Cash for comment affair

The cash for comment affair was an Australian scandal that broke in 1999, concerning paid advertising in radio that is presented to the audience in such a way as to sound like editorial commentary. It is widely considered a breach of journalistic integrity. While the initial publicity had died down by the end of the year, it sparked major changes in the way the radio industry is conducted in Australia. This resulted in a second scandal in 2004, leading to the resignation of Australian Broadcasting Authority head David Flint, after he had been found to have been less than impartial in his role in "cash for comment" investigations.

In 1999, "Media Watch" revealed that 2UE talk radio hosts John Laws and Alan Jones had been paid to give favourable comment to companies including Qantas, Optus, Foxtel, Mirvac, and major Australian banks, without disclosing this arrangement to listeners. Though both initially vehemently denied any wrongdoing, when the controversy gained sufficient momentum, they defended the practice by claiming that they were not employed as journalists, but as "entertainers", and thus had no duty of disclosure or of journalistic integrity. The Australian Broadcasting Authority estimated the value of these arrangements at $18 million and found Laws, Jones, and 2UE to have committed 90 breaches of the industry code and five breaches of 2UE's license conditions. Regulations were subsequently tightened to prevent such behaviour; however, the ABA has been accused of weakness and inconsistency in enforcing these regulations.

In 2004, Laws and Jones were again accused of cash for comment in relation to deals both had made with Telstra. Laws was found to have breached the rules but Jones was cleared; the revelation of flattering letters written by ABA head David Flint to Jones, at the same time that Jones was under investigation, led to accusations of impropriety that ultimately forced Flint's resignation.

References

*Media Watch Analysis: http://www.abc.net.au/mediawatch/transcripts/s62543.htm