Now we know why the federal government has done nothing to outlaw cash for comment in our media since the John Laws/Alan Jones scandals years ago. The government itself is into the same deceitful practice, using OUR money to con US!
Universal McCann is a US multinational with the exclusive contract to act as the federal government�s media placement agency. It does ALL the government�s advertising campaigns.
As part of a $5.5 million advertising campaign in June and July to spruik telecommunications in the regions to convince people to support the privatisation of Telstra, Universal McCann met regional newspaper groups to nut out a blatant cash for comment deal.
With lots of our money in the government�s pocket, it had lots of power to get what it wanted from newspaper owners with no ethics. Here�s what Universal McCann reported to the Government:
�Preliminary discussions with major regional newspaper networks have identified a commitment to implement a �telecommunications feature� in many of the publications. This could take the form of placing one full-page mono advertisement and receive one full page of editorial, supplied predominantly by DCITA (the Department of Communications). Newspapers who take up the incentive will be rewarded with a second full-page mono advertisement. Those who do not take up the feature only receive one full-page mono advertisement. We estimate that there will be a 50% take-up.�
So, the government is deliberately setting out to deceive voters by disguising advertising as news stories written by independent journalists. And at least one newspaper group � we don�t yet know which � is happy to prostitute its news pages and lie to its readers for cash.
This despicable practice, which mocks the role and duty of a free press in a democracy, should have been made illegal years ago, when we learned that John Laws� agent approached the banks to offer positive commentary for big bucks. In that case, Laws pretended his spruiks were �interviews� with bank spokespeople, with no disclosure to listeners of his financial interest and contractual obligations to the banks.
The explosive Universal McCann �media strategy� memo, leaked to Labor�s communications spokesman Lindsay Tanner, begs the question of whether cash-for-comment deals are now standard in this government�s advertising. And remember, Howard is Australia�s biggest media advertising spender.
A spokeswoman for the communications Minister Daryl Williams said: �That proposal came through, but it�s not going ahead�. The spokeswoman refused to say whether the decision to drop it was made before or after the release of the memo. She also had no answer to several other questions, and intimated that Williams would not provide �details� to the Australian people about what was going on. But she did take down my questions to see if Williams would deign to address them. He wouldn�t.
These were my additional questions:
1. By what and upon whose authority did Universal McCann negotiate the cash for comment deal on the government’s behalf?
2. Since McCann was the government�s exclusive advertising placement agency, was cash for comment standard government practice?
3. Had the media strategy been looked at by Howard�s �Ministerial Committee on Government Communications�, which approves all media campaigns?
4. If so, had the committee approved the cash for comment arrangement?
5. Did Williams know about it before today?
6. Why did the government drop it?
I phoned Universal McCann for comment and spoke to the company�s investment director Leslie Marriot. She took my number and said she�d get back to me. She didn’t.
There are two groups which qualify for the Universal McCann description �major regional newspaper networks� � APN and Rural Press.
The managing director of Rural Press, Brian McCarthy, would not comment on the specifics before reading the documents, but did say: �There�s no cash for comment in Rural Press newspapers.�
A spokesman for APN said:
�APN had been approached by McCann but were not aware of the client. APN was happy to look at a pre-printed advertorial feature which was totally separate to the news section and would be clearly marked �advertorial�. If the story was newsworthy it would go through the normal editorial process and there is no guarantee of editorial for advertising.�
Lindsay Tanner said:
�Having the government organising with newspapers to put in government advertising presented as newspaper articles is appalling. Under no circumstances would a Labor government engage in cash for comment. All advertising by a Labor government would be clearly marked as advertising. We will never use the leverage of government advertising to get positive coverage from media groups.�
That�s well and good, but what about the media proprietors? Their conduct is equally scandalous, and equally disrespectful of their readers. I suggest that an honest federal government � when we�re lucky enough to get one � legislate to outlaw the sale of news and feature stories. It�s corrupt behaviour, and debases the free press in our democracy.
The ABC Media Watch program recently exposed other newspaper cash for comment deals, this time by a Sydney suburban group called FPC Courier. It offered candidates for Saturday�s local government election an advertisement written by the candidate and disguised as a news story of the same size as a paid ad, with the implied threat that candidates who did not agree would get no coverage in the paper. (See Candidates pay, or else and The Courier “reviews”.)
FPC Courier’s slogan is ‘Committed to community”.
The newspaper industry waxes lyrical about its right to be free of government regulation to protect free speech. But newspapers have NO right to lie to their readers and pass off advertising as editorial news or comment. The practice is so deeply corrosive of the vital role of a free press in our democracy that it should be stamped out immediately in newspapers and on radio and TV. I�d make cash for comment deals a criminal offence.
If Mark Latham is really serious about cleaning up our democracy, then media corruption must be addressed.