The watchdog role is widely seen as the media’s most important task, and one survey of Australian journalists found investigating government claims to be very important by 90 per cent of the journalists (Josephi & Richards, 2011).
Some media companies whose editorial policy is available on the Internet, such as the West Australian, commit themselves expressly to their role as fourth estate (West Australian, 2009). However, in practice, this role has been somewhat muted in recent years, especially in mainstream commercial media. While journalists perceive this role as being of elevated importance in the face of increasing misinformation (Schapals, 2018), recent raids on ABC and News Corporation illustrate the extent to which this role is also under attack (Sarre, 2020). Further, Australia’s increasingly consolidated and contracted news media is finding it more difficult to report on scandals (O’Shea, 2019).
