Covering democratic processes is one of the most important roles of the media industry. Here are some tips and resources to help your newsroom prepare to report on the 2025 Federal Election. Most of this information can also be applied to election coverage at state and local levels, so keep it on-hand to help you deliver quality content to your community over the coming year.

The lead-up

Familiarise yourself with election rules

AEC Federal Election Reporting Guide

The Australian Electoral Commission’s Federal Election Reporting Guide has some important information for journalists ahead of the 2025 federal election.

Key takeaways:

Members of the media who would like to visit a voting or counting centre must first contact the AEC’s media team.
Results: A link to the tally room will be made available at aec.gov.au just before 6pm on election day.
Plus find key stats on candidates and voters, along with AEC operations and roles.

Advertising blackouts

Under Australian law you cannot broadcast election ads on TV or radio during election blackout periods or referendum ads during referendum blackout periods. This includes no political advertising on radio and tv during the three days prior to an election. Find current blackouts here.

Legal risks

Election or not, all newsrooms should be insured and meeting legal obligations.

LINA members can receive discounted packages from KBI insurance, with tailored policies for local and independent news publishers.

Members can also access free support from the ABC’s legal team, who can review articles pre-publication to advise on potential legal risks such as defamation.

Prepare content

Handy tools:

Flourish: Data visualisation and storytelling.
Canva: Create multimedia content for social media, newsletters, websites etc. LINA members can receive one free year of Canva Pro.
Google’s My Maps: Create your own Google map e.g. polling locations for your local community (‘how-to’ guide here).
AI tools for newsrooms.
Video and graphic content resources for journalists.

Solutions/constructive journalism

A buzzword of the moment, ‘solutions journalism’ is a product of the news media which is widely accepted as having meaningful and positive impacts within society. Some innovative newsrooms are also finding ways to monetise this reporting, supporting the ongoing sustainability of their organisation and thus their ability to continue to produce public interest journalism. This article unpacks a model that could be used to monetise solutions journalism within your own newsroom, and contribute valuable reporting to your local community while covering issues such as elections.

Reporting during an election

Content

While a Federal Election may be a nationwide news topic, there also will be important news stories and reporting required at a local level.

To support your coverage, there are a number of public interest journalism organisations producing content that can be republished and adapted by newsrooms for free. For example, you might cover how an election promise or budget announcement will affect people within your local community, but support this reporting by taking quotes from experts interviewed in one of the below publications:

AAP: LINA members receive an exclusive (confidential) discount on AAP newswire services. AAP can help support your work by providing coverage of state, national and world events, so your journalists can focus on local stories without stretching themselves to cover the bigger picture news. AAP’s photo and video archive can also be used to illustrate your own stories as well as those sourced from AAP
360info: Journalists and editors are encouraged to register for 360info’s free wire service to find new sources or story ideas, access timely quotes or fill pages with factual content. 360info is a growing public-interest journalism initiative that partners with newsrooms around the world to provide verified, research-driven information to a global audience. Their content is entirely sourced from a global network of university-affiliated academic authors, who collaborate with experienced journalists and editors to deliver in-depth, contextual, and global perspectives on pressing issues in plain, understandable language.
The Conversation: The Conversation Australia and New Zealand is a unique collaboration between academics and journalists, and is “the world’s leading publisher of research-based news and analysis”. Professional editors turn knowledge and insights from academics into easy-to-read articles, and make them accessible to readers. All their work is free to read and free to republish under Creative Commons, with the goal to provide access to quality explanatory journalism essential for healthy democracy. Read the guidelines for republishing content from The Conversation here

Find out more in our shop-talk webinar on content sharing.

Articles from 360info’s newswire service.

Responsible reporting

Elections can be a tense time. A lot of public debate can centre on topics that may be very sensitive or even harmful to people. Here are a few resources to help you produce responsible content on these topics:

Mental health reporting for journalists: A guide to communicating about mental health, suicide, and alcohol and other drugs, along with very handy resources for editors, publishers and journalists.
Truth matters: How to combat misinformation about refugees and migrants: A resource from the Kaldor Centre to support research-based reporting,

Fact-checking

AAP also offers a fact-checking service. This team of experienced journalists provide rigorous and impartial analysis of misinformation and disinformation circulating online and in the public discourse. Accredited by the International Fact-Checking Network, AAP FactCheck reduces the spread and impact of false information.

You can expand your search further by using Google Fact Check Tools.

A quick search of AAP Fact-Check can confirm or contextualise information.

Share your content

Producing great content is not much use if you’re not reaching audiences with it! Here are some resources that might be useful:

Post election: Track, share and monetise your impact

Tracking content performance

Tweak your strategy for the next election by analysing your content performance using Google Analytics or your CMS platform’s analytic stats. Google also provides more tailored insights for newsrooms through their News Consumer Insights platform.

Tracking and sharing impact

Covering democratic processes is a critical service newsrooms provide their communities. But rigorous journalism is also costly. Tracking the quantitative and qualitative impact of your reporting can be extremely helpful in supporting funding opportunities like grant applications, partnerships and advertising deals.

LINA’s Impact Tracker helps collect quantitative and qualitative data that often gets missed, such as positive feedback from a reader, and displays this on a personalised dashboard. We’ll provide 1:1 support to help members get started with impact tracking.

Need help with anything else? LINA is here to support newsrooms to produce public interest journalism, however way we can. Reach out!

Election reporting resources for newsrooms and journalists