The newsroom
The Daily Cairns Newsroom
The Daily Cairns is an independent, AI-assisted local newsroom covering Cairns and the surrounding region. Our mission is to make Cairns the best-informed city in Australia by publishing clear, accurate, accountable reporting every day.
Founder's note
Built by locals, for locals.
The Daily Cairns was founded by Shane Anderson, who grew up watching local newsrooms shrink while big-platform headlines flooded his feed. Shane started The Daily Network with a simple belief: every city in Australia deserves a daily paper that takes it seriously — its council, its sport, its small businesses, its weather, its weekends.
We're not a national newsroom dabbling in local. We're locals, publishing for Cairns, every day. If you have a story, a tip, or something we should be covering, please send it in.
AI-assisted journalism
We use artificial intelligence to monitor public records, council agendas, court lists, property listings, transport data, weather, and other public information sources. AI helps us draft summaries, surface patterns, and translate technical documents into plain English. Every article published under our masthead is reviewed by a human editor before it appears on the site. We do not auto-publish stories about crime, courts, politics, or other sensitive subjects without editorial sign-off.
Editorial oversight
Editorial decisions are made by humans, not algorithms. An editor reviews every story for accuracy, fairness, context, and tone before publication. We disclose AI assistance on every piece of content. If we get something wrong, we correct it promptly, mark the correction clearly, and explain what changed.
Sourcing
We work from primary sources wherever possible: official documents, public datasets, named spokespeople, court and council records, and on-the-record interviews. When we rely on another publication for a fact, we link to it. When information comes from a single source, we say so. When we cannot confirm something, we do not publish it.
Standards and corrections
Our full editorial code, AI disclosure policy, and corrections process is published at /editorial-standards. If you spot an error or have concerns about something we have published, please get in touch.
Contact the newsroom
News tips, story ideas, and corrections are always welcome. Visit our about page for contact details, or read our editorial standards.