution platform and NewsHub to alert journalists when a news package is available. The content has been curated by a global team of journalists using academic research and expert voices, and is shared with newsrooms under a Creative Commons licence that allows all content to be repurposed or published free of charge.
360info was founded by Andrew Jaspan AM (founder of The Conversation and former editor of The Age, The Big Issue and more) with funding from Monash University in 2022, and has since partnered with hundreds of universities worldwide. Jaspan said that despite the international focus, 360info has so far proven most valuable to smaller regional and rural community papers in Australia.
“These outlets have often been hit the hardest by digital developments and the collapse of the traditional advertising model of funding,” Jaspan said.
“Sometimes struggling to bring out the paper or pay staff to cover stories, they now have free access to a feed of rich, explanatory, corrective or contextual features content to slot straight in or repurpose as they see fit.
“We are delighted that Medianet’s pitching and distribution services now provides us with a direct link to more journalists and newsrooms so that this highly verified and informed news can reach more Australians.”
Medianet Managing Director Amrita Sidhu said the company is proud to support 360info’s work, which counteracts many of the biggest threats to public interest journalism identified by journalists in the 2023 Australian Media Landscape Report.
“An increase in disinformation was identified as a threat to public interest journalism by almost three quarters [71%] of the more than 1,000 Australian journalists we surveyed last year,” Sidhu said.
“Sharing content such as that created by 360info, in partnership with so many global universities and championing expert voices and findings, can only help to negate issues of disinformation, misinformation and ‘fake news’.”
Lack of resources and funding as well as the closure of newsrooms were also identified by journalists as threats to public interest journalism, and the survey also found that 72 per cent of Australian journalists had experienced burnout.
“Supporting the work of journalists and a thriving media industry is one of our key objectives at Medianet, so we’re very happy to support 360info by providing under-resourced newsrooms notification of free quality content and information,” Sidhu said.
360info’s content is available on their website and the Medianet Newshub for any media outlet and newsroom to access and use without charge.
About us:
About 360info
360info is a public interest journalism initiative dedicated to supporting under-resourced newsrooms and amplifying the voices of researchers from universities around the world. First launched by Andrew Jaspan AM (founder of The Conversation) in partnership with Monash University, the not-for-profit organisation has rapidly established editorial hubs around the Asia Pacific. It operates as an open access global wire service, freely disseminating solutions-driven, academic-authored content to hundreds of publishing partners around the region, at no cost.
About Medianet
Medianet, a division of Mediality, is a media intelligence business servicing both the media and public relations industries. Medianet’s integrated PR platform includes a comprehensive database of Australian and New Zealand media contacts and market-leading tech for press release distribution. Medianet’s For Journalists platform holds an archive of all press releases and allows journalists to set up alerts that are relevant to their subjects of interest.
Contact details:
Amrita Sidhu, Medianet Managing Director
+61 481 177 686
asidhu@medianet.com.au
Andrew Jaspan, 360info Founding Editor and Director
andrew.jaspan@360info.org
Emma Hoy, 360info Media Liaison & Communications
emma.hoy@360info.org