The case against banana imports was front and centre for millions of recently, featuring in NewsCorp’s Back Australia campaign.
An initial story, featuring Australian banana and pineapple growers raising biosecurity concerns, was republished across multiple News Corp mastheads, including the Courier-Mail, Townsville Bulletin, AdelaideNow, NT News and other metropolitan and regional publications.
A follow-up story highlighted a News Corp readers’ poll, which found that 96% of respondents opposed new applications to import foreign bananas, kiwifruit and pineapples. This story was also distributed across the network, including the Daily Telegraph, Herald Sun and national digital platform news.com.au.
The coverage was amplified through social media accounts across multiple News Corp publications and News24 coverage, both live on the channel and via social media.
VIDEO: See Banana Imports Chair Paul Inderbitzin speaking on News24 as part of the Back Australia coverage.
The scale of the publications carrying the stories provides some insight into the audience the ‘No Imports’ campaign has now reached. NewsCorp’s latest reporting recorded monthly audiences of 12 million for news.com.au, 4.3 million for the Herald Sun, 4.2 million for the Daily Telegraph, 3.7 million for the Courier-Mail and 2.2 million for The Advertiser.
The broader Back Australia campaign has also demonstrated considerable audience engagement.
READ: The story featured in many of NewsCorp’s publications, including news.com.au.
Beyond NewsCorp, the reporting generated further exposure through international fresh produce publication FreshFruitPortal, social media channels and regional radio coverage.
The coverage brought the concerns of Australian banana growers firmly back into mainstream national media, reaching metropolitan and regional audiences well beyond Australia’s banana-growing communities.