This is a period of intense, perhaps unprecedented, change in journalism. The Press Council is uniquely placed to bring together leading figures who can tackle the big questions together. Key concerns of the conference:

• the influences of technological, social and commercial change on journalism quality; 
• the need for reform of secrecy, censorship and defamation laws; 
• the role of independent press councils in enhancing press freedom.

In 1976, when the Australian Press Council was founded by a group of newspaper editors in an effort to self-regulate, the Internet did not exist, reporters did not have smart phones, filing stories from the field was an onerous task, and international news coverage was expensive and often slow. There was no 24-hour news cycle. 

In this rapid-fire global environment, where anyone with a smart phone can be a “journalist” and any journalist’s report is available virtually everywhere, how can editors meet the demands of fragmenting audiences, global competition, falling revenues and reduced resources decreased staffing while still publishing high quality material? What are the forces imperilling freedom of the press and investigative journalism? What is the proper role of press councils in all of this?