Australian news consumers crave the king, conflicts and cost of living crisis insights

Conflicts, the coronation of a new king and football queens, plus a looming economic crisis were among the most mentioned issues in the Australian media in 2023 according to new research.

The coronation of King Charles in May rounded rated more than 41,000 mentions online.

Australians couldn’t escape conflict in 2023, with the biggest news story of the year being about the Russian-Ukraine war.

The most recent fighting has been going for almost 700 days, with mass casualties and more than a year of diplomatic talks.

The war continues to have a global impact on everything from energy sources and supply chains to humanitarian issues.

A Russian court has also upheld a decision to keep Wall Street Journal journalist Evan Gershkovich in jail ahead of his trial on alleged espionage charges, which he denies.

President Vladimir Putin was asked about the reporter’s ongoing detention since his arrest in March during his annual press conference last week where he said he was attempting to work on a solution with the US.

“There are contacts on this issue and dialogue is ongoing, but it’s not straightforward,” he said.

The Ukraine conflict was ­mentioned more than 260,000 times in online news stories by Australian news publications in 2023, according to analysis conducted for The Australian by media monitoring company Streem, making it the No.1 news story of the year.

The Ukraine conflict was closely followed by the recent ­violence in Gaza that was sparked by Hamas launching a terrorist attack in Israel in October.

The Israel-Hamas conflict was also the biggest single-day news story, peaking in interest on October 11, according to Streem.

 

Domestic issues that dominated the news included inflation, ­interest rates and the failed Indigenous voice to parliament referendum – all of which were in the top five stories.

Political issues here and abroad also did well.

May’s federal budget and the AUKUS deal were widely mentioned, along with the indictment of former US president Donald Trump.

Good news came in last with the huge popularity of the Matildas and the FIFA Women’s World Cup that was held in Australia and New Zealand in July taking out the ninth spot.

The coronation of King Charles in May rounded out the top 10, with more than 41,000 mentions online.

May and October saw peak news consumption in Australia according to the new research, which includes all mentions across news websites, including syndicated pieces that appear more than once.

The coronation and Treasurer Jim Chalmers’ budget in May were among the biggest single-day news stories, along with the outbreak of war in the Middle East and the voice to parliament referendum, both in October.

“Cost of living, interest rates and the voice drove the top 10 leading stories to be largely ­domestic-focused this year, with only a third centred around international issues like Trump’s indictment, the King’s coronation and war,” Streem’s head of insights Lauren Jefferies told The Australian.

The research echoes polling conducted by JWS Research back in October, which showed that ahead of polling day on ­October 14, the voice to parliament was barely registering as an issue with Australian voters, but worries over the cost of living were increasing.

The True Issues survey, which spoke to 1000 voters, showed eight in 10 wanted the ­government focused on the cost of living, but just one in 10 felt the same about the voice.

“Inflation dominated the ­domestic agenda, ranking No.2 overall in leading stories and ­outweighing the next domestic issue, the voice, by over 50 per cent by volume.”