<
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2024/dec/02/how-can-news-corp-call-its-gas-splash-exclusive-and-special-report-when-its-paid-for-by-industry>
"The big news on Monday morning was that the story splashed across the front of
News Corp’s biggest-selling tabloid newspapers wasn’t news at all. It was an
advertorial paid for by a fossil fuel industry. Not that readers glancing at
page one of the
Daily Telegraph,
Herald Sun,
Courier-Mail or
Adelaide
Advertiser were let in on this secret.
Instead, they were sold a lie – that the story was straight news coverage, in
some cases described as an “exclusive” or a “special report”, on how (in the
words of the
Courier-Mail) Australia must “step on the gas” as it was the
“only way to avoid higher bills, blackouts”.
Only readers who flicked inside to an identical double-page spread run across
the News Corp stable on the importance of gas were told the truth – that it was
an advertising feature “proudly sponsored” by the gas infrastructure business
APA Group and the gas companies Tamboran, Santos and Jemena. Those who read the
main piece online saw no disclosure at all.
The main news story in the double-page spread ran under the headline “Only gas
can save us now”. It warned that “households face being plunged into darkness –
while paying even more for power – without action on Australia’s gas shortage”.
The second paragraph was particularly unsubtle, saying industry leaders were
“eager to tackle the looming deficit, but to have any hope of success they say
that politicians and regulators must end lengthy project approval delays”. In
other words: please let us extract more gas.
The argument was backed by quotes from the bosses of Woodside, Santos, APA and
oil and gas lobby group the Australian Energy Producers, which until a
marketing shift was known as the Australian Petroleum Production and
Exploration Association.
The climate change and energy minister, Chris Bowen, was approached for his
view – a spokesperson responded on his behalf that an extra 600 petajoules of
gas had been secured for the east coast – but otherwise no other opinions were
sought.
There were secondary pieces on how high electricity prices are affecting
businesses that produce groceries and an opinion piece by the former foreign
minister Alexander Downer – not, it should be said, a noted energy expert.
Neither acknowledged what analysts have said repeatedly: that the substantial
jump in energy prices over the past couple of years was mainly due to Russia’s
invasion of Ukraine pushing up fossil fuel prices, not solar and wind."
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
