“Opportunities don’t come past all that often when you’re in journalism in Queensland these days,” said Peter Atkinson, Editor and Publisher of InQueensland, to ABC’s Steve Austin. “It’s unusual that you start a publication when everyone else is winding back.”

Atkinson was on ABC Radio Brisbane to discuss the remarkable position of InQueensland as an independent news service focused on providing informative, impartial and trusted public-interest journalism by Queenslanders for Queenslanders. 

“We could see that there was something really, really missing from the Queensland market,” said Atkinson. “We looked at areas that we thought were not being well covered in Queensland anymore, and that included politics, that included business. Arts and culture had fallen off the radar for a lot of our big publishers. We saw that some key areas that people used to look for were no longer there.”

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InQueensland is able to fulfil this important media position thanks to its Press Patron supporters’ program, which allows its readers to contribute directly to keeping its content high quality and open-access. 

Reader contributions help InQueensland cover the costs of reporting, researching, and publishing stories by some of the most trusted and experienced writers in the state. Stories that hold those in power to account, shine a light on important issues, and celebrate the diverse voices and experiences that make Queensland unique.

“One of the best things you can do if you want good journalism is hire good journalists,” said Atkinson. “There are some of Queensland’s best-known journalists on our staff, and we’re very proud of that. A small start-up getting the likes of Dennis Atkins, David Fagan, Greg Hallam, Madonna King, Phil Brown, John McCarthy and Bec Levingston, sportswriters like Michael Blucher and Jim Tucker, who are well-known names right across the Queensland market.” 

Thanks to this model, InQueensland is beholden first and foremost to its readers, not stakeholders or corporate interests. “We very much like to hear from our readership and understand what they’re saying. We don’t want to shout at them and tell them what they should be thinking all the time. We very much try to engage.”

“We think we’re contributing something that’s worthwhile and something that had dropped out of the Queensland media experience,” said Atkinson. “We’ve had great newspapers, great radio, great television news, but as that has been wound back by the forces that are interrupting journalism around the world, it’s gone off the rails a little bit. Those forces being the big digital disruptors in the new global digital platforms. Virtually every media is doing it tough. Our colleagues in various media are having to deal with a massive downturn in revenue, and it’s increasingly difficult just to do the job that we used to do so effectively.”

“We certainly believe that the most important thing that we can bring to the table is credibility and independence and, you know, being a product that people can rely upon.”

To ensure we can continue to deliver credible and reliable independent news, we need your help. Whether weekly, monthly or as a one-off contribution, you too can help support a future of journalism that looks like InQueensland. Consider donating today. 

Original interview broadcast on ABC Radio Brisbane with Steve Austin June 2024.