Font Public Relations shares ownership with a polling company and a network of local newspapers. Some call it the saviour of independent news …

But some in the island state are concerned that ownership of a string of local publications and a polling company has passed to owners that also operate a powerful lobby firm, present political commentary on their own podcast and who have worked on campaigns for the incumbent Liberal government.

To some, Font is the saviour of rural media – “Tasmania’s largest independent, locally-owned media organisation”. To others, such as the media academic Libby Lester, this kind of “vertical integration” of PR, polling and papers signals a concerning trend.

“It is troubling because Tasmanian politics and society has been very much marked by very close, not always transparent, relationships,” Lester says.

The Guardian reviewed almost 200 editions and incomplete online archives of Font titles.

The papers publish political opinion pieces by the Font director Brad Stansfield, which disclose he is a partner at Font PR and Font Publishing.

But among the preponderance of regular coverage of local events, droughts and farming, there were instances where Font PR clients were covered without any disclosure of that relationship. And on at least one occasion a news story has appeared under the byline of another director, Becher Townshend, with no mention of his position as a Font lobbyist.

Stansfield, a former journalist, was chief of staff to the former Liberal premier Will Hodgman, a senior adviser to the former Coalition finance minister Mathias Cormann and has also worked for the former Liberal senator Eric Abetz.

He ducks in and out of Liberal election campaigns, including that of the current Liberal premier, Jeremy Rockcliff, who was elected last year.

 

And FYI, their first podcast (Fontcast) after that election on 29 March 2024 was introduced with:

His first day back at Font after working on the election campaign Brad Stansfield drops a truth bomb about the political fallout from the Macquarie Point stadium.

This Mini Fontcast is a very short listen, with key messages from Mr Stansfield including:

In the lead up to the election, the stadium was “ … the biggest pile of stinking poo in this state … the biggest single drag on the Liberal campaign …”