Climate communications advocate group, Comms Declare has claimed a series of pro-gas front page stories in News Corp newspapers in December last year were misleading for insufficiently disclosing gas industry sponsorship.
The complaint to the Australian Competition and Consumer Commision (ACCC), drafted by Good Company Law, alleges the stories are not independent journalism and can’t claim the ‘news exclusion’ normally given to editorial content.
Founder of Comms Declare, Belinda Noble said, “The pro-gas series consisted of Frankenstein gas ads, sponsored by gas companies but pretending to be independent journalism. Readers deserve impartial reporting about the critical issue of clean energy and these stories suspiciously favoured the gas industry perspective.”
Founder of Good Company Law Hannah Marshall said, “News publishers play a vital role informing the public about issues like the energy transition. These News Corp stories raise important legal questions about sponsored content, in terms of both transparency and news publisher liability.”
The Press Council of Australia (PCA)’s ruling on the series found there was no evidence the gas sponsors had editorial control of the content but did call on publications to improve the clarity of how sponsored material is presented.
However, in its response to the Federal Senate Greenwashing Inquiry, one of the series sponsors, APA Group, stated that its engagement with News Corp was intended to “put forward our views on key issues relevant to our business”, suggesting that you don’t need editorial control to influence sponsored story content.
