Media literacy — the ability to access, analyse, evaluate, and create media — is increasingly essential in an age of social media, algorithmic news feeds, and deliberately misleading content. Australians who can identify misinformation, understand how media frames stories, and evaluate source credibility are more resistant to manipulation and better equipped to participate in public life. Grant funding supports media literacy education in schools, community programs, journalism quality, and the research that helps understand how Australians consume and evaluate information.
The information challenge
Who needs media literacy
Why media literacy matters
ACMA (Australian Communications and Media Authority)
Misinformation codes and standards for digital platforms.
eSafety Commissioner
Online safety includes evaluating online content — overlaps with media literacy.
Department of Education
Media literacy is part of the Australian Curriculum (English, Humanities).
ABC Education
Public broadcaster media literacy resources for schools.
The Judith Neilson Institute for Journalism and Ideas
A major Australian funder of quality journalism and media literacy.
Google News Initiative
Support for journalism quality and news literacy programs.
Meta Journalism Project
Community journalism and news literacy support.
The Walkley Foundation
Excellence in Australian journalism; media literacy education.
NewsGuard / First Draft
Misinformation monitoring and media literacy resources.
School-based media literacy
News literacy
Misinformation resilience
Digital media literacy
Journalism support
CALD community programs
Older Australians
Research and evaluation
Local journalism has collapsed across much of Australia:
- Hundreds of local newspapers have closed in the past two decades
- Many regional communities now have no regular local news coverage
- Council decisions, local court proceedings, and community issues go unreported
- Without local journalism, local civic engagement weakens
Grant funding for community journalism, local news cooperatives, and public interest reporting fills a gap that commercial media has abandoned. This is high-impact grantmaking — local journalism is infrastructure for local democracy.
Evidence-based programs
Media literacy research has advanced significantly — prebunking, lateral reading, and news literacy approaches have good evidence. Applications building on demonstrated effectiveness are more credible than generic critical thinking programs.
Targeted populations
Different populations face different information challenges. Applications that specifically target health misinformation for older adults, political misinformation for young voters, or financial misinformation for migrant communities are more focused and measurable.
Journalism sustainability
Applications for local journalism support face a different question — not whether journalism is valuable, but whether the model can be sustainable. Applications with revenue diversification and community ownership models are more viable.
Scalable approaches
Given the scale of the misinformation challenge, applications with digital delivery and multiplier effects — teacher training rather than direct student delivery, for example — can reach more Australians.
Tahua's grants management platform supports media literacy funders and journalism organisations — with program reach tracking, knowledge outcome measurement, community impact data, and the reporting tools that help media literacy funders demonstrate their investment in an informed Australian public.