After a recent public meeting on the proposed AFL stadium in Hobart, an editorial in The Mercury bemoaned “outrageous claims” that were “designed to undermine the paper and the AFL’s move to the Apple Isle”. What claims it was referring to was left to the reader’s imagination.
A news story [paywall] provided a hint, reporting that author Richard Flanagan “said The Mercury’s support for the project was clouded by its parent company’s commercial interests in broadcasting AFL”.
A review of The Mercury’s news articles and editorials published since Flanagan spoke at a Planning Matters Alliance Tasmania public meeting reveals none disclose News Corp Australia’s financial stake associated with Foxtel’s AFL broadcast rights, except for the report above.
Should it? News Corp Australia is a member of the Australian Press Council, which states publishers should “ensure that conflicts of interests are avoided or adequately disclosed, and that they do not influence published material”.
The lack of disclosure may be an oversight, but the continued omission feeds the suspicion that The Mercury is not telling its readers the whole story on the push for the AFL team and new stadium.